SHORTLEAF PINE, the only native pine in Missouri, is easy to pick
out at a distance in the winter when hardwood trees are bare. The dark green
crowns of the pine trees lend a welcome color to the otherwise drab grays and
browns of the Ozark winter landscape.
This softwood or evergreen tree has needles occurring in clusters of two and three along the twig. The needles are actually shed every two years but some remain on the tree year round. This is why it is called an evergreen.
Bull pine or yellow pine are other local names for shortleaf pine. Open grown trees, sometimes called bull pine, grow rapidly and have large bushy crowns. Lumber from these trees warps rather badly and is knotty and low grade. All pines with 2 to 3 needles are called yellow pines while all pines with 5 needles in a bunch are call white pines.
Shortleaf pines is one of the very
few pines that sprout. This feature has saved this pine from near extermination
in the Ozarks. When seedlings and saplings are killed by wildfires or cutting,
they sprout to form a new tree.
This tree species was a primary source of timber at the turn of the century when millions of board feet were harvested for Missouri's large sawmills in the southern Ozarks. The scene bustled with activity with railroad networks reaching from the woods to the sawmills. Oxen pulled wagons loaded with large pine logs to the mills where railroads were lacking. This was the heyday of the colorful Ozark tie-rafters, floating ties down the rivers to the mills.
Pine cones or burs take two years to mature. The small winged seeds, which look like miniature maple seeds are located inside the cone. On dry, windy days in the fall the cones open and the wind-borne seeds may be scattered as far as one-fourth mile. Heavy seed crops occur at three to five-year intervals. It is not uncommon to see even-aged green patches of pine seedlings or saplings surrounding a mother tree in a clearing or an old field.
Shortleaf pine is a resin or pitch-forming tree. Because the knot and stumps or pine trees contain large amounts of pitch, they are excellent for starting campfires and fires in cook stoves. As an aid in gigging fish at night, "fat wood" or flaming pine knots were suspended in a metal basket from a "fireboat" to illuminate the water.
Pitchy wood lasts longer in the stump and root since it is more resistant to rot. The wood from this tree is valued highly since it takes chemical treatment easily. This feature makes it desirable for use as fence posts. Pine lumber, poles and posts demand above average prices on the market.
In the natural pine range, this tree may attain a height of 80 to 100 feet. Pine grows best on dry, rocky, acid soils on south facing slopes and ridge tops.
