Longleaf pine is found from eastern Texas to Florida and the Carolinas. It is a tall, straight tree with fairly sparse bunches of needles positioned at the ends of the branches. As its common name suggests, it has very long needles, averaging about 13 inches long, bundled in threes. Several other southeastern pines also have long needles, but not that long; needles on pond pine, slash pine, and loblolly pine get to about 7 inches long. Additionally the cones of longleaf pine are much longer, when fully developed, than the cones of look-alike trees.

Longleaf pine forests have been decimated by logging and other human activities (including, ironically, fire suppression, since longleaf pine is fairly well adapted to fires), which has led to its inclusion as "endangered" on the IUCN Red List.

Mycorrhizal mushrooms associated with longleaf pine include Boletus oliveisporus, Laccaria oblongospora, Lactarius paradoxus, Suillus cothurnatus, Suillus hirtellus, and Suillus pseudogranulatus, among others.

trees are tall and straight

mature bark forms plates

needles in bunches at the ends of branches; also note pollen cones

needles are quite long, in bundles of 3

very large cones

Kuo, Michael (June, 2020). Pinus palustris (longleaf pine). Retrieved from the MushroomExpert.com website: www.mushroomexpert.com/trees/pinus_palustris.html

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