Table mountain pine
| Table Mountain pine Pinus pungens | |
|---|---|
| |
| Cultivated specimen Morton Arboretum acc. 255-86-3 | |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Gymnosperms |
| Division: | Pinophyta |
| Class: | Pinopsida |
| Order: | Pinales |
| Family: | Pinaceae |
| Genus: | Pinus |
| Subgenus: | P. subg. Pinus |
| Section: | P. sect. Trifoliae |
| Subsection: | P. subsect. Australes |
| Species: | P. pungens
|
| Binomial name | |
| Pinus pungens | |
| |
| Natural range | |
Table Mountain pine,[2] Pinus pungens, also called hickory pine, prickly pine,[2] or mountain pine,[3] is a small pine native to the Appalachian Mountains in the United States.
Description[edit]
Pinus pungens is a tree of modest size (6–12 metres (20–39 ft)), and has a rounded, irregular shape. The needles are in bundles of two, occasionally three, yellow-green to mid green, fairly stout, and 4–7 centimetres (1+1⁄2–3 in) long. The pollen is released early compared to other pines in the area which minimizes hybridization. The cones are very short-stalked (almost sessile), ovoid, pale pinkish to yellowish buff, and 4–9 centimetres (1+1⁄2–3+1⁄2 in) long; each scale bears a stout, sharp spine 4–10 millimetres (5⁄32–25⁄64 in) long. Sapling trees can bear cones in as little as 5 years.
Buds ovoid to cylindric, red-brown, 6–9 millimetres (15⁄64–23⁄64 in), resinous.[4]
P. pungens prefers dry conditions and is mostly found on rocky slopes, favoring higher elevations, from 300–1,760 metres (980–5,770 ft) altitude. It commonly grows as single scattered trees or small groves, not in large forests like most other pines, and needs periodic disturbances for seedling establishment. The three tallest known ones are in Paris Mountain State Park, South Carolina; they are 26.85 to 29.96 metres (88 ft 1 in to 98 ft 4 in) tall[4]
In culture[edit]
Pinus pungens is the Lonesome Pine of the 1908 novel The Trail of the Lonesome Pine by John Fox, and popularized in the Laurel and Hardy film Way out West:
- On the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia
- On the Trail of the Lonesome Pine
Several "Lonesome Pine" hiking trails have been waymarked in the Blue Ridge Mountains and elsewhere in the Appalachians.
References[edit]
- ^ Farjon, A. (2013). "Pinus pungens". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2013: e.T42406A2977840. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2013-1.RLTS.T42406A2977840.en. Retrieved 20 November 2021.
- ^ a b "Pinus pungens". Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN). Agricultural Research Service (ARS), United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Retrieved 4 January 2018.
- ^ Moore, Gerry; Kershner, Bruce; Craig Tufts; Daniel Mathews; Gil Nelson; Spellenberg, Richard; Thieret, John W.; Terry Purinton; Block, Andrew (2008). National Wildlife Federation Field Guide to Trees of North America. New York: Sterling. p. 71. ISBN 978-1-4027-3875-3.
- ^ a b "Pinus pungens (Table Mountain pine) description - The Gymnosperm Database". www.conifers.org. Retrieved 2019-06-11.
- Farjon, A. & Frankis, M. P. (2002). Pinus pungens. Curtis's Botanical Magazine 19: 97-103.
External links[edit]
- Flora of North America: Pinus pungens info and P. pungens Range Map
- Pinus pungens images at bioimages.vanderbilt.edu
