Red pine do not have leaves, they have needles. Their needles grow in bunches of two needles each. Each needle is 4 to 6 inches long. Red pine bark is reddish in color and scaly when they are young. As they mature the bark forms broad flat plates with shallow groves between them.
Red pine prefer sandy soil and rock out crops.
They are often found in places where the soil fertility is low. They are found from eastern Minnesota to the north eastern United States as well as south eastern Canada. Red pines are very common in the Border Country and have taken over much of the area that was predominately white pine before everything was logged. In 1953 Minnesota made the red pine their state tree. Tamarack can grow to about 80 feet tall and 18 inches in diameter.