Don't be yellow about your pine ID.

FAMILY: PINACEAE

Here is a quick guide to distinguishing the three most similar and common pines around Tallahassee. These are known as the Yellow Pines for their wood color and they are slash, loblolly and longleaf pines (Pinus elliotti, P. taeda and P. palustris respectively). Hopefully this blog will help you and there will be no need to whine about pine ID after reading this. Keep an eye out for more pine descriptions on this blog but this one should really cover most of your needs around Tallahassee.

Slash and longleaf pines are associated with the widespread flatwoods ecosystem in Florida which could also be called and pine savanna - it is often prone to fire which allows the ecosystem type to persist. Loblolly is more common on the uplands in north Florida.

Slash pine has a distinctive reddish plates on its bark and 2-3 needles per fascicle - the other two have flakier bark and 3 needles per fascicle. Sessile cones on loblolly (6-10 cm) often persist on the tree year round, usually in pairs or threes, it has flaky but often furrowed bark. Longleaf pine have stalked cones longer than 15 cm and its 3 needles per fasicle are 15-30 cm long, with a distinctive silvery terminal bud.

Now let's let the pictures do all the talking.

Distinguishing yellow pines, slash, longleaf and loblolly -cones and needle drawings.

Distinguishing yellow pines, slash, longleaf and loblolly - photos.

Pinus palustris longleaf pine bark

Pinus taeda loblolly pine bark

Pinus elliottii slash pine bark (the easy one).

Pines on FSU grounds in Tallahassee (click on point for more information - link for more).