Table Mountain Pine

Table Mountain Pine is an endemic Appalachian pine found exclusively on dry rocky ridges and outcrops of the central and southern Appalachians, rarely growing elsewhere. Its cones bear the sharpest, most formidable prickles of any eastern pine and often require fire heat or bird activity to open. The trees are gnarled and picturesque, well-adapted to thin, windswept, fire-prone ridge habitats. It is a fire-dependent species that has declined as fire suppression has allowed other trees to overtop it.