# Sand Pine (Pinus clausa)

> Florida's scrub pine, a leaning, bushy tree that stands salt spray and outgrows other pines on deep, dry sand.

Also called scrub pine, Florida spruce pine, Alabama pine. Category: Uncommon Yard Trees. Grown from seed by Blue Whale Trees. Web version: https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/sand-pine/

![Sand pine (Pinus clausa) bushy crowns rising above Florida scrub against a clear blue sky](https://bluewhaletrees.com/img/plants/sand-pine-h1610-800.jpg)
*Photo: Scott Zona, CC BY 2.0 · [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3APinus_clausa_002_by_Scott_Zona.jpg)*

## Facts

- Type: Small tree
- Mature height: 25 to 40 ft
- USDA hardiness zones: 7 to 10
- Grows wild in: Sandy barrens, the coast and dry uplands
- Native range: Alabama, Florida and Mississippi. Also recorded in 3 other states, outside its native range
- Sun: Full
- Soil moisture: Dry
- Growth rate: Slow
- Traits: Evergreen, Drought tolerant, Salt tolerant, Wildlife value, Bears young
- Sold as: Saplings, Seed

Heights and zones are typical ranges for the species in cultivation; local conditions and seed source shift them.

## Availability

Not yet priced online. Ask at captain@bluewhaletrees.com or leave an email on the web page to be told when it is listed.

## Notes

Sand pine is a small, crooked pine of the Florida scrub, on dry white-sand ridges left by old dunes and shorelines. It comes in two races. The Ocala sand pine of the peninsula keeps most of its cones shut until a fire opens them. The Choctawhatchee sand pine of the Panhandle and coastal Alabama opens its cones as they ripen. Florida scrub-jays sometimes nest in young trees. Its wild stands keep shrinking as the scrub is cleared for groves and houses. Plant it as a lone specimen on the driest sand of the yard, or to hold bare, poor ground.

## Size, growth and what to expect

Sand pine grows slowly, about a foot a year in our growth estimator. Trees planted in trials north of its range grew faster, averaging 33 to 35 feet at 15 years. Most trees stay 25 to 40 feet tall and 15 to 25 feet wide, though the best sites grow trees of 75 to 85 feet.

It bears cones as young as 5 years. Pollen is shed in winter, from November in south Florida to March in the Panhandle. The cones ripen in September of their second year, and those of the Choctawhatchee race shed their seed from September through November. The cones are 2 to 3.5 inches long and armed with short prickles. Birds and small mammals eat the seed.

It grows wild almost only in Florida, west into Baldwin County, Alabama. NatureServe ranks it critically imperiled in Mississippi and imperiled in Alabama. It has been planted beyond its native range, as on the sandhills of Georgia and South Carolina.

## How to grow Sand Pine

Sand pine needs full sun and any soil that drains well, and it does best on deep sand. It stands drought and salt spray well. Where clay lies close under the sand or the sand drains poorly, root rot kills it. Plant it 15 feet from a wall, and set trees 15 feet apart. Keep it 15 feet or more from overhead wires.

Saplings ship bare-root or potted. Plant from late fall through winter, in a hole wider than the roots and no deeper. Set the root collar at the soil line, and firm the sand around the roots. Sow seed outdoors from October to January, a quarter inch deep in bare sand. For spring, hold the seed damp in the refrigerator for two to three weeks first. Seedlings that come up from November to January root fast, and few die. Seed sown in summer seldom survives, since bare sand grows hot enough to kill the seedlings.

Water in long dry spells through the first summer. It needs no pruning, and its dead lower branches hang on until the tree is 20 to 25 years old. Its thin bark leaves even mature trees easily killed by fire.

Each tree carries both male and female cones and the wind carries the pollen, but a lone tree tends to set less seed than trees in a group. Ips bark beetles attack trees stressed by drought, crowding or injury, and the sand pine sawfly can strip whole plantings. Ice storms break it, the Ocala race most of all. Mature trees also blow over in storms.

## Sources

- [USDA Forest Service, Silvics of North America: Sand Pine, Brendemuehl 1990](https://research.fs.usda.gov/silvics/sand-pine)
- [USDA Forest Service, Fire Effects Information System: Pinus clausa, Carey 1992](https://www.fs.usda.gov/database/feis/plants/tree/pincla/all.html)
- [USDA Forest Service, Woody Plant Seed Manual (2008): Pinus chapter, Krugman and Jenkinson](https://www.fs.usda.gov/nsl/Wpsm/Pinus.pdf)
- [Flora of North America, vol. 2: Pinus clausa](http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=233500926)
- [UF/IFAS Extension: Pinus clausa: Sand Pine, ENH-617/ST458, Gilman and Watson](https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/ST458)
- [NC State Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox: Pinus clausa](https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/pinus-clausa/)
- [Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center: Pinus clausa](https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=PICL)
- [Virginia Tech Dendrology: sand pine](https://dendro.cnre.vt.edu/dendrology/syllabus/factsheet.cfm?ID=391)
- [NatureServe Explorer: Pinus clausa](https://explorer.natureserve.org/Taxon/ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.129195/Pinus_clausa)
- [Alabama Natural Heritage Program: Alabama Inventory List, November 2023](https://cosam.auburn.edu/biology/alnhp/_assets/2023_trackinglist.pdf)
- [American Conifer Society: Pinus clausa](https://conifersociety.org/conifers/pinus-clausa/)
- [USDA NRCS PLANTS Database: Pinus clausa](https://plants.usda.gov/plant-profile/PICL)

## Read before planting

- [Ten planting mistakes that quietly kill trees](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/ten-planting-mistakes/index.html.md)
- [Transplanting young trees: timing, water and protection](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/transplanting-young-trees/index.html.md)
- [Protecting young trees from voles, rabbits, deer and squirrels](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/protecting-trees-from-animals/index.html.md)
- [Native trees for insects: the beetles, wasps, cicadas and fireflies that everything else eats](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/native-trees-for-insects/index.html.md)
- [Native trees and shrubs for butterflies and moths: host plants first, nectar second](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/native-trees-for-butterflies-and-moths/index.html.md)
- [Multistem or single stem? Sometimes the trunk is hiding the answer](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/multistem-or-single-stem/index.html.md)

## Related

- [Planting-site check](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/site-check/index.html.md): for a thrive, struggle or fail verdict on Sand Pine, add ?species=sand-pine with zone (2 to 10), sun (full, part, shade) and moisture (dry, average, wet) to that address, for example ?species=sand-pine&zone=7&sun=part&moisture=average.
- [Companion species for Sand Pine](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/companions/index.html.md?species=sand-pine): the natives that share its ground and the plants that pair with it in a yard.
- [Growth estimator](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/index.html.md): how the height and trunk projections are made; the estimate itself runs in the browser at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/#species=sand-pine
- [Seed sowing planner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/sowing/index.html.md): how Sand Pine is sown, in the chart for every species (treatment, cold days, depth, timing); the dated plan runs in the browser at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/sowing/#species=sand-pine
- [Pollination planner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/index.html.md): what Sand Pine needs for a crop and how many to plant, in the table for every species; the planner runs in the browser at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/#plants=sand-pine:2
- [Bloom and fruit calendar](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/calendar/index.html.md): the months Sand Pine flowers and fruits, in the grid for every species.