Table Mountain Pine

(Pinus pungens)

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Table Mountain Pine (Pinus pungens)

Identifying Characters: The restricted range of the species in the Appalachian Mountains, the needles in bundles of 2, the twisted blue-green needles, and the strong apical cone scale spine are diagnostic for the species.

Similar Species: Within its range Table Mountain Pine is most likely to be confused with Virginia Pine. The apical spines of the cone scales are not as well developed in Virginia Pine as in Table Mountain Pine and the cones of Virginia Pine are symmetric, not oblique at the base.

Measurements: Although growing to a maximum of 95 feet, most mature individuals of Table Mountain Pine are between 35 and 40 feet and 10 inches in diameter.

Cones: Ovate to slightly conical and oblique at the base with a greater development of cone scales on the outer than the inner side; cones 2 to 3.5 inches long; cones become fat and round when open; cones sessile, usually in clusters of 3 or 4; cone scales with an apical large, hooked spine; cones frequently remaining close for 2 to 3 years and highly persistent.

Needles: Needles 1.25 to 2.5 inches long, rigid, usually twisted; needles deciduous during their second and third years; needle color blue-green.

Bark: Bark dark brown to gray-brown, broken in irregular plates and separating on the outside into loose scales.

Native Range: Table Mountain Pine, an Appalachian endemic, grows almost entirely within the range of pitch pine (Pinus rigida) and Virginia pine (P. virginiana), but is less frequent. In general, Table Mountain pine occupies xeric sites of Appalachian rocky and shaly mountainous areas from Georgia into Pennsylvania. It is frequently found on ridges of the precipitous gorges that dissect the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Table Mountain Pine is unevenly distributed; its range extends from the Northern Appalachians in central Pennsylvania southwest to eastern West Virginia and southward into the Southern Appalachians, ending on the steep western edge of the mountains of North Carolina and east Tennessee. To the east and south, its range includes the crest and eastern escarpment of the prominent Blue Ridge Front with its numerous rocky gorges and torrential mountain streams. Toward the southern end of its range, Table Mountain pine reaches its highest elevation of 1760 m (5,780 ft) in the Great Smoky Mountains. There are numerous outlying populations of Table Mountain pine to the east and a few to the west of the Appalachians; many outliers are associated with monadnocks which rise considerably higher than the surrounding Piedmont. (Silvics of North America. 1990. Agriculture Handbook 654.)

Habitat: In general, Table Mountain Pine occupies xeric sites of Appalachian rocky and shaly mountainous areas from Georgia into Pennsylvania. It is frequently found on ridges of the precipitous gorges that dissect the Blue Ridge Mountains.