- 1). Purchase a field guide to tree identification to have information readily available when in the field studying pine tree needles. A regional guide is of particular use, as it allows you to focus only on those pines where you live and eliminates many species of pines from contention. Get a pocket-sized guide that you can carry into the woods with ease.
- 2). Distinguish the soft pines from the hard pines by the number of needles in one bundle. Pine needles grow in bundles from a woody base or right from the twig. The soft pines typically have needles growing in bundles of five (although some have fewer). The hard pine bundles normally contain two or three needles, although some species have eight.
- 3). Feel the pine needles to evaluate their flexibility. This will go a long way in helping you determine the type of pine tree. The eastern white pine has soft and flexible needles, for example, while the needles of lodgepole pine are stiff.
- 4). Measure how long the needles are. Some pines, such as the jack pine, have short needles that rarely exceed an inch and a half in length. Other pine trees have much longer needles, such as those of the slash pine, which can grow to 10 inches.
- 5). Use the color of pine needles to make an accurate identification of the tree. While most pine needles are green, they will vary in what shade of green they are. The knobcone pine of the Pacific Coast has yellowish-green needles, the longleaf pine of the Southeast has bright green ones and the sugar pine has green needles with fine and distinct white lines on them. These differences in color can be a deciding factor in pine tree identification.
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