The official state tree of Alabama is the Southern Longleaf Pine. Longleaf pine grows mainly in the lower two thirds of the state. This tree is found in many places, but grows best on well-drained sandy soils. Longleaf pine can grow to a height of about 150 feet and a diameter of nearly four feet. It has the largest pinecone of any pine tree grown in the eastern U.S.

Longleaf pine is a strange tree in the way it develops. During the first five years of its life it grows very little above the ground and looks like grass.

The Legislature first named the state tree as the southern pine tree in 1949. Since there are so many kinds of pine trees they changed it to the Southern Longleaf Pine (Pinus palustris miller) in 1997.

For more information see: http://www.forestry.state.al.us/forest_facts.aspx

Sources:

Act 49-143, Acts of Alabama, June 28, 1949

Act 97-548, Acts of Alabama, May 22, 1997

Alabama State Emblems, Alabama Department of Archives and History, nd.

Alabama Forestry Commission

Return to Kids' Emblems page

Updated: January 25, 2010

http://www.archives.state.al.us/kids_emblems/st_tree.html