A long-lived, fire-dependent pine of the Southern Coastal Plain, once the dominant tree across tens of millions of acres of open, grassy pine savanna from Virginia to east Texas. It is named for its very long (8-18 inch) needles, which grow in bundles of three and give the tree a distinctive open, tufted look, and for its large 6-10 inch cones. Longleaf is famous for its multi-year "grass stage": for several years after germination a seedling looks like a clump of grass, putting energy into a deep taproot and a fire-resistant bud at ground level before it ever shoots upward. That makes it slow to establish but exceptionally storm-, drought-, and fire-tolerant once grown. This is a large restoration and landscape conifer, not a quick ornamental — plant it for the long term.