I saw several of these during a recent hike in Central Florida. It reminds me of a pine, except for the lack of branches. Anyone see this before?

Odd. Be interested to see if someone here can identify it.

Looks like Longleaf Pine

Longleaf Pine take a long time to mature. The can spend up to seven years in the "grass" stage, where looks like a clump of grass. Timber companies harvest the trees and replace them with faster growing species. Nature Conservancy is trying to restore some of the original stands in one of their preserves in this area. Here is some information on the life cycle of Longleaf Pines.
http://www.longleafalliance.or...

I agree with Jay. I have several Longleaf Pines that are still in the grass stage after five years.

I believe that's it! I guess I'd never seen/noticed them in the grass stage.

Horntoad is correct. Longleaf pine take quite a while to get out of the grass stage. I have 3 in my yard that I have grown from grass stage. They are really interesting trees.