People who are a fan of this oddly shaped tree call it Virginia Pine,
Pinus virginicus. Those who are not, call it Scrub Pine. It’s a tree of low pH soils and quickly colonizes disturbed, low fertility fields. Virginia Pine does not always produce the nice conical shape of other pines and this disturbs some people.
The needles grow from the stem in pairs and share a common base. In pines this grouping of needles is called a bundle and Virginia Pine has needles in bundles of two. At the tip of the branch is a collection of buds which will not begin to grow until the tree has gone through a winter cycle. The needles will stay on the tree for at least a full year and will not turn yellow and drop until next year’s growth has produced a new batch of needles.
This is an immature cone, the part of the pine tree that contains the seeds. When the seeds mature, the cone will dry and the scales will pull back to release the winged seeds. If you grab one of these cones, the spines can quite effectively pierce your skin.
Here is a mature cone from a previous season. These are very nicely shaped cones. I think they would be perfect for use in craft projects.
The old cones stay on the tree for years and the view from beneath a large tree shows a profusion of cones throughout the entire structure.
Most Virginia Pine thickets can be traced back to one large tree that was the original colonizer. I don’t have many Virginia Pine at Blue Jay Barrens so I’m letting this colony grow. My initial thought is to contain it to about half an acre, but I’ll have to see what effect it has on the species mix in the area before making a firm decision. A nice area of native pine might bring in some new bird species or a pair of Red Squirrels.
I’ve been walking past this little pine for several years without paying it any special attention. I wondered why it wasn’t growing over in the low pH soils with the other Virginia Pines, but dismissed it as just being another oddity of Blue Jay Barrens. It put on a tremendous amount of growth this year, so I stopped to give it a closer look.
The trunk at the base of the tree is out of proportion with the upper growth. There are signs that growth has been a struggle. The central trunk shown here was once a side branch that took over the leadership position when the original lead shoot died or was eaten. The trunk supports several short side branches that would take over as the central leader if the top was once again lost.
I found several frass filled webs scattered about the tree. The webs were all quite small, but were tightly packed with caterpillar droppings, so I’m assuming that it was some type of communal nest. It was odd that there was very little evidence of any missing needles.
The tree must have suffered a lot of damage during its lifetime. Odd growths, weird branch angles and other deformities are everywhere you look. Sometime in the past, the top was removed at this point and two branches are battling to become the one true leader. A vertical crack at the joining point of the two branches will be a perfect place for the tree to split under a heavy snow load. This tree doesn’t seem to have much of a chance of getting very tall.
While I was photographing, the fact jumped out at me that this pine had three needles to a bundle , instead of the two that are a trait of Virginia Pine. Not being a Virginia Pine may explain why it’s not growing with the Virginia Pines. Three slightly twisted needles in a bundle points to Pitch Pine, Pinus rigida. If this truly is Pitch Pine, then I have another species to add to my list. These healthy looking buds suggest that I’ll have plenty of time to study this tree and decide for sure on the ID.
Now I’ll have to pay closer attention to this guy so I can be sure of its designation. I’ll also have to make a check in the pine field to see if there are any pines over there that aren’t Virginia Pine. I love these kinds of surprises.
