Trees to 30 m; trunk to 0.8 m diam., straight to contorted; crown conic, becoming rounded or flattened. Bark orange- to purple-brown, irregularly furrowed and cross-checked into large, irregularly rectangular, papery-scaly plates. Branches spreading to ascending; twigs stout (to ca. 1 cm thick), orange-brown, aging darker brown, rough-scaly. Buds cylindric, silvery brown, 1.5-2 cm; scale margins fringed. Leaves 2 or 3 per fascicle, spreading or ascending, persisting ca. 2 years, 15-20(23) cm x 1.2-1.5 mm, straight, slightly twisted, pliant, yellow- to blue-green, all surfaces with stomatal lines, margins finely serrulate, apex abruptly acute to acuminate; sheath 1-2 cm, base persistent. Pollen cones cylindric, 30-40 mm, purplish. Seed cones maturing in 2 years, falling the year after seed-shed, single or in pairs, symmetric, lance-ovoid before opening, ovoid or ovoid-cylindric when open, (7-)9-18(-20) cm, light chocolate brown, on stalks to 3 cm; apophyses lustrous (as if varnished), slightly raised, strongly cross-keeled; umbo central, depressed-pyramidal, with short, stout prickle. Seeds ellipsoid, oblique-tipped; body 6-7mm, dark brown; wing to 20mm.

Analgesic, antiseptic and expectorant (pine tar)

NewCROP: Pinus elliottii

The pine tar is useful to treat backache, bronchosis, catarrh, cold, dysuria, chronic bowel inflammation, gonorrhea, hemorrhoids, leukorrhea, psoriasis, rheumatism, parasitic skin diseases, sores, ulcers and wounds.

James A Duke and Maryl Fulton. Handbook of Medicinal Herbs - 2nd Edition, P: 675, CRC Press July 2002.