BOTANICAL AND ECOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS
SPECIES: Pinus resinosa | Red Pine 



GENERAL BOTANICAL CHARACTERISTICS : 
Red pine is a native, evergreen, coniferous tree with 4- to
6.5-inch-long (10.2-16.5 cm) needles and thick bark.  In closed stands,
red pine has a straight, limbless bole for almost three-fourths of its
length and an oval crown.  In open stands, branches are retained for
almost the full length of the tree and are horizontally spreading or
somewhat drooping.  Red pine usually attains a height of 70 to 80 feet
(21-24 m) and a d.b.h. of 36 inches (91 cm), but on good sites, it
occasionally reaches a maximum size of almost 150 feet (46 m) in height
and 60 inches (152 cm) in d.b.h. [14,34].  Red pine lives to be almost
400 years old [13,34].

Red pine is very windfirm.  Seedlings develop taproots 6 to 18 inches
(15-46 cm) long in the first growing season.  Older trees develop a
widespreading and moderately deep root system.  If unhindered by
competition, the longest lateral roots may extend 40 feet (12.2 m)
beyond the crown radius.  Vertical roots may penetrate 5 to 15 feet
(1.5-4.6 m) [34].



RAUNKIAER LIFE FORM : 
   Phanerophyte


REGENERATION PROCESSES : 
The minimum seed-bearing age of trees in open stands is 15 to 25 years
and in closed stands is 50 to 60 years.  Seed production is best in
trees 50 to 150 years of age.  Large seed crops occur once every 3 to 7
years with light crops in intervening years.  The winged seeds are
lightweight and disseminated by wind.  The effective dispersal range, as
measured by established seedlings, averages 40 feet (12 m) from the
source tree, but seeds may be carried up to 900 feet (275 m) [34].

Seedlings become established on mineral soil exposed by fire (see Fire
Effects for more information on regeneration).  Seeds germinate, but
seedlings do not establish beneath dense brush, on heavy litter or sod,
or on a recent burn with a heavy cover of ash.  The best conditions for
establishment are a fine sand seedbed, thin moss or litter, partial
shade, abundant precipitation, and a water table within 4 feet (1.2 m)
of the soil surface [34].  Seedling establishment is satisfactory in 35
percent of full sunlight but is uncertain in levels of light less than
17 percent.  Seedling height growth increases with increasing light up
to 63 percent of full sunlight [35].

After one growing season, seedling height is often less than 1 inch (3
cm) and the growth continues to be slow for 4 to 5 years.  It usually
takes 4 to 10 years for red pine to reach 4.5 feet (1.37 m).
Thereafter, height growth may average 1 foot (0.3 m) per year in the
Lake States and Ontario and 1.5 feet (0.5 m) per year in the
northeastern United States [34].

Red pine does not reproduce asexually.


SITE CHARACTERISTICS : 
Red pine occurs on outwash plains, level or gently rolling sand plains,
and low ridges adjacent to lakes and swamps.  It also occurs on mountain
slopes and hilltops, up to 2,700 feet (820 m) in the Adirondack
Mountains and 4,200 feet (1290 m) in the Appalachian Mountains in West
Virginia [34].  Red pine often grows on very exposed sites including
islands, peninsulas, east shores of lakes, and steep slopes.  It
withstands dehydrating winter winds better than its tree associates
[20].

Red pine commonly grows in dry sandy, acidic, infertile soils, primarily
glaciofluvial or eolian in origin [34], but it can grow in all types of
soils, provided they are well drained [20].  Red pine grows especially
well in naturally subirrigated soils (the watertable 4 to 9 feet
[1.2-2.7 m] below the surface) with well-aerated surface layers [34].

Most tree associates of red pine, with the exception of jack pine, white
pine, and aspen, grow as understory.  Common tree associates on coarse,
dry soils include quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides), bigtooth aspen
(P. grandidentata), and bear oak (Quercus ilicifolia).  On fine sands to
loamy sands, associates also include oak (Quercus spp.), black cherry
(Prunus serotina), and black spruce (Picea mariana).  On sandy loam to
loam soils, associates include sugar maple (Acer saccharum), American
basswood (Tilia americana), yellow birch (Betula alleghaniensis),
American beech (Fagus grandifolia), eastern hemlock (Tsuga canadensis),
white spruce (Picea glauca), white ash (Fraxinus americana), northern
white-cedar (Thuja occidentalis), and eastern hophornbean (Ostrya
virginiana) [34].

Many understory shrub associates of red pine are shade intolerant but
can persist in open red pine stands.  Shrub associates include
blueberries (Vaccinium spp.), trailing arbutus (Epigaea repens),
sweetfern (Comptonia peregrina), bearberry (Arctostaphylos uva-ursi),
prairie willow (Salix humilis), American hazel, beaked hazel, striped
maple (Acer pensylvanicum), dwarf bush-honeysuckle (Diervilla lonicera),
New Jersey tea (Ceanothus americanus), sand cherry (Prunus pumila and P.
susquehanae), American fly honeysuckle (Lonicera canadensis),
serviceberries (Amelanchier spp.), raspberries (Rubus spp.), and spireas
(Spireas spp.) [34].



SUCCESSIONAL STATUS : 
Facultative Seral Species

Red pine is shade intolerant.  It rates 2.4 in tolerance on a scale of 0
to 10, compared with aspens which rate 0.7 and eastern hemlock which
rates 10.  Of its associates, only jack pine, aspens, paper birch
(Betula papyrifera), and gray birch (B. populifolia) are less shade
tolerant [34].  Red pine succeeds these shorter lived, less tolerant
associates and is, in turn, succeeded by more shade-tolerant associates
including white pine, white spruce, and balsam fir (Abies balsamea)
[11].

On coarse, infertile sands, red pine may be a long-persisting subclimax
species [11].  Natural red pine stands are commonly very open, and red
pine reproduces in some of these parklike stands.  In extremely
windswept areas red pine may persist indefinitely because few other
species can survive on these sites [20].


SEASONAL DEVELOPMENT : 
Cones develop over two growing seasons.  After development begins in
midsummer, cones become dormant until the following spring.  Pollination
occurs in late May or early June, and cones continue to grow until late
summer.  Fertilization occurs the following summer, approximately 13
months after pollination.  Cones ripen in early autumn and seeds are
dispersed in October and November.  Germination occurs the following
spring or early summer [18,34].

Related categories for Species: Pinus resinosa | Red Pine