Heart Pine - America's Wood
When the first European explorers set eyes on the shores of the American Southeast, they were amazed at the expanse of the vast pine forests which reached hundreds and hundreds of miles in each direction.
These forests were mainly comprised of the tall, majestic Longleaf pine (Pinus palustris), native only to the American Southeast. Sadly, the Longleaf has now all but disappeared from the landscape.
These stately trees grew as tall as a twelve story building or more, and stretched in a nearly continuous blanket of pine that reached from Virginia down to central Florida, and west to eastern Texas. In many areas, there was no underbrush, only a thick mat of Sawgrass which was described by early explorers as “park like”.
The massive Longleaf, like its counterpart – the Giant Redwoods in the western United States grew very slowly—only gaining an inch of girth every thirty years. This slow growth made the mature pine trees to be comprised mostly of “heart” wood, the dormant center section where the tree gets its strength. This large “heart” section, combined with tightly grouped growth rings made these pine trees incredibly strong.