Yellow pine, a Kentucky native

Pinus echinata: Shortleaf pine, yellow pine

The Commonwealth of Kentucky has four native pine species --

1. Pinus echinata
2. Pinus strobus
3. Pinus rigida
4. Pinus virginiana

Today, we'll take a brief look at Pinus echinata, and we'll look at the other three in the future.

Yellow pine sapling. Photo by Jason Sturner 72.

In Kentucky, we often refer to Pinus echinata as yellow pine, but it has several common names. The National Forest Service's Sylvics Manual notes that "Depending upon locale, the species is also called shortleaf yellow, southern yellow, oldfield, shortstraw, or Arkansas soft pine."

The names "shortleaf" and "shortstraw" are a bit misleading. The needles of Pinus echinata can grow up to 5 inches long!

Pinus echinata is a native tree of 21 states, mostly in the southeastern United States.  It has been logged extensively, so it is not as common in the Kentucky woods as it once was. Shortleaf pine is used for plywood and wood pulp, as well as for lumber.

Yellow pine on a rocky slope
Photo by cm195902

Pinus echinata can grow up to 100 feet in height or even more, in a favorable location. It doesn't do well in calcium-rich, higher pH soils.

In Kentucky, yellow pine's preference for an acidic soil explains why it grows mostly in our eastern highlands. There it finds a home in well-drained, sandstone-based (sandy) slopes and valleys with mildly to moderately acidic soil. In the Bluegrass region and western Kentucky, our soils are often limestone-based, thus less acidic and less hospitable to yellow pine.

You can identify Pinus echinata by its needles which occur in bundles of 2 (or sometimes 3). Its cones are egg-shaped, up to 2-1/2 inches in length. Each scale on a mature cone of shortleaf pine has a pointy little prickle.

In Trees & Shrubs of Kentucky, Mary E. Wharton and Roger W. Barbour write,

A mature yellow pine is altogether noble in aspect. Its tall straight trunk with a map-patterned bark stands in unquestioned dignity bearing a lofty crown of slender branches. It is handsome in parks and large lawns, and in such places it should be planted more frequently.

W.D. Brush - USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database