For the past two weeks a certain pine tree has been of special interest. But, you say, "How can this be? Louisiana is absolutely lousy with pines. Nobody will even look twice at a pine tree." The explanation is that we have a very unusual species of pine to discuss, unusual at least for our area. The innumerable long, thick needles of this tree have formed a bright orange mat of color in the arboretum. We are referring to the pond pine (
Pinus serotina).
This species is not native to Louisiana, but it is native to other states in the southeast, particularly along the Atlantic coast. In December of 1997, Professor Ed Leuck purchased a representative of this species from
Woodlanders Nursery, located in Aiken, South Carolina. The young tree was grown in a container for several years before being planted in the ground in the spring of 2003. Today, the tree is slender and tall with a few low-hanging branches.
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This pond pine grows at the bottom of a slope next to the concrete drainage that runs under the Fitness Center ramp. For the past two weeks, the pond pine has littered adorned the sidewalk with its orange leaves. |
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| The seasonal harvest of leaves seem to have dropped all at once, uniformly covering the ground. |
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| The needles appear in bundles of three. Needle-length varies from bundle to bundle. These three needles are almost 6-inches long. |
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| 7-inch needles |
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| 8-inch needles |
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| 9-inch needles with extra texture |
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| The fall foliage of the pond pine is eye-catching because, locally, we are accustomed to seeing the rusty-colored loblolly pine straw. The pond pine straw also has a distinct texture: the needles are thicker and more coarse when compared to the loblolly straw. |
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| Top: pond pine straw; Bottom: loblolly pine straw |
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| Pond Pine bark detail |
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| On the branches we see green leaves mixed with orange leaves and a few immature pine cones. |
You can find more pictures of the arboretum's pond pine
here.
For more information about this species consult the following:
United States Department of Agriculture
Fire Effects Information System (US Forest Service)
