Pinus virginiana

Virginia Pine, Scrub Pine

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Family: Pinaceae (Pine family)

Mid-Atlantic bloom time: March - May
Mid-Atlantic fruit ripe: September - November

Virginia Pine can be found in dry forests and woodlands, especially on slopes and ridges. It is also an early successional tree that can grow on many different soil types. Its small, thin, curling bark plates colored orangish and purplish-brown are distinctive for this species.

The needles of young Virginia Pines tend to be longer than older trees. Its male cones are cylindrical, start as yellow and eventually turn brown. They grow near branch tips and can produce a large amount of pollen in the spring. Its female cones start as yellow to red and have curved prickles; fertilized ones mature into what we typically think of as pine cones.

ID tips:



26 May 2016
Silver Lake Park, Haymarket, VA
26 May 2016
Silver Lake Park, Haymarket, VA
(former year cones still attached)
26 May 2016
Silver Lake Park, Haymarket, VA
(typical branch form off trunk)
26 May 2016
Silver Lake Park, Haymarket, VA
(bark on 10-inch diameter trunk)
28 April 2019
Bull Run Mountains Natural Area Preserve, Landmark, VA
20 April 2022
Prince William Forest National Park, Dumfries, VA
(male cones)
1 May 2016
Leopold's Preserve, Haymarket, VA
(male cones)
6 April 2019
Reston, VA
(male cones with emerging new branch growth)
20 April 2022
Prince William Forest National Park, Dumfries, VA
(receptive female cone)
21 May 2019
Manassas National Battlefield Park, Manassas, VA
21 May 2019
Manassas National Battlefield Park, Manassas, VA
(developing seed cone)
26 May 2016
Silver Lake Park, Haymarket, VA
(retained old seed cone)
30 April 2019
Manassas National Battlefield Park, Manassas, VA
1 May 2016
Leopold's Preserve, Haymarket, VA
1 May 2016
Leopold's Preserve, Haymarket, VA
(sap dripping from cut branches)
 



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