Pinus elliottii var. densa description

Pinus elliottii var. densa Little et Dorman 1952

Common Names

South Florida slash pine (Kral 1993).

Taxonomic notes

Syn: Pinus elliottii subsp. densa (Little & Dorman) Murray 1982; P. densa (Little & Dorman) Silba var. austro-keyensis Silba 1990; P. heterophylla (Elliott) Sudworth non Koch 1849, pro parte (e.g. Sudworth 1893, Sargent 1897) (Farjon and Styles 1997); Pinus densa (Little & Dorman) de Laubenfels & Silba. The name Pinus caribaea Morelet has been applied in error to P. elliottii var. densa (Kral 1993, Farjon and Styles 1997).

Description

"Seedlings with vertical growth interrupted by grass stage, stem then more thickened, fascicles much more numerous and crowded around bud, and other buds more approximate on stem. Leaves mostly in 2s, sometimes in 3s on same shoot, resin canals per leaf 3-9, hypodermis (2-)3-4(-5) cell-layers thick. Seed-cone base mostly rounded when open" (Kral 1993).

This variety is best distinguished by its wood, which is heavier and harder than that of typical slash pine, and by its having a grass stage comparable to that of P. palustris (Kral 1993).

Range

USA: Florida. Found in flatwoods, mostly over limestone, at 0-10 m elevation (Kral 1993).

Big Tree

Diameter 105 cm, height 20 m, crown spread 23 m, located in the University of South Florida, Sarasota, Florida (American Forests 1996).

Oldest

Dendrochronology

Ethnobotany

This variety is not used for naval stores as is the type variety; neither is it commercially planted (Kral 1993).