{"id":21785,"date":"2023-04-06T10:00:32","date_gmt":"2023-04-06T14:00:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/fnr\/extension\/?p=21785"},"modified":"2025-06-03T14:21:11","modified_gmt":"2025-06-03T18:21:11","slug":"intro-to-in-trees-red-pine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/fnr\/extension\/intro-to-in-trees-red-pine\/","title":{"rendered":"Intro to IN Trees: Red Pine"},"content":{"rendered":"

The classic and trusted book “Fifty Common Trees of Indiana” by T.E. Shaw was\u00a0published in 1956 as a user-friendly guide to local species.\u00a0\u00a0Nearly 70 years later, the publication has\u00a0been updated through a joint effort by the Purdue Department of Forestry and Natural Resources,\u00a0Indiana 4-H<\/a>, and\u00a0the\u00a0Indiana Department of Natural Resources<\/a>, and reintroduced as “An Introduction to Trees of Indiana.”<\/p>\n

The\u00a0full publication<\/a>\u00a0is available for download for $7 in the Purdue Extension Education Store. The field guide helps identify common Indiana woodlot trees. \"Drawing<\/a><\/p>\n

Each week, the Intro to\u00a0Trees of Indiana web\u00a0series will offer a sneak peek at one species from the book, paired with an\u00a0ID That Tree video from Purdue Extension forester\u00a0Lenny Farlee<\/a>\u00a0to help visualize each species as it stands in the woods.\u00a0Threats to species\u00a0health\u00a0as well as\u00a0also\u00a0insight into the wood provided by the species, will be provided\u00a0through additional resources as well as the\u00a0Hardwoods of the Central Midwest<\/a> exhibit of the Purdue Arboretum, if available.<\/p>\n

This week, we meet the red pine, or\u00a0Pinus resinosa<\/em>, which is not native to Indiana, but has been planted widely across the state.<\/p>\n

This conifer has clusters of two slender, flexible, green or yellow green needles, which are four to six inches long. If the needles are bent, they will break cleanly, unlike that of ornamentally planted Austrian pine. The long needles cause a very tufted look to the tree canopy.<\/p>\n

Bark on the red pine is scaly and red-orange in color in younger trees and platy and reddish brown in older trees. Cones are egg-shaped, approximately two inches long and have smooth scales.<\/p>\n

Red pine tends to be very, straight and tall, growing to between 50 and 80 feet tall. This species, which can be as tall as 200 feet, is typically found on sandy, well-drained soils with low pH and full sun. The natural range of the red pine is the northeastern United States and southern Canada near the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River. The species can be found as far west as Minnesota and into Manitoba. It can be found dipping south into Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, West Virginia and Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n