What Is the State Tree of Alabama? How Was It Decided?

Alabama is the fifth most biologically various condition in the United States. The biodiversity of Alabama consists of over one hundred eighty species of trees. Which one of the one hundred eighty species of trees owns the title of the official state tree of Alabama? That would be the longleaf pine. This particular pine tree has been the point out tree of Alabama considering that 1997. Continue reading to learn more about the longleaf pine and why it was picked as Alabama’s point out tree.

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Longleaf Pine Overview

Longleaf Pine
Image Credit: fullersa, Pixabay
Common Name: Longleaf pine, longstraw pine, yellow pine, swamp pine
Scientific Name: Pinus palustris
Origin: Southeastern United States
USDA Hardiness Zone: 7b-10
Flower Color: Yellow-red (male), purple (female)
Bloom Time: Spring

The longleaf pine is a pine tree native to the southeastern United States, from eastern Texas to the Florida Peninsula, and up the Atlantic coast as significantly north as southern Virginia. They when protected 90 million acres of the southeast, but now only increase greatly in scattered patches particularly near the coastline. These trees thrive in climates that are heat and damp, with gentle winters. In fact, some forests around the coast alongside the Gulf of Mexico are manufactured up of longleaf pines nearly completely.

The longleaf pine receives its title from getting the longest leaves of any other eastern pine species. The leaves, or needles, can expand up to fifteen inches extended. The tree produces “flowers” in the springtime which change into 6-eight inch cones throughout and all through the summer. They are really hardy trees that can survive fireplace and truly depend on it to destroy competing plants and trees.

However, the populace of longleaf pines has declined by all around 97%. Only about 3 million acres of longleaf pine trees continue to be and the tree is outlined as endangered. This is owing to large quantities of land getting cleared for growth and agriculture and the trees by themselves becoming utilized for creating reasons.

The trees are also extremely gradual growing and grow really tiny for the duration of the first five a long time of their life, often being mistaken for grass. This has not served increase quantities, as a lot of forested regions are replacing longleaf pines with quicker-developing trees.

Longleaf Pine Forest
Image Credit: Ryan McGurl, Shutterstock

How Was the Longleaf Pine Chosen?

So now that you know a little bit about the longleaf pine, how was it chosen as Alabama’s condition tree? Nicely, in 1949, the point out tree of Alabama was shown as the Southern pine. Nonetheless, the identify “Southern pine” was a generic title used to refer to the plethora of pine tree species that can be discovered in the state.

Because the name didn’t refer to one certain pine tree, Alabama made a decision to undertake a certain species of pine, the longleaf pine, as the formal point out tree in 1997. It is not apparent why this particular pine tree was selected. But probably it’s due to the fact of how well known the tree employed to be throughout the condition and the rest of the southeast as effectively as how important the tree was for design and shipbuilding.

Furthermore, even even though the longleaf pine population has declined drastically, these trees are still quite notable in the coastal locations of Alabama. In truth, the USDA-Forest Provider created the Escambia Experimental Forest which was 1st proven in 1947 in south Alabama, close to the Florida state line. This is a three,000-acre forest crammed with 2nd-expansion longleaf pine trees that was proven for studying these trees more than the prolonged-time period for forestry and conservation purposes to help the species endure.

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So there you have it. The condition tree of Alabama is the longleaf pine. This pine tree when lined more than ninety million acres of the southeastern United States, but these days only addresses about three million acres. These trees are typical in coastal areas of Alabama and surrounding states, and there is even an experimental forest focused to studying these endangered trees and aiding to ensure their survival.

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Featured Picture Credit score: Wildnerdpix, Shutterstock