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About Shortleaf Pine
Shortleaf pine (Pinus echinata) is a native evergreen conifer with slender needles, small prickly cones, and rugged reddish-brown to gray bark. It is one of the major southern yellow pines and can grow into a tall forest tree with an open crown and long, straight trunk. The needles usually grow in bundles of two or three and are shorter than those of many other southern pines, which helps explain the common name.
In spring, shortleaf pine produces small pollen cones and seed cones instead of showy flowers. The male pollen cones may be pale purple or yellowish, while the young female cones can be pinkish to reddish before they mature into woody brown cones. The cones are relatively small and often have little prickles on the scales.
Shortleaf pine is especially interesting because it is fire-adapted. Young trees can resprout from the base if the top is damaged, a useful trait in fire-shaped pine and oak woodlands. In a coloring page, shortleaf pine offers evergreen needles, small cones, textured bark, pine seedlings, and plenty of wildlife possibilities, from butterflies and moths to birds and squirrels.
Where Shortleaf Pine Grows
Shortleaf pine is native to the eastern and south-central United States and has the widest natural range of the southern yellow pines. It grows from parts of the Northeast south into the Southeast and west into the Ozarks, eastern Texas, and Oklahoma. It is especially associated with upland woods, pine-oak forests, open woodlands, old fields, rocky slopes, dry ridges, sandy soils, and fire-maintained landscapes.
This tree prefers full sun and well-drained soil. It can grow in dry, rocky, acidic, sandy, or low-fertility sites, but it may also occur in mixed hardwood forests and more mesic habitats. In natural communities, it often grows with oaks, hickories, bluestem grasses, little bluestem, broomsedge, asters, goldenrods, and other plants of sunny woodland edges and savannas.
Shortleaf pine is valuable in restoration projects because many shortleaf pine woodlands and savannas have declined. Prescribed fire, thinning, and careful management can help restore open pine habitats that support grasses, wildflowers, birds, insects, and other wildlife. It is a tree with a little smoke in its memory, built for landscapes where fire once shaped the understory.
Pollinators It Supports
Shortleaf pine is wind-pollinated, so it does not attract nectar-seeking bees or butterflies with showy flowers. Its pollen moves through the air from male cones to female cones. But even without nectar-rich blooms, shortleaf pine is important for insects and wildlife because its needles, cones, seeds, bark, and canopy all support habitat.
Shortleaf pine is a host plant for the eastern pine elfin (Callophrys niphon), a small brown butterfly whose caterpillars feed on pine needles and young growth. It also supports the imperial moth (Eacles imperialis), a large yellow-and-brown moth whose caterpillars feed on several tree species, including pines. These caterpillars help connect shortleaf pine to birds, since caterpillars are important food for nestlings.
The seeds are eaten by birds and small mammals, including squirrels, mice, and seed-eating birds. Shortleaf pine stands can provide cover for northern bobwhite and wild turkey, while older trees may provide habitat for cavity-nesting wildlife. In mature pine woodlands, birds such as brown-headed nuthatches, pine warblers, red-bellied woodpeckers, and, in suitable older pine habitat, red-cockaded woodpeckers may use pine-dominated landscapes. For a coloring page, shortleaf pine pairs well with an eastern pine elfin, imperial moth caterpillar, squirrel with a cone, pine warbler, bobwhite, or woodpecker.
Coloring Tips
Color the needles deep green, blue-green, or gray-green. Since the needles grow in small bundles, draw or color them as fine clusters rather than broad flat leaves. New spring growth can be lighter green, while older needles can be darker and more muted.
The cones are usually warm brown, chestnut brown, or gray-brown when mature. Young cones can be pinkish, reddish, or pale purple, depending on the season. Add darker shading under the cone scales and tiny prickly tips for texture.
The bark can be gray-brown, reddish-brown, dark brown, or rusty orange in the cracks. Older trees often have plated, scaly bark, so use rough blocks and ridges rather than smooth lines. For the background, place shortleaf pine in an open pine-oak woodland, dry ridge, rocky slope, old field, or savanna scene. Add bluestem grasses, goldenrods, asters, oak leaves, pine needles on the ground, or a touch of prescribed-fire smoke in the distance. To show wildlife value, include an eastern pine elfin, imperial moth caterpillar, pine warbler, northern bobwhite, or squirrel near the cones.