SAND PINE; SPRUCE PricE (Pious clausa, Sarg.). 15 to 20 feet; rarely to 80 feet. Flat-topped, bushy tree clothed to the ground with slender branches. Bark red, scaly, on branches ashy gray. Wood pale orange, light, brittle, soft, used for masts of boats. Leaves dark green, 2 to 81' inches long, 2 in each sheath, shed during third and fourth years. Flowers staminate, crowded spikes, orange color; pistillate in lateral clusters. Fruits reflexed, 2 to 31 inches long, reddish
brown, set with prickles, often remaining closed for years after maturity, and turning gray. The growing branches engulf these in the wood. Dist.: Mexican Gulf coast from Alabama to Florida; east coast of Florida, in a narrow strip, on sandy, low plain.