Shortleaf pine (Pinus echinata): 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 echinata Mill. in USDA PLANTS, pine family
Other names	Shortleaf yellow, southern yellow, oldfield, shortstraw and Arkansas soft pine, depending on locale (Silvics)
Native status, USDA PLANTS	Native in the lower 48 states
Size, Silvics	On good sites 30 m (100 ft) or more tall and 61 to 91 cm (24 to 36 in) in diameter at breast height; heights of nearly 40 m (130 ft) and diameters of 122 cm (48 in) have been recorded, and one Mississippi tree measures 105 cm (41.5 in) across and 42 m (138 ft) tall
Role, Silvics	One of the four most important commercial conifers in the southeastern United States; tends to grow slower during the early years than other southern pines
Green weight of the wood, NRS-38	52 lb per cubic foot, without bark

Native range

The Silvics of North America handbook (Agriculture Handbook 654, volume 1, 1990) says shortleaf pine has the widest range of any pine in the southeastern United States. It grows in 22 States over more than 1,139,600 square km (440,000 square miles), from southeastern New York and New Jersey west to Pennsylvania, southern Ohio, Kentucky, southwestern Illinois and southern Missouri, south to eastern Oklahoma and eastern Texas, and east to northern Florida and northeast through the Atlantic Coast States to Delaware. The handbook adds that it was reported to grow in 24 States in 1915 and that fossil pollen found in Michigan suggests it may once have grown there. It calls shortleaf the most common species regenerated in the northern and western parts of its range and says it tolerates a wide range of soil and site conditions.

Cones and seed

Silvics says shortleaf pine is monoecious, with male and female strobili emerging from late March in the southwestern part of the range to late April in the northeastern sections. Male strobili sit in clusters 1.3 to 5.1 cm (0.5 to 2.0 in) long and the female strobili are 1.0 to 3.8 cm (0.4 to 1.5 in) long at pollination. Cones develop rapidly after fertilization in early spring or summer of the second growing season and mature by late summer or early fall. The seeds are eaten by birds and small mammals, and the handbook says squirrels may cut the cones and eat the seeds before the cones open naturally.

Growth, roots and stand data

The handbook says growth and yield information is limited given the species' importance. Its example is a 60-year-old natural stand in the West Gulf region with a basal area of 16.1 square m per hectare (70 square ft per acre) and a site index of 21.3 m (70 ft), which would have a sawtimber volume of 119.8 cubic m per hectare (1,712 cubic ft per acre) for trees 23 cm (9 in) and larger. It says the practice of growing trees past 70 years is not common in managed stands because net growth rates decline rapidly.

On roots, seedlings can develop a taproot at an early age, and if it is damaged the seedling can grow a new one. In much of the region taproots do not develop because of shallow, rocky soils and in some cases hardpans. Most lateral roots lie in the top 46 cm (18 in) of soil and seldom go deeper than 102 cm (40 in). The handbook calls the species generally windfirm over most of its range, although trees may be uprooted where root systems are shallow.

Uses

Silvics says shortleaf is primarily used for lumber, plywood, other structural materials and pulpwood, and that even the taproots are used for pulpwood. It was commonly planted on eroded lands in Mississippi, and is sometimes planted as an evergreen ornamental and as a screen in urban areas. The handbook adds that older shortleaf pines with red heart rot (Phellinus pini) are primary nesting trees for the red-cockaded woodpecker.

Wood

The Wood Handbook (FPL-GTR-282, 2021) names shortleaf pine as one of the four major Southern Pine species with a range from southeastern New York southward to northern Florida and westward into eastern Texas and Oklahoma. It says shortleaf and loblolly pine are usually somewhat lighter in weight than longleaf pine and that all the southern pines have moderately high shrinkage but are dimensionally stable when properly dried. The group's structural and general uses are set out once on the loblolly pine page. Table 5-3b has a separate shortleaf row, shown below.

Wood Handbook Table 5-3b	Specific gravity	Modulus of rupture (lbf per square inch)	Side hardness (lbf)
Green	0.47	7,400	440
At 12% moisture content	0.51	13,100	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.

Diseases, insects and damage the handbook names

Silvics (1990) names these agents by the names it used.

Littleleaf disease. Called the most serious disease threat to shortleaf pine, found on poorly drained soils from Virginia to Mississippi and south to the Gulf Coast. The handbook says it results from a combination of factors including root destruction by Phytophthora cinnamomi, periodic soil moisture deficits, poor aeration, low fertility and nematode damage, which together impede mineral absorption. Symptoms usually appear when stands are 30 to 50 years old and seldom in stands under 20 years old, and the handbook says no practical control measures in forest stands have been developed.
Root rot and red heart. Saplings and older trees are moderately susceptible to the root rot caused by Heterobasidion annosum (see Heterobasidion root rot). Red heart, caused by Phellinus pini, may occur in older trees but is rare in stands under 80 years old.
Seedling and needle diseases. Damping off and root rot in seedlings when soil pH is above 6 and weather is wet, at least eight needle rusts, brown spot (Scirrhia acicola) which the handbook says may be aggressive, and the rust Cronartium comandrae on seedlings.
Tip moth and sawflies. The Nantucket pine tip moth (Rhyacionia frustrana), which the handbook says has become a major pest in the eastern United States, and the redheaded pine sawfly and the loblolly pine sawfly.
Weevils. Reproduction weevils are called the most serious insect pests of pine seedlings, reportedly killing 20 to 30 percent of seedlings planted in cutover pine lands; the pales weevil and the pitch-eating weevil are the most destructive species.
Bark beetles. The southern pine beetle (Dendroctonus frontalis), which the handbook says occasionally causes great losses (see southern pine beetle), the pine engraver beetles (Ips species), especially during severe droughts, and the black turpentine beetle.
Fire, ice and drought. Generally fire resistant, though wildfires in young plantations are very damaging and the crowns are usually killed but the tree sprouts from the base. A single ice storm cost almost one-third of the volume in a very heavily stocked stand in north Arkansas, and extreme drought can result in or contribute to mortality.

The guide on reporting a pest in the United States and the Canada reporting page give the offices that take sightings of regulated pests. Who may apply pesticides is in pesticide licences by country.