Editing Pinus taeda (section)

==Description==
Loblolly pine can reach a height of {{convert|30|-|35|m|abbr=off|ft|sp=us}} with a diameter of {{cvt|0.4|-|1.5|m|ft}}. Exceptional specimens may reach {{cvt|50|m|ft}} tall, the largest of the southern pines. Its needles are in bundles (fascicles) of three, sometimes twisted, and measure {{convert|12|-|22|cm|abbr=off|frac=4|sp=us}} long, an intermediate length for southern pines, shorter than those of the [[longleaf pine]] or [[slash pine]], but longer than those of the [[Pinus echinata|shortleaf pine]] and [[Pinus glabra|spruce pine]]. The needles usually last up to two years before they fall, which gives the species its evergreen character.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Grimm |first=William Carey |title=The Book of Trees |publisher=The Stockpole Company |year=1966 |location=Harrisburg, Pennsylvania |pages=48 |language=en}}</ref> Needles are yellowish-green to grayish green.<ref name=":0" />

Although some needles fall throughout the year due to severe weather, insect damage, and drought, most needles fall during the autumn and winter of their second year. The [[Conifer cone|seed cones]] are green, ripening pale buff-brown, {{cvt|7|-|13|cm|in|frac=4}} in length, {{cvt|2|-|3|cm|in|frac=4}} broad when closed, opening to {{cvt|4|-|6|cm|in|frac=4}} wide, each scale bearing a sharp spine {{convert|3|to|6|mm|frac=8|2|sp=us}} long.<ref name="Flora"/><ref name="Farjon">Farjon, A. (2005). ''Pines: Drawings and Descriptions of the Genus'' Pinus, ed.2. Brill, Leiden {{ISBN|90-04-13916-8}}.</ref>

Bark is reddish brown and deeply fissured into irregular, broad, scaly plates on older trees. Branches are reddish-brown to dark yellowish brown.<ref name=":0" />

Loblolly pines are one of the fastest growing pines making it a valuable species in the lumber industry. The lumber marketed as yellow pine lumber and similar usage to other southern pines such as the more stronger Longleaf and Shortleaf pines. They are also used as pulpwood.<ref name=":0" /> It grows at an average of 2 feet per year.<ref>Gonzalez-Benecke, C. A., Martin, T. A., Clark, A. I., & Peter, G. F. (2010). Water availability and genetic effects on wood properties of loblolly pine (Pinus taeda). Canadian Journal of Forest Research, 40(12), 2265–2277. https://doi.org/10.1139/X10-162</ref> The tallest loblolly pine currently known, which is {{cvt|51.4|m|ft}} tall, and the largest, which measures {{convert|42|m3|abbr=off|sp=us}} in volume, are in [[Congaree National Park]].<ref name="Gymnosperm">{{Gymnosperm Database |family=Pinaceae |genus=Pinus |species=taeda}}</ref>

<gallery widths="200px" heights="200px">
File:Pinus taeda cones.jpg|Mature unopened female cones
File:Tree Types and Barks 004.jpg|Bark on a mature tree
File:P. taeda old growth.jpg|A gigantic old-growth loblolly pine, note human for scale
</gallery>