2016 The Year of the Conifer WHAT IS A CONIFER? AN EVERGREEN? A GYMNOSPERM?

et’s clear up the matter of “evergreen” first. Not all Cover photos: Pinus rigida Mill., pitch pine conifers retain their leaves in winter. Some, such In my mind, pitch pine is inextricably connected with Mary Pat as the American larch, Larix laricina, and the Rowan, leader of the Fort Circle walks in Washington, DC. At Fort bald cypress, Taxodium distichum, are deciduous; Totten, the high point of the day is to scamper down hill, searching they lose their needles in the fall. All conifers are for the tell-tale sign of a pitch pine—needles sprouting directly out gymnosperms, but the reverse is not true. A from the bark. Mary Pat’s infectious enthusiasm makes the find feel gymnosperm is a seed-bearing plant with seeds especially enchanting. that are “naked,” meaning not enclosed in an ovary. Interestingly, the gingko is a gymnosperm, but it is not a conifer. As the name implies, ere aren’t many pitch pines at Fort Totten, but since the retreat of conifers are the cone-bearing plants, and they are the largest group of the last glacier, this species has dominated the New Jersey pine gymnosperms. ey comprise the Coniferophyta, one of the five barrens and until recently, large portions of Long Island and Cape divisions of the seed Cod. e secret to this plants. e exact tax- persistent domination is onomic and evolutionary pitch pine’s adaptation to relationship among these fire. Even when all of the groups is still being needles on a pitch pine are debated, and many burned, the crown can significant members are recover in just a few years. known only from the If the leader is killed, a fossil record. e conifers new one may grow, and if and the other gymno- most of the tree is killed, sperms have an ancient new sprouts will emerge evolutionary history; they from the trunk. Dormant existed many millions of buds deep in the thick years before the flowering bark of a pitch pine come plants. to life after a fire. Pitch pines are always prepared All of the existing native for fire. ey begin to North American conifers produce cones when very have either needle-like young, and they hang on leaves (the Pine and Yew to them year after year.

Families) or scale-like R.H. Simmons Some of a pitch pine’s leaves (the Cypress Ancient Pinus rigida in sphagnous seepage bogs at BARC. cones are serotinous, Family). But there are meaning they remain Asian and South American species with flat closed until the heat of a fire melts the resinous leaves, a well-known example being the glue that holds the scales of the cone together. Monkey-puzzle tree, Araucaria araucana. Only then are the seeds of those cones released. Talking of exotic species: owing to the popular- ity of evergreens in planted landscapes, the Pitch pine is not confined to almost pure stands landscape trade carries a huge variety of different like the New Jersey pine barrens. roughout its exotic conifers as well as hundreds of varieties range—from southern New England south to and cultivars of natives. is means that trying northern Georgia—small patches can compete to identify a planted conifer beyond the genus successfully on rocky, dry, wet, or shallow soils level is often a bootless exercise. that other species find challenging.

I have trouble distinguishing even the native Pitch pine can hybridize with loblolly pine, Pinus conifers. I attribute my problem to having taeda. e cones and needles of this fertile hybrid

missed the conifer class when I took Cris R.H. Simmons are characteristic and provide accurate identifica- Fleming’s Winter Tree class at USDA. If only I tion of parentage. e cones are distinctly longer had been there that Wednesday, I could confi- Pitch pine cone, showing characteristic than broad, as no pitch pine cone would be, but downcurved prickes on the scales. dently impress my friends by knowing how they are not as large or long as the loblolly cones. many needles are in the packet of each of the e needles (3 per bundle like both parents) are pines. But I wasn’t and I can’t. more like pitch pine, which is to say, much shorter than those of loblolly. ~ Kirsten Johnson Marilandica Winter 2016 page 2 2016 The Year of the Conifer Conifers Native to Maryland

Scientific Name Common Name State Rank/Status

Cupressaceae Chamaecyparis thyoides Atlantic white-cedar, S3 (Cypress Family) Juniperis communis, Common juniper SH Extirpated var. depressa Larix laricina Juniperis virginiana Eastern redcedar Thuja occidentalis

Taxodium distichum Bald cypress

Thuja occidentalis Northern white-cedar, S1 Threatened Arborvitae

Pinaceae Abies balsamea Balsam fir S1 (Pine Family) Larix laricina American larch S1 Endangered

Pinus pungens Picea rubens Red spruce S3 Pinus echinata Pinus echinata Short-leaf pine

Pinus rigida Pitch pine

Pinus pungens Table mountain pine

Pinus serotina Pond pine

Pinus strobus White pine

Pinus taeda Loblolly pine Juniperis virginiana Pinus strobus Pinus virginiana Virginia pine

Pinus x rigitaeda Pitlolly pine (P. rigida/P. taeda hybrid)

Tsuga canadensis Eastern hemlock

Taxaceae Taxus canadensis American yew S2 Threatened (Yew Family) Pinus taeda Pinus virginiana

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Marilandica Winter 2016 page 3