Pinus glabra

Common Names

Spruce Pine, Cedar Pine, Walter Pine

Summary

Pinus glabra, commonly called spruce pine, cedar pine, or Walter pine, is an evergreen conifer native to the southeastern United States, occurring from South Carolina to Louisiana along sandy alluvium and mesic woodlands of the Atlantic and Gulf coastal plains, it forms a tree with a long, narrow crown and branches in whorls, reaching up to about 30 meters tall (roughly 100 feet), needles occur in bundles of two, are dark green and 4–8 cm long, and persist for 2–3 years, while mature gray bark is fissured into elongate, scaly plates and younger bark is smooth and gray, seed cones are 3.5–7 cm long and mature in two years, releasing wingsed seeds about 12 mm long, the species tolerates acidic soils and moist to wet sites, often along streams or swamp edges and capable of regenerating after hurricanes, in cultivation, it grows best in acidic soils and tolerates poor or dry soils as well as wet sites, with partial shade acceptance and strong urban tolerance, it is used ornamentally along streets, windbreaks, and as a shade tree, it also occurs naturally in mesic woodlands and along streams, commercial wood use is primarily pulpwood with occasional lumber, and zone 8 hardiness makes it suitable for landscapes in warm temperate regions

Lifecycle

Perennial

Height

40-131 feet

Spread

50-81 feet

Hardiness Zones

Zones 7-9

Sunlight Requirements

Ideally Full Sun, tolerates Partial Shade.

Soil Type

Acidic, moist sandy loam soils high in organic matter

Soil Drainage

Well-draining soil

Soil pH

Tolerates all pH levels

Bloom Color

Insignificant

Bloom Time

Does not bloom

Foliage Color

Dark green

Fall Foliage Color

No fall foliage color; foliage stays green year-round.

Leaf Lifecycle

Evergreen needle

Growth Rate

Slow to fast growth depending on site conditions, rapid growth roughly 0.8–1.0 m per year

Seasons of Interest

Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter

Propagation Methods

Seeds, Cuttings, Layering, Grafting

Attracts Wildlife

Attracts birds (turkeys, northern bobwhite)