1.  Meadowview Biological Research  Station,and
2.  Department of Biological Sciences, Old Dominion University.

Longleaf pine is a rare plant in Virginia with only 4432 trees remaining in the wild in the state.  Cone crops can be erratic and seed yields per cone are less than the average reported for southern provenance.  We were interested in determining the feasibility of regenerating rare Virginia longleaf pine from needle fascicles.  If we can successfully regenerate native longleaf pine trees from needle fascicles than we can compensate for erratic seed production and, more importantly, capture the entire longleaf pine genome in Virginia for conservation purposes.  Our initial efforts have focused on replicating other workers results with grass stage seedlings.  Up to 65% of fascicles from a seedling can produce roots when placed in a 2 cm deep solution of 100 ppm IBA for 24 hours followed by maintenance in a solution of 60 ppm H3BO3, 40 ppm NH4NO3, and 20 ppm thiamine-HCl.