In 2009, I picked this pine out of a large group of 1.5 m, containerized loblolly pines at Colesville Nursery north of Richmond, VA, for being particularly bold. I wasn't even thinking it might be a hybrid, but I now believe it is probably a 'Sonderegger' pine. Either 50% or 25% longleaf pine. I have seen MANY southern pines, either in the south, or the ones smattered around here, and I truly think this one is superior. I've only seen a chir pine in various photographs, but to me it has the noble bearing of that species. Am I kidding myself? I'm not worried about whether you'll be honest...
What do the relevant morphological details suggest? I see you even have seed cones to work with. And of course, nobody at this end can make out pertinent features using only this one shot taken from some distance.
Doesn't look like Pinus roxburghii (Chir Pine) to me. I'd suspect your guess of P. × sondereggeri is closer to the mark, the cones (what little detail of them I can see) looks OK for that. Can you get a close-up pic of a cone?
Well, suit yourselves! I think the overall ratio of 'needle size to plant size' and 'erect vs. weeping branchlet tuftedness' is similar. https://www.downtoearth.org.in/blog...-a-solution-to-uttarakhand-forest-fires-51178
That's actually rather short-needled for Chir Pine! Compare these: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pine_tree_at_Kakre_Bihar.jpg https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/...aldehra,_Himachal_Pradesh_2014-05-08_1949.jpg https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pinus_roxburghii_Dharamsala_1.jpg The yellowish-green tone to the foliage is also typical, and distinct from your hybrid.
Well someone should tell Trees and Shrubs to update their picture then, because it's exactly the same color as mine in this representative example! https://www.treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/pinus/pinus-roxburghii/ Needles average 9.5" on mine so within the 8" to 12" range given by Bean.
