{"id":22200,"date":"2023-05-15T08:02:51","date_gmt":"2023-05-15T12:02:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/fnr\/extension\/?p=22200"},"modified":"2025-06-03T14:29:28","modified_gmt":"2025-06-03T18:29:28","slug":"intro-to-trees-of-indiana-virginia-pine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/fnr\/extension\/intro-to-trees-of-indiana-virginia-pine\/","title":{"rendered":"Intro to Trees of Indiana: Virginia Pine"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

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.\"Image<\/a><\/p>\n

Each week, the Intro to\u00a0Trees of Indiana web\u00a0series will offer a sneak peek at one species from the book,\u00a0paired 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>\u00a0exhibit of the Purdue Arboretum, if available.<\/p>\n

This week, we meet the Virginia pine, or\u00a0Pinus virginiana<\/em>. In Indiana, this species is native to the southern part of the state, namely Clark and Floyd counties in the dry, hilly areas known as the Knobs near the Ohio River, but it has been widely planted across the state.<\/p>\n

This native conifer has clusters of two needles, approximately two inches long, which are often twisted.<\/p>\n

The Virginia pine has an open canopy. Bark on the Virginia pine is flaky, with a combination of gray and red-orange tones. The bark gets more orange higher up the trunk. Cones are one to three inches long and have very sharp thorns at the end of the scales. Cones typically stay on the tree for several years.<\/p>\n