PlantFiles: Scrub Pine, Sand Pine
Pinus clausa

Sand pine is found primarily in central and northern Florida and parts of southeastern Alabama. Many threatened and/or endangered species of wildlife live in or in some way use sand pine forests. Two examples are the Florida Scrub Jay and Gopher Tortoise. These trees provide cover and nesting sites for many types of birds and squirrels and
rodents feed on the seeds.
As humans encroach we are losing much of the sand pine forests and this further endangers many species

Sand pines are very valuable trees that provide food and shelter for wildlife. They grow on coastal dunes, high sandhills and scrub (including scrubby flatwoods) throughout much of Florida, notably southeast (where I live), central, and northern Florida, mostly on the Panhandle. They are excellent native trees and are extremely drought tolerant as they grow in the dry Florida scrub. I visit some parks and see large stands of them growing in the scrub. I'm unsure whether seeds of these excellent trees are available and if they can be planted in someone's yard for now, but I hope so. They are becoming very, very rare as their scrub habitat is being heavily destroyed, especially in my area. Non-native plants such as Brazilian Peppertree (see my comment on it there), Australian Pine, Melalueca, and others also are threatening unique plants, native wildlife and this species, including the unique scrub. They grow in zones 8b, 9, 10a, 10b, and 11 as well as further south. They are prone to fire, though, and may take a while to grow back. If seeds are available, I give this tree a thumbs up!

I find it amazing how these are found growing in what seems like pure sand. You wouldn't know they were endangered by visiting my area as they can be found all up and down US1 in Martin and St. Lucie counties and beyond. But it's true, where they like to call home also happens to be very desirable real estate for humans too.

You can identify them by short needles and low height. Slow growers. Unlike P. elliotti, these are typically found with lower branches which resemble the form of P. taeda.

This tree is capable of rapid re-forestation after fires. It gives wildlife shelter and secures the sand dunes.

The small to medium sized pine has very smooth twigs and the 2" to 3" cones remain on the tree. The cones have scale tips with black inside edges and the prickles are very small , or absent. The slender needles are 2" to 4" long and the sheaths are 1/8" to 1/4".

grows well in poor, sandy soil.

Sand pine is common along the gulf coast of Alabama and NW Florida. While they are very drought tolerant, they are not tolerant of salt water flooding. Hurricanes Ivan, Dennis, and Katrina caused large numbers of sand pines to die along the coast.