Pinus elliottii Engl., Pinaceae

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Present on Pacific Islands?  yes

Threat only at high elevations?  no

Risk assessment results:  Evaluate, score: 2 (Go to the risk assessment)

Common name(s): [more details]

English: slash pine, swamp pine

Habit:  tree

Description:  "Trees to 30 m; trunk to 0.8 m diam., straight to contorted; crown conic, becoming rounded or flattened. Bark orange- to purple-brown, irregularly furrowed and cross-checked into large, irregularly rectangular, papery-scaly plates. Branches spreading to ascending; twigs stout (to ca. 1 cm thick), orange-brown, aging darker brown, rough-scaly. Buds cylindric, silvery brown, 1.5-2 cm; scale margins fringed. Leaves 2 or 3 per fascicle, spreading or ascending, persisting ca. 2 years, 15-20 (23) cm x 1.2-1.5 mm, straight, slightly twisted, pliant, yellow- to blue-green, all surfaces with stomatal lines, margins finely serrulate, apex abruptly acute to acuminate; sheath 1-2 cm, base persistent. Pollen cones cylindric, 30-40 mm, purplish. Seed cones maturing in 2 years, falling the year after seed-shed, single or in pairs, symmetric, lance-ovoid before opening, ovoid or ovoid-cylindric when open, (7-)9-18(-20) cm, light chocolate brown, on stalks to 3 cm; apophyses lustrous (as if varnished), slightly raised, strongly cross-keeled; umbo central, depressed-pyramidal, with short, stout prickle. Seeds ellipsoid, oblique-tipped; body 6-7mm, dark brown; wing to 20mm" (Kral, 1993).

Habitat/ecology:  Introduced as a timber species in subtropical and warm temperate areas worldwide.  "Grass- and heathland, scrub.  In the native range, this tree plrefers relatively moist soils.  The fast growing tree establishes dense stands that shade out native plants and prevent their regeneration.  Invaded grasslands are transformed over time into species poor shrubs and forests"  (Weber, 2003; p. 325).

Propagation:  Seed

Native range:  Southeastern United States

Presence:

Pacific
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
Fiji Fiji Islands	Fiji Islands	introduced cultivated	Smith, Albert C. (1979) (p. 116)
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	Kaua‘i Island	introduced	Wester, Lyndon (1992) (p. 116)
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	Moloka‘i Island	introduced invasive cultivated	Wydong, Michael/Hughes, Guy/Wood, K. R. (2007) (p. 6) Voucher cited: Wysong 480 (BISH). "Infrequently seen naturalizing into the mixed mesic native forest zone below the original plantings".
New Caledonia New Caledonia Archipelago	Île Grande Terre	introduced cultivated	MacKee, H. S. (1994) (p. 65) Voucher cited: MacKee 40484
New Caledonia New Caledonia Archipelago	Île des Pins (Isle of Pines)	introduced cultivated	MacKee, H. S. (1994) (p. 65) Voucher cited: Cherrier in MacKee 40593

Pacific Rim
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
Australia Australia (continental)	Australia (continental)	introduced invasive	Weber, Ewald (2003) (p. 325)
Australia Australia (continental)	New South Wales	introduced invasive cultivated	Australian Biological Resources Study (2007) "Sporadically naturalised around plantations".
Australia Australia (continental)	Queensland	introduced invasive cultivated	Australian Biological Resources Study (2007) "Sporadically naturalised around plantations".

Also reported from
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
South Africa South Africa	South Africa (Republic of)	introduced	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2007)

Control: 

Physical:  Hand pull or dig out seedlings and young trees, cut larger trees.

Additional information:  Fact sheet from "Common forest trees of Hawaii" (PDF format).

Additional online information about Pinus elliottii is available from the Hawaiian Ecosystems at Risk project (HEAR).

Taxonomic information about Pinus elliottii may be available from the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN).

References:

Australian Biological Resources Study. 2007. Flora of Australia Online. Australian Biological Resources Study, Canberra.

Kral, R. 1993. Pinus. In: Flora of North America Editorial Committee (eds.): Flora of North America North of Mexico, Vol. 2. Oxford University Press.

Little, Elbert L./Skolmen, Roger G. 1989. Common forest trees of Hawaii (native and introduced). USDA Agriculture Handbook 679. Washington, D.C. 377 pp. + plates.

MacKee, H. S. 1994. Catalogue des plantes introduites et cultivées en Nouvelle-Calédonie. Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris, 164 p.

Smith, Albert C. 1979. Flora Vitiensis nova: a new flora of Fiji. National Tropical Botanical Garden, Lawai, Kauai, Hawaii. Volume 1. 494 pp.

U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. 2007. National Genetic Resources Program. Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN). Online searchable database.

Weber, Ewald. 2003. Invasive plants of the World. CABI Publishing, CAB International, Wallingford, UK. 548 pp.

Wester, Lyndon. 1992. Origin and distribution of adventive flowering plants in Hawai‘i. In: Stone, Charles P.; Smith, Clifford W. and Tunison, J. Timothy. Alien plant invasions in native ecosystems of Hawaii: Management and Research. University of Hawaii, Cooperative National Park Research Studies Unit, Honolulu. University of Hawaii Press. .

Wydong, Michael/Hughes, Guy/Wood, K. R. 2007. New Hawaiian plant records for the island of Moloka‘i. In: Evenhuis, Neal L. and Eldredge, Lucias G., eds. Records of the Hawaii Biological Survey for 2006. Part 2: Notes. Bishop Museum Occasional Papers 96:1-8.