Pine Trees Native to Kentucky

Kentucky's fertile soils and climate that is affected by southward-plunging Arctic air in winter and humid, moist, warm air from the Gulf of Mexico in summer makes it a plant-diverse habitat. Only four species of pine naturally grow in the Bluegrass State; none of their native ranges expands to include all 120 counties. Most of the native pines grow in the eastern one-half of the state.

Short-leaf pine (Pinus echinata) hails mainly in the eastern third of Kentucky. Aptly named, The Gymnosperm Database describes this tree's needles occurring in bundles (fascicles) of two, occasionally in threes. Each dark yellow-green to dark grayish green needle measures 2 to 5 inches long. This tree, maturing up to 50 or 60 feet tall and rounded triangular canopy, is also commonly referred to as the southern yellow pine or the shortstraw pine. According to Sarah Webb Maury, author of "Native Trees of Kentucky", mountain inhabitants may call this the old field pine.

Also called the Virginia pine, scrub pine (Pinus virginiana) is a fast-growing tree that, in the words of Michael Dirr of the University of Georgia "20 years is probably a long life." The dark green to yellowy green (winter) needles occur in bundles of two and up close inspection reveals a slight twisting on some needles. A needle measures 1 1/2 to 3 inches long. Scrub pine matures 15 to 40 feet tall and 10 to 30 feet wide with an open, jagged canopy. Within Kentucky the natural range of this pine extends roughly the southeastern one-half of the state.

With a similar native range to the short-leaf pine in the eastern highland counties, pitch pine (Pinus echinata) is known to naturally hybridize with the short-leaf pine according to The Gymnosperm Database. Deep to pale yellow-green needles, 4 to 6 inches long, occur in bundles of three, rarely in fours or fives. The trunk often is stout but gnarled and tiny prop roots may develop from the lower parts of the trunk. Pitch pine matures 70 to 95 feet tall with arching and upward spreading branches.

Soft, flexible and measuring 4 to 5 inches long, the green to blue-green needles of the white pine (Pinus strobus) occur in fascicles of fives. This pine species is a popular landscape tree since it grows relatively quickly and tolerates light shearing well to create tall windbreaks or hedgerows. A mature white pine has asymmetrical, horizontal branching, often with breakage since it's weak-wooded. When young the pine is dense and more cone-shaped. Growing 50 to 60 feet tall and 20 to 40 feet wide, white pine grows naturally in isolated pockets in Kentucky: in the far northeast, just to the west of the Daniel Boone National Forest and in two small areas next to Interstate 24.