Table Mountain Pine - Pinus pungens

Pinaceae - Pine Family
"A Year With the Trees" - Tree Number 70
Table Mountain Pine Tree
Pinus pungens

Spring

Table Mountain Pine

This Table Mountain Pine tree lives in Asheville, North Carolina.  This tree is filled with young cones.

Table Mountain Pine

Summer

I will collect this image very soon.  Please check back.

Fall 

Table Mountain Pine Tree

Table Mountain Pine Tree

This tree lives in West Virginia at Pipestem State Park.  I asked the naturalist there, Jim Phillips, where I could find the Table Mountain Pine Tree at Pipestem State Park. Jim told me that to find this tree I will need to hike down into the gorge for 3/4 of a mile. He told me that it is foggy and cool here in the mornings and the hike down is pretty steep.  I really wanted to find it, so I did get up early the next morning and hiked down into the gorge to photograph this tree.  I was rewarded with a colorful morning.  There were thousands of red and orange and yellow leaves glowing in the morning sunlight after the fog rose out of the gorge.

This park is an incredible park to see Fall leaf color.

Winter

The Table Mountain Pine - Pinus pungens

This tree can be identified by having two needles per bundle which are twisted and stiff. The cones grow in clusters of two or more. The cones have sharp spines, which is their distinguishing characteristic feature. The cones stay on the tree. Sometimes the cones stay on the tree for up to 20 years. The cones point backwards or down. The bark is dark brown and thick; it looks divided into scaly plates.

This tree grows only in the southern Appalachians. It can live up to 200 years. The tree can grow up to 50 feet high and 18 inches in diameter.

Squirrels eat the seeds of the table mountain pine. Because squirrels are smart enough to get to the seeds from the sharply spiked cones, this tree has also been named Squirrel pine. The Table Mountain pine is an important soil protector keeping erosion and runoff from the rugged landscapes in which it thrives to a minimum.

Trees that grow on cliffs and rock outcrops usually grow in picturesque and gnarly shapes. The botanist Andre Michaux named this tree after Table Mountain in North Carolina, where he first encountered it in 1794.

This tree was the lonesome pine of the book, "The Lonesome Pine".

The Champion Table Mountain Pine Trees

The American Forest Champion Table Mountain Pine tree lives in Green Ridge State Forest in Maryland.  It is 90 feet tall and has a circumference of 69 inches.  Its crown spread is 39 feet.
http://www.americanforests.org/big-trees/table-mountain-pine-pinus-pungens-2/

The North Carolina State Champion Tree lives in Stokes County, North Carolina.  It is 120 feet high and has a circumference of 104 inches.  Its crown spread is 41 feet.
http://ncforestservice.gov/urban/big_species_results.asp

My favorite Table Mountain Pine Tree

I am pondering my favorite Table Mountain Pine Tree and will update this when I figure this out.  



For the love of the trees,
Becky