Red Pine

Leaves: Evergreen needles in clusters of 2, slender, 4″-6″ long, dark green, borne in dense tufts at the ends of the branchlets: snap easily when bent double.

Twigs: Stout, ridged, yellow-brown to red-brown, buds egg-shaped, about 1/2″ long, brown at first and later silvery.

Fruit: A cone, about 2″ long, without prickles, nearly stalkless, remains attached until the following year.

Bark: Comparatively smooth, reddish brown.

General: Like white pine, this medium to large-size tree developes one horizontal whorl of side branches each year. A valuable timber tree in the northern part of the state, its wood is used chiefly for construction lumber. Native on dry slopes in Luzerne, Wyoming, Tioga, and Centre counties and planted extensively by the Bureau of Forestry and the Pennsylvania Game Commission. Songbirds, mice and chipmunks feed on the seeds.