State Tree of North Carolina: Pine
By Steven Case
Government & Heritage Library, 2011
See also: North Carolina State Symbols and Official Adoptions main page; Pine Trees (history); Longleaf Pines for K-8 Students.
The pine was officially designated as the State Tree by the General Assembly of 1963. (Session Laws, 1963, c. 41).
Selection as State Tree
As early as 1959, the Garden Clubs of North Carolina had begun a campaign to name a state tree. At their 1962 meeting, a poll was circulated to the various member clubs, and the pine was the first choice.
Despite popular belief, no single species of pine is designated as the official tree of North Carolina. Many people believe that the longleaf pine is the state tree; indeed, many websites still list this species as one of North Carolina’s official symbols. This is probably due to the State Toast, which begins “Here’s to the land of the long leaf pine….” However, with eight species native to North Carolina (eastern white, loblolly, longleaf, pitch, pond, shortleaf, table mountain, and virginia), the 1963 legislature decided not to favor one at the expense of the other seven.
Nine other states (Alabama, Arkansas, Idaho, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, and New Mexico) have also designated the pine or a species of pine as their official state tree.
About the Pine
Being both fast growing and well adapted to sandy or acidic soil, the pine has become ubiquitous throughout the state. Land cleared for homesteading or farming was often deliberately replanted with pine, or allowed to revert to forest, with the opportunistic pine easily replacing other vegetation.
Pine is perhaps the most important type of wood in the construction industry, providing up to half of lumber and wood products required by the industry. Naval stores—turpentine, pitch, rosin, and tar—were also harvested from the great pine forests, and, up until the 1860s, North Carolina provided the bulk of these supplies to US markets.
North Carolina Session Laws
Session Laws, 1963, c. 41:
H. B. 10 CHAPTER 41
AN ACT TO ADOPT AN OFFICIAL STATE TREE FOR THE STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA.
WHEREAS, the Pine is prevalent, in one of its eight species, in all parts of this State, and is truly representative of the State's historic dependence upon and concern for its timber and forest resources; and
WHEREAS, there is great demand from all parts of the State that this Legislature adopt an official State tree; and
WHEREAS, the Garden Clubs of North Carolina have conducted a State-wide survey for preference for a State tree, and the Pine was selected by a decided majority of the votes; Now, therefore,
The General Assembly of North Carolina do enact:
Section 1. The Pine is hereby adopted as the official State tree of the State of North Carolina.
Sec. 2. All laws and clauses of laws in conflict with this Act are hereby repealed.
Sec. 3. This Act shall be in full force and effect from and after its ratification.
In the General Assembly read three times and ratified, this the 12th day of March, 1963.
Educator Resources:
Grades K-8: https://www.ncpedia.org/longleaf-pine-K-8
References and additional resources:
Common Forest Trees of North Carolina (From the NC Division of Forest Resources)
Krugman, Stanley L.; Jenkinson, James L. 1974. Pinus L. Pine. In: Seeds of woody plants in the United States. C. S. Schopmeyer, tech. coord. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agriculture Handbook 450. Washington, DC: p. 598-638.
"N.C. has no state tree as yet," Burlington Times-News, Sept. 13, 1961, p 7A.
North Carolina Forests, 2002 (19.5 MB, from the USDA)
"Pine tree bill OK'd," News and Observer (Raleigh), Feb. 27, 1963.
"Pine tree now statehood symbol in 10 states," News and Observer (Raleigh), Mar. 15, 1963, p. 11.
Powell, William Stevens, and Jay Mazzocchi. 2006. Encyclopedia of North Carolina.. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. p. 783-784; 887.
Types of pine in North Carolina (USDA, NRCS. 2007. The PLANTS Database (http://plants.usda.gov, 18 June 2009). National Plant Data Center, Baton Rouge, LA 70874-4490 USA.)
Resources in Worldcat
1 June 2007 | Case, Steven
Comments
When did the Pine Tree get
When did the Pine Tree get found?.
150 Ma in the mid-Mesozoic
150 Ma in the mid-Mesozoic Era
Hello,
Hello,
I hope this site will help you, take a look under the heading "Evolution of Pine Trees". https://basicbiology.net/plants/gymnosperms/pine-trees#:~:text=Pines%20a....
Erin Bradford, Governent and Heritage Library
You are welcome. And can you
You are welcome. And can you tell the people who made this website that i said thank you for making this website.
Yes and so glad it has helped
Yes and so glad it has helped you!
Erin Bradford, Government and Heritage Library
This Is The best website to
This Is The best website to help with my project.
We are so glad NCpedia could
We are so glad NCpedia could help you and thank you for letting us know!
Erin Bradford, Government and Heritage Library
This Passage is very helpful.
This Passage is very helpful. We are doing a class project for North Carolina symbols so we will keep going on NCpedia. Thank you for making this website.
cool
cool
I don't understand why Oregon
I don't understand why Oregon isn't in the list. Oregon has many pine trees. Probably mostly pine trees.
Add a comment
PLEASE NOTE: NCpedia provides the comments feature as a way for viewers to engage with the resources. Comments are not published until reviewed by NCpedia editors at the State Library of NC, and the editors reserve the right to not publish any comment submitted that is considered inappropriate for this resource. NCpedia will not publish personal contact information in comments, questions, or responses. If you would like a reply by email, note that some email servers, such as public school accounts, are blocked from accepting messages from outside email servers or domains. If you prefer not to leave an email address, check back at your NCpedia comment for a reply. Please allow one business day for replies from NCpedia. Complete guidelines are available at https://ncpedia.org/about.