Types of Pine Tree Species

Ponderosa Pine

• Ponderosa pine is the most widely distributed pine tree in North America. It is a high altitude tree, most commonly appearing between 6,000 and 9,000 feet in elevation. These pines have long clear trunks and high, short open crowns. They are approximately 165 feet tall when mature. Trees have separate male and female cones. Its needles come bunched in groups of threes, sometimes two, are dark to yellow-green in color and are about 7 inches long.

Loblolly Pine

• This species, also known as Arkansas pine, North Carolina pine or Oldfield pine, is the most important commercial timber in the southeastern U.S. It is primarily used for pulp and paper but also for lumber and plywood. Loblolly pine is common from New Jersey to central Florida and westward to Texas and Oklahoma. Mature trees range from 90 to 110 feet high and have grayish-brown bark with long, irregular plates. Its needles, which are bluish-green, are 4 to 9 inches long and are grouped in threes.

Lodgepole Pine

• Lodgepole pines are found on mountain slopes at elevations of 6,000 feet and above. These trees have long, slender trunks and high, thin crowns. Mature trees average 70 feet high and are 24 inches in diameter. They produce separate male and female serotinous cones, which remain shut at maturity due to a resin between cone scales. Needles come in bundles of two, average 2 inches long and are twisted. Color varies between yellow-green and dark green in color. Native Americans used these pines as poles to support their lodges.

Eastern White Pine

• Distinguished by its windblown look and its large cones, the Eastern white pine is the largest conifer in the eastern U.S., commonly growing to heights of 80 to 110 feet. It is the only species native to the eastern U.S. that features needles in bundles of five that measure 3 to 5 inches in length. Needles are soft and flexible and are blue-green in color. This species is long-lived. Individual trees commonly reach 200 years in age, with some exceeding 400 years. Eastern white pine is also known as Northern white pine, Northern pine, soft pine and cork pine.