Longleaf Pine

Earlier this summer, we visited Seminole State Park in the very Southwest corner of Georgia. It’s a small, but lovely State Park. Even though it doesn’t have a lot of acreage, much of it preserves an rare stand of native Longleaf Pine Forest. This photo is what a natural stand looks like – wide, open, no mid-story, but a diverse understory.

It was really hot to hike through, but obviously different and more diverse than the typical planted Slash Pine / Loblolly Pine plantations nearby. I never really understood the difference until seeing it in person. Read more on Wikipedia or via Janisse Ray’s Ecology of a Cracker Childhood which is about the history of the Longleaf Pine via her personal story growing up in one.