Kingdom Plantae Class Pinopsida Family Pinaceae Scientific name Pinus pungens | Division Pinophyta Order Pinales Genus Pinus Rank Species | |
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Similar Pinus serotina, Pinus glabra, Pinus virginiana, Pinus echinata, Pinus clausa |
Table Mountain pine, Pinus pungens, also called hickory pine, prickly pine, or mountain pine, is a small pine native to the Appalachian Mountains in the United States.
Contents
![Table mountain pine Table Mountain Pine Photos Diagrams Topos SummitPost](https://alchetron.com/cdn/table-mountain-pine-675ad532-d541-48ba-9e99-0a90d343353-resize-750.jpg)
Description
![Table mountain pine Table Mountain Pine](https://alchetron.com/cdn/table-mountain-pine-5c3fe240-03a0-4a6e-9c3a-9a2ea6d6fa6-resize-750.jpg)
Pinus pungens is a tree of modest size (6–12 m), and has a rounded, irregular shape. The needles are in bundles of two, occasionally three, yellow-green to mid green, fairly stout, and 4–7 cm long.The pollen is released early compared to other pines in the area to minimize hybridization. The cones are very short-stalked (almost sessile), ovoid, pale pinkish to yellowish buff, and 4–9 cm long; each scale bears a stout, sharp spine 4–10 mm long. Sapling trees can bear cones in a little as 5 years.
![Table mountain pine Pinus](https://alchetron.com/cdn/table-mountain-pine-057dc23a-9d09-4fcc-8434-2c761c18ee7-resize-750.jpg)
This pine prefers dry conditions and is mostly found on rocky slopes, preferring higher elevations, from 300–1760 m altitude. It commonly grows as single scattered trees or small groves, not in large forests like most other pines, and needs periodic disturbances for seedling establishment.
In culture
![Table mountain pine httpsuploadwikimediaorgwikipediacommonsthu](https://alchetron.com/cdn/table-mountain-pine-5326133c-3807-467c-91c0-2d747f87148-resize-750.jpg)
Pinus pungens is the Lonesome Pine of the 1908 novel The Trail of the Lonesome Pine by John Fox, and popularised in the Laurel and Hardy film Way out West:
On the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia On the Trail of the Lonesome PineSeveral "Lonesome Pine" hiking trails have been waymarked in the Blue Ridge Mountains and elsewhere in the Appalachians.
![Table mountain pine Mountain Pine Pinus pungens](https://alchetron.com/cdn/table-mountain-pine-778f6e74-9fe1-40b7-b2c7-b8f654f4b52-resize-750.jpeg)
![Table mountain pine Mountain Pine Pinus pungens](https://alchetron.com/cdn/table-mountain-pine-92377b9f-87d9-4266-8805-4118969ef09-resize-750.jpeg)