PA Conifer Profile: Pinus Virginiana

Spring growth of Virginia pine. Copyright status: all rights reserved. Copyright Benjamin Failor.

PA Conifer Profile: Pinus Virginiana

by: Benjamin Failor

Common name: Virginia Pine

Called “scrub pine” due to its branchy (“scrubby,”[1] see definition 1b) shape when young, invasiveness/”pioneer species” tendency, its required -not accepted but required- poor soil habitat, its hard short needles, its jagged, sharp cones, and its near worthlessness at maturity, make it aesthetically unpleasant, and commercially not very desired[2], and lead this pine be considered more a weed than a conifer to some. But I like them, and so do northern bobwhites, white-tailed deer*, and backyard birds. [3] Historically, so did pulpwood manufacturers, box-makers, and, as far back as the early 1700s, tar-makers [6.]

For wildlife, it all depends on the stage of growth. The young trees provide cover, while the old trees provide nesting for woodpeckers due to the softened wood common due to fungal decay. [4]

Virginia pine is a transitional tree, which means that it grows quicker than other trees after a woodland area is cut down; however, it is intolerant of its own shade, and thus seedlings can not establish under its canopy, and more shade-tolerant species’, such as hickory and oak, grow instead. [5]

It evidently lives up to its name, seeing as only a few counties in Virginia (and those few likely were simply too lazy to report it) have the tree growing.

When mature, all of the branches of this tree except those at the crown die, yet persist on the tree, giving the tree an almost “dead” appearance, prevented only from being seen as such by the crown of green foliage at the top. Without a doubt, these trees are more ornamental when young.

References:

1: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/scrub

2: http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/42426/0

3: https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/42152288

4: https://www.jstor.org/stable/3800477

5: https://www.srs.fs.usda.gov/pubs/misc/ag_654/volume_1/pinus/virginiana.htm

Possible conflicting information: https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/all/pinus-virginiana/

6: https://archive.org/details/usesofcommercial00hallrich (page thirty)

7: https://agrarianpennsylvania.wixsite.com/pinetreeinfodesk/forum/sources-do-not-edit/p-virginiana-distribution-map-old