Loblolly pine (Pinus taeda): what the agencies record

This page reports what US federal publications say about one tree. It does not identify trees from descriptions or photos and does not say what should be done with any tree. The family overview, tree species in the agency records, explains the sources and holds the comparison table.

At a glance

Item	What the source records
Scientific name	Pinus taeda L., pine family
Other names	Arkansas pine, North Carolina pine and oldfield pine (Silvics); marketed as Southern Pine (Wood Handbook)
Native status, USDA PLANTS	Native in the lower 48 states
Lifespan, Silvics	Called a medium-lived tree with rapid juvenile growth
Green weight of the wood, NRS-38	53 lb per cubic foot, without bark

Native range and importance

The Silvics of North America handbook (Agriculture Handbook 654, volume 1, 1990) calls loblolly pine the most commercially important forest species in the southern United States, dominant on about 11.7 million ha (29 million acres) and making up over one-half of the standing pine volume. It records a native range through 14 states from southern New Jersey south to central Florida and west to eastern Texas, taking in the Atlantic Plain, the Piedmont Plateau and the southern ends of several Appalachian provinces. The handbook says the species does not grow naturally in the Mississippi River flood plain, is scarce in the deep coarse sands of the lower Atlantic Plain and the sandhills of the Carolinas, and is important only in localized areas of southeastern Georgia and northern Florida. It adds that loblolly pine has been successfully planted around the edge of its natural range and introduced on other continents with varying success, and that in the South it is often used as a shade tree and for wind and noise barriers.

Flowers and cones

Silvics describes the species as monoecious, with male flowers in clusters at the tip of the preceding year's growth and female flowers on the new year's growth. The male flowers are 2.5 to 3.8 cm (1.0 to 1.5 in) long and the female flowers 1.0 to 1.5 cm (0.4 to 0.6 in). Flower buds are initiated in July and August but are not differentiated into recognizable structures until late September or October, and both kinds stay dormant until early February. The handbook says the date of peak pollen shed depends on heat accumulated after February 1.

Growth and yield

The handbook says growth of loblolly pine stands is inherently good compared with most hardwood competitors and on many sites doubles or triples the production of common associates. It reports normal yields in natural even-aged stands on average sites (site index 27 m, 90 ft) of 133.0 cubic metres per hectare at age 20 up to 427.7 cubic metres per hectare at age 60, with mean annual cubic growth culminating at about age 40. It lists drought, flooding and nutrient deficiencies as factors that may affect growth adversely.

Roots

Silvics says a young tree develops a short taproot but in most cases the taproot stops growing in favour of an extensive lateral root system. A taproot 1.5 to 2.0 m (5.0 to 6.5 ft) long is often produced on deep sandy or loamy soils, and on heavy clay the taproot tends to be stout and short. It says loblolly taproots are much smaller and shorter than those of shortleaf and longleaf pines, and that lateral roots dominate a shallow system where a high water table or hardpan confines the roots. In a 6-year-old plantation in southeast Louisiana, 83 percent of the total root weight was in the upper 46 cm (18 in) of soil.

Wood

The Wood Handbook (FPL-GTR-282, 2021) groups loblolly pine with longleaf, shortleaf and slash pine as Southern Pine. It says the wood of these pines is quite similar in appearance, with yellowish white sapwood and reddish brown heartwood, that heartwood begins to form when the tree is about 20 years old, and that the sapwood is usually wide in second-growth stands. It says shortleaf and loblolly pine are usually somewhat lighter in weight than longleaf. Uses it lists include stringers, roof trusses, beams, posts, joists and piles, and, for lower density lumber, interior woodwork, sheathing, subflooring, boxes, pallets and crates.

Wood Handbook Table 5-3b	Specific gravity	Modulus of rupture (lbf per square inch)	Side hardness (lbf)
Green	0.47	7,300	450
At 12% moisture content	0.51	12,800	690

The Wood Handbook states that specific gravity is based on oven-dry weight and the volume when green or at 12% moisture content. The green weight of the wood without bark is in the NRS-38 table, the same figure used in the log weight calculator.

Pests and diseases the handbook names

Silvics (1990) says loblolly pine hosts a multitude of insect pests, but outbreaks vary greatly, most are small and short-lived, and with a few exceptions the insects that attack it are insignificant in damage or mortality. It names these agents by the names it used.

Southern pine beetle. Dendroctonus frontalis, called the most destructive insect for the species and one whose attack may result in extensive mortality. The handbook says most infestations start in stands under stress from poor site, adverse weather, overstocking or overmaturity.
Other insects. Pine engraver beetles (Ips species), pine tip moths, seedling debarking weevils, and cone and seed feeders.
Fusiform rust. Cronartium quercuum f. sp. fusiforme, called the most serious stem disease, killing and disfiguring young trees from Virginia to Texas. It says trees with large rust cankers break more readily in wind.
Root and butt rots. Heterobasidion annosum in thinned stands, which it ranks second only to fusiform rust as a plantation disease problem, and Phaeolus schweinitzii, which causes root and butt rot after injuries. Black root rot is named as a seedling problem.
Heart rot. Phellinus pini (red heart) in old stands, which the handbook says enters almost entirely through dead branch stubs and is rarely a factor under age 60.
Weather. Wind, lightning, ice and glaze storms, drought and flooding. It says complete inundation for more than 2 weeks in the growing season often kills seedlings and saplings.

The guide on reporting a pest in the United States gives the office that takes sightings of regulated pests, and pests and diseases by country sets out which ones agencies regulate. Who may apply pesticides is in pesticide licences by country.