red pine

Red Pine Pinus resinosa
Family: Pinaceae (Pine)
Branching: Evergreen
Other names: Norway Pine

This is a very common pine throughout Ontario. It has the longest needles (2 per bundle) of any native pine (Austrian is similar or slightly longer and easily confused, especially when young...) and often its bark is very distinctive, being quite red and mottled. It usually exhibits the straightest growth form of any pine: straight and tall, like telephone poles. The bark, though, is not always the characteristic red. In these cases, look for the long needles to differentiate from the other native pines, and the absence of the faint (but thick) vertical bars that often appears on the introduced Austrian pine. If you have a long-needled pine whose branches are within reach, try breaking some of the needles in half. Red Pine will snap cleanly in two, while Austrian Pine will not

Red Pine needles.

Paired needles of Red Pine

Young bark of Red Pine

Bark of a mature tree