Pinus elliottii Engelm.

Trees to 30m; trunk to 0.8m diam., straight to contorted; crown conic, becoming rounded or flattened. Bark orange- to purple-brown, irregularly furrowed and cross-checked into large, irregularly rectangular, papery-scaly plates. Branches spreading to ascending; twigs stout (to ca. 1cm thick), orange-brown, aging darker brown, rough-scaly. Buds cylindric, silvery brown, 1.5--2cm; scale margins fringed. Leaves 2 or 3 per fascicle, spreading or ascending, persisting ca. 2 years, 15--20(--23)cm ´ 1.2--1.5mm, straight, slightly twisted, pliant, yellow- to blue-green, all surfaces with stomatal lines, margins finely serrulate, apex abruptly acute to acuminate; sheath 1--2cm, base persistent. Pollen cones cylindric, 30--40mm, purplish. Seed cones maturing in 2 years, falling the year after seed-shed, single or in pairs, symmetric, lance-ovoid before opening, ovoid or ovoid-cylindric when open, (7--)9--18(--20)cm, light chocolate brown, on stalks to 3cm; apophyses lustrous (as if varnished), slightly raised, strongly cross-keeled; umbo central, depressed-pyramidal, with short, stout prickle. Seeds ellipsoid, oblique-tipped; body 6--7mm, dark brown; wing to 20mm.

Trees to 30 m tall; trunk to 0.8 m d.b.h. in native range; bark orange- or purple-brown, furrowed into irregularly oblong, large, papery, scaly plates; crown conical, becoming rounded or flat topped; branchlets orange-brown, aging darker brown, stout, roughly scaly, producing 3 or 4 nodes each year; winter buds silvery brown, cylindric, scales fringed at margin. Needles 2 or 3 per bundle, slightly twisted, yellow- or blue-green, 15-20 (-24) cm × 0.2-1.5 mm, stomatal lines present on all surfaces, base with persistent sheath 1-2 cm, margin finely serrulate. Seed cones solitary or paired, pedunculate (peduncle to 3 cm), pale brown, ovoid or ovoid-cylindric when open, (7-)9-18(-20) cm, maturing in 2 years, then falling the year after seeds shed. Apophyses lustrous, slightly raised, strongly cross keeled; umbo depressed-pyramidal, with a short, stout prickle. Seeds dark brown, ellipsoid, 6-7 mm, apex oblique; wing to 2 cm.

Cultivated. Anhui (Jing Xian), Fujian (Minhou Xian), Guangdong, Guangxi, Hubei (Wuhan Shi), Hunan, Jiangsu, Jiangxi (Ji’an Xian), Taiwan, Yunnan (Kunming Shi), Zhejiang [native to SE United States]

Pinus heterophylla (Elliott) Sudworth, 1893, not K. Koch, 1849; P. taeda Linnaeus var. heterophylla Elliott