Slash pine (Pinus elliottii): 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 elliottii Engelm., pine family; two varieties, var. elliottii and var. densa
Other names	Southern pine, yellow slash pine, swamp pine, pitch pine and Cuban pine (Silvics)
Native status, USDA PLANTS	Native in the lower 48 states
Planting, Silvics	One of the most frequently planted timber species in North America
Green weight of the wood, NRS-38	58 lb per cubic foot, without bark

Native range

The Silvics of North America handbook (Agriculture Handbook 654, volume 1, 1990) calls slash pine one of the hard yellow pines of the southeastern United States, one of the two southern pines used for naval stores and one of the most frequently planted timber species in North America. It says slash pine has the smallest native range of the four major southern pines, extending over 8 degrees of latitude and 10 degrees of longitude, with 45 percent of the growing stock in Georgia. The natural range runs from Georgetown County, South Carolina, south to central Florida and west to Tangipahoa Parish, Louisiana, covering the lower Coastal Plain, part of the middle Coastal Plain and the hills of south Georgia. The variety densa grows naturally only in the southern half of peninsular Florida and the Keys.

The handbook says slash pine has been planted as far north as Tennessee, in north central Georgia and in Alabama, and has been planted and direct-seeded in Louisiana and eastern Texas, where it reproduces naturally. Within its natural range it says the distribution was first set by the susceptibility of seedlings to fire, so that it grew in the flatwoods of north Florida and south Georgia and along streams and the edges of swamps and bays.

Flowers and growth

Silvics describes slash pine as monoecious and wind pollinated, with flowering usually between 10 and 15 years of age, though occasionally as early as 3 years. Male strobili appear as small knobs near the base of vegetative buds in the fall, usually in clusters of 12 or more, and are purple and 5 cm (2 in) long when pollen is shed in late January. The handbook says slash pine makes rapid volume growth at early ages and suits short rotations under intensive management, with almost three-fourths of the 50-year yield produced by age 30 regardless of stand density, and with current merchantable volume increment in thinned stands peaking before age 20.

Roots

The handbook says slash pine develops an extensive lateral root system and a moderate taproot, with lateral roots in one trial reaching more than double the tree height after 5 years in three of four site preparation treatments. Taproots may be deformed by poor planting technique, a restricting soil horizon or a high water table.

Special uses

Silvics says slash pine is worked for naval stores, among the oldest industries in the United States, supplying a large share of the world's resin and turpentine since colonial times, and that chipping trees for oleoresin increases bark thickness and reduces volume growth inside the bark by 20 to 25 percent. It adds that cattle graze slash pine forests and that moderate grazing does little damage past the seedling stage.

Wood

The Wood Handbook (FPL-GTR-282, 2021) lists slash pine as one of the four major Southern Pine species, with a growth range of Florida and southern South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana east of the Mississippi River. It says lumber from slash pine and longleaf pine is classified as longleaf pine under industry grading standards if it meets the growth-ring and latewood requirements. The uses it gives for Southern Pine as a group are the same as on the longleaf pine page. Table 5-3b gives no side hardness for slash pine.

Wood Handbook Table 5-3b	Specific gravity	Modulus of rupture (lbf per square inch)	Side hardness (lbf)
Green	0.54	8,700	Not listed
At 12% moisture content	0.59	16,300	Not listed

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) names these agents by the names it used.

Fusiform rust. Cronartium quercuum f. sp. fusiforme, called the most serious disease of slash pine. The handbook says most southern oaks serve as alternate hosts, that the fungus damages only pines, that many trees are killed and others deformed, and that fertilization or vegetation control increases susceptibility.
Annosus root rot. Heterobasidion annosum, most damaging on soils with good drainage, with infection beginning on fresh stump surfaces and spreading by root contact.
Pitch canker. Fusarium moniliforme var. subglutinans, causing heavy damage in nurseries, seed orchards and plantations, killing only the leader where cankers are high in the crown and girdling the trunk where they are below it. The guide on pitch canker of pine covers the disease.
Insects. The pales weevil, pine webworm, blackheaded and redheaded pine sawflies, Texas leafcutting ant, black turpentine beetle and Ips engraver beetles. The handbook says slash pine is not particularly susceptible to the southern pine beetle (southern pine beetle page) except under environmental stress.
Other agents. The root parasite Senna seymeria, red heart (Phellinus pini) in mature or overmature timber, and southern cone rust, which may destroy a cone crop.
Weather and fire. Young slash pines are susceptible to wildfire injury until they are 3.0 to 4.6 m (10 to 15 ft) tall, the species may suffer severe glaze damage, particularly in heavily thinned stands, and it is subject to windthrow on shallow soils.

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.