Table Mountain Pine

The Table Mountain pine (Pinus pungens), also called hickory pine, prickly pine, or mountain pine, is a small, irregularly rounded tree of the family Pinaceae, usually 6 to 12 meters tall, with yellow-green to mid-green needles 4 to 7 centimeters long in bundles of two or three, medium-thick to thick bark, and self-pruning lower limbs. Its cones bear a stout, sharp spine 4 to 10 millimeters long. It is native to the Appalachian Mountains from central Pennsylvania southwest through West Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and northeastern Georgia, favoring dry, rocky slopes and peaks at elevations of 300 to 1,700 meters. Its cones are serotinous, opening only after exposure to heat, an adaptation to a historical fire cycle of every five to ten years. It is assessed as Least Concern.