First of all, nudibranchs are tiny, and I love macrophotography!
This photo was taken while visiting the James River in Virginia with some friends. As the sun started to go down, it became more and more evident that one tree was towering above the rest. Although devoid of branches for much of its height, this pine tree came back into full foliage by the time it reached its top. It stood about thirty feet higher than any of the other trees in the area. With these few clues, let’s investigate what type of tree might be photographed here.
According to iNaturalist, there are seventeen different species of pine trees found in Virginia. Ten of those species are native to the state: loblolly pine, Virginia pine, eastern white pine, table mountain pine, shortleaf pine, pitch pine, longleaf pine, Fraser fir, pond pine, and red spruce. There are also seven introduced species: Scots pine, red pine, Japanese black pine, slash pine, Japanese white pine, mountain pine, and Japanese red pine.
Of the above seventeen species of pine, there are four native species that grow particularly tall in Virginia: eastern white pines, shortleaf pines, longleaf pines, and loblolly pines. Each of these species of pine trees can grow to over 100 feet tall. The tallest of these would be the eastern white pine trees that can grow to be 150 feet tall. The eastern white pine is also known for its longevity. They can live up to 450 years. Within the first 20 years that this tree is alive, it will already have grown to 40 feet tall! If there were color in this photo, we would be more likely to identify this as an eastern white pine if we could see silver-green needles.
Another potential candidate would be the shortleaf pine tree. It can grow to 100 feet tall. One reason that this could be a shortleaf pine tree is because they tend to have a distinctive shape. They can have curved trunks, as is exhibited by the tree in this photo. They also will only start to have branches until high up in the tree. The needles grow in large clumps and are exceptionally long. These characteristics all lead to the shortleaf pine tree being a great candidate as our identified species.
The clavus, which is at the end of the stalk, can have between 27 and 30 lamellae
Did you know?
- The needles of the loblolly pine are tallow-green, grown in groups of three, and can be up to nine inches long!
- Different parts of the trees listed here are edible. Whether it’s the pine nuts, pollen, needles, or bark, typically some part of a pine tree is edible.
- Red pine trees have red branches and twigs. They can also grow to heights of 200 feet!
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