"Medium, then slow" growth, per Sunset/UConn, contradicted by UFL saying fast. Pyramidal and irregular in youth, even more irregular with age; Sunset calls the look "sculptural [and] windswept", and UConn calls it "often picturesque", but Dirr calls it "scruffy, forlorn, straggly, and rather disheveled". UFL suggests it as a native alternative for P. thunbergii in areas where JBP is a monoculture or has disease problems, so I guess they liked the look too.
Needles in threes. Deep taproot; JerseyYards.org reports that it can take five years to establish for this reason. Multiple sources note this pine for actually resprouting if cut (highly unusual for a conifer not called yew or hemlock); compartmentalizes decay well. Also unusual among pines for growing up to three whorls of branches per year (most grow just one). Also unusual among pines for tolerance of wet soil, including seasonally flooded lowlands, though UConn contradicts this.
Cannot outcompete other plants on good sites, but still grows faster there than on sandy/rocky sites.
Not for planting near paved areas due to litter, but this is now the *fourth* pine I have seen UFL give these exact same two paragraphs of descriptive text about litter and shallow roots, so take that advice with a huge helping of salt.
USDA is an extreme outlier in denying salt tolerance; even Stoecklein and Dirr have this pine on their salt tolerant lists.
Sources: Sunset, UFL, NCSU, Dirr, Stoecklein, JerseyYards.org, UConn, USDA, Dirr/Warren.
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