Pinus elliottii Engelmann. Subgenus: Pinus. Section: Trifoliae. Subsection: Australes. clade: Elliottii. Slash Pine. Phen: Jan-Feb; Oct-Nov. Hab: Native in wet pine flatwoods and maritime forests, also extensively planted (over a broader distribution than the natural one, as in GA, SC, NC, w. LA, e. TX) in silvicultural plantations on a wide variety of soils, many of them unsuitable for its successful growth. Dist: P. elliottii ranges natively from e. SC south to c. peninsular FL, west to e. LA. P. elliottii has been extensively planted throughout the Coastal Plain of Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina, where it now occupies tens of thousands of hectares.

ID notes:Superficially, P. elliottii resembles both P. palustris and P. taeda, with cone size and needle length intermediate. P. elliottii is sometimes difficult to tell from P. taeda; additional helpful characteristics are the seed cones on 1.5-3 cm long stalks (vs. essentially sessile), seed cones reddish-brown and glossy, appearing varnished (vs. brown and dull), needles thicker and a dark glossy green (vs. thinner and a yellowish green); bark prominently flaking off and revealing reddish patches (vs. not notably flaking off and not revealing reddish patches).

Origin/Endemic status: Endemic

Synonymy: = Pinus elliottii Engelm. var. elliottii – FNA2, K1, K3, SFla, Price (1989), Ward (1963); = Pinus palustris Mill. – S, misapplied; < Pinus elliottii Engelm. – ETx1, Fl1, RAB, Tx, WH3

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Wetland Indicator Status:

• Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plain: FACW (taxonomic split from wetland indicator species)
• Great Plains: FAC (taxonomic split from wetland indicator species)

Heliophily: 8