Pitch Pine Hard Pine

=Habitat and Range.=--Most common in dry, sterile soils, occasional in

swamps.



New Brunswick to Lake Ontario.



Maine,--mostly in the southwestern section near the seacoast; as far

north as Chesterville, Franklin county (C. H. Knowlton, Rhodora, II,

124); scarcely more than a shrub near its northern limits; New

Hampshire,--most common along the Merrimac valley to the White mountains

and up the Connecticut valley to the mouth of the Passumpsic, reaching

an altitude of 1000 feet above the sea level; Vermont,--common in the

northern Champlain valley, less frequent in the Connecticut valley

(Flora of Vermont, 1900); common in the other New England states,

often forming large tracts of woodland, sometimes exclusively occupying

extensive areas.



South to Virginia and along the mountains to northern Georgia; west

to western New York, Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee.



=Habit.=--Usually a low tree, from 30 to 50 feet high, with a diameter

of 1-2 feet at the ground, but not infrequently rising to 70-80 feet,

with a diameter of 2-4 feet; trunk straight or more or less tortuous,

tapering rather rapidly; branches rising at a wide angle with the stem,

often tortuous, and sometimes drooping at the extremities, distinctly

whorled in young trees, but gradually losing nearly every trace of

regularity; roughest of our pines, the entire framework rough at every

stage of growth; head variable, open, often scraggly, widest near the

base and sometimes dome-shaped in young trees; branchlets stout,

terminating in rigid, spreading tufts of foliage.





=Bark.=--Bark of trunk in old trees thick, deeply furrowed, with broad

connecting ridges, separating on the surface into coarse dark grayish or

reddish brown scales; younger stems and branches very rough, separating

into scales; season's shoots rough to the tips.



=Winter Buds and Leaves.=--Leading branch-buds 1/2-3/4 inch long,

narrow-cylindrical or ovate, acute at the apex, resin-coated; scales

brownish.



Foliage leaves in threes, 3-5 inches long, stout, stiff, dark

yellowish-green, 3-sided, sharp-pointed, with two fibrovascular bundles;

sessile; sheaths when young about 1/2 inch long.



=Inflorescence.=--Sterile flowers at the base of the season's shoots,

clustered; stamens numerous; anthers yellow: fertile flowers at a slight

angle with and along the sides of the season's shoots, single or

clustered.



=Fruit.=--Cones lateral, single or in clusters, nearly or quite sessile,

finally at right angles to the stem or twisted slightly downward, ovoid,

ovate-conical; subspherical when open, ripening the second season;

scales thickened at the apex, armed with stout, straight or recurved

prickles.



=Horticultural Value.=--Hardy throughout New England; well adapted to

exposed situations on highlands or along the seacoast; grows in almost

any soil, but thrives best in sandy or gravelly moist loams; valuable

among other trees for color-effects and occasional picturesqueness of

outline; mostly uninteresting and of uncertain habit; subject to the

loss of the lower limbs, and not readily transplanted; very seldom

offered in quantity by nurserymen; obtainable from collectors, but

collected plants are seldom successful. Usually propagated from the

seed.






1. Branch with sterile flowers.

2. Stamen, front view.

3. Stamen, top view.

4. Branch with fertile flowers.

5. Fertile flower showing bract and ovuliferous scale, outer side.

6. Fertile flower showing ovuliferous scale with ovules, inner side.

7. Fruiting branch with cones one and two years old.

8. Open cone.

9. Seed.

10. Cross-section of leaf.





=Pinus Banksiana, Lamb.=



Pinus divaricata. Sudw.