Course Species List and Search

A large tree with a triangular shaped crown and a tapered base, often with knees that protrude from the forest floor or water around the base of the tree.

 Length: 1/4 – 1/5 inches

 Shape: acicular

Dark red-brown to gray with shallow furrows, fibrous as well.

Monoecious. Cones are found in clusters of 2 or 3, maturing in December.

Usually found only in wet areas, with characteristic knees protruding from the ground or water around the base of the tree.The leaves are feathery like and deciduous. Trunk is usually buttressed at the base.

Grows along the Atlantic Coastal Plain from southern Delaware to southern Florida, west to southeastern Texas.

Intolerant. Grows best on drier sites but cannot compete with the faster growing hardwoods. As a result it is restricted to wet soils containing clay, or fine sand where moisture is abundant and fairly permanent.

Wood is extremely resistant to decay and is used in building construction, fence posts, doors, blinds, and flooring. Seeds are browsed by wild turkey, wood ducks and squirrels. The seed is a small part of the diet for waterfowl and wading birds. Area under and around tree provides watering places for a multitude of birds, mammals, and reptiles of the surrounding wetlands.

It reaches 65 to 80 ft. tall and 2 to 3 ft.in width. On good sites it can reach a maximum size of 100 ft. in height and 6 ft.in width. It generally has a straight trunk and narrow crown.

Leaves:
 Arrangement: alternate; simple

 Shape: obovate-elliptical

 Margin: crenate

 Texture: glabrous above, and often finely pubescent below

 Variation: pinnate

Nearly black to a brownish gray, mature trees have very deep and coarse furrows with ridges forming blunt v’s in cross section.

Twigs are reddish brown to orange. Terminal buds are long and usually acute with brownish-orange scales.

Male flowers are green. Female flowers are reddish brown. They occur as single spikes. Paired or solitary, long ovid shape, lustrous. Acorns about 1 in. long topped with a thin, tight cap with oppressed scales.

Look for the crenate margin (very large serrations) on leaves, brown-orange color to twigs and buds.

Occurs primarily in the Appalachian Mountains and in adjacent areas with similar topography. Distributed from southwestern Maine to extreme southeastern Michigan south to extreme northeastern Mississippi. Rare on the Southeastern Coastal Plain, but occurs along the coast in Delaware, New Jersey, New York, and in the New England states.

Intermediate tolerance. Upland species, commonly occurring on ridge tops and upper slopes. Found on dry, rocky, infertile soil with a low moisture-holding capacity. Grows best in rich, well-drained soils along streams.

The wood is cut and utilized as white oak lumber. When available, due to infrequent large crops of acorns, the acorns are eaten by numerous upland wildlife species, including white-tailed deer, squirrels, chipmunks, mice, and wild turkeys. White-tailed deer occasionally browse young sprouts. Small birds, mammals, and insects such as bees, use cavities for nesting.

In the open, forms a large, dense and rounded crown. In forest conditions, the bole is clear straight and full.

Leaves:
 Arrangement: opposite; simple

 Shape: 5 lobes with u-shaped sinuses

 Margin: entire

 Texture: N/A

 Variation: palmate

Light gray to grayish-brown, becoming rough, peeling from the top and bottom of each piece that is being shed when older.

Shiny reddish-brown to brown with light colored lenticels. Terminal buds are long and sharply pointed.

Flowers are bright yellow and long pedicelled. The fruit is a samara.

5 lobed leaves, with a definite u-shape sinus, palmately shaped leaves, gray bark with deep furrows (on older trees).

Grows from Nova Scotia west to Minnesota, south to northeastern Texas and extending eastward into Georgia.

Tolerant. Occurs in rich, mesic woods but can also grow in drier uplands. It grows in coves and other sheltered areas. Often associated with stream banks, valleys, canyons, and wooded natural levees.

Commonly used to make furniture, paneling, flooring, and veneer. It is also used for bowling pins, and musical instruments. It is browsed by white-tailed deer, moose, and snowshoe hare. Red squirrel, gray squirrel, and flying squirrels feed on the seeds, buds, twigs, and leaves, porcupines have been know to consume the bark.

Medium sized, 60 – 70 ft. in height, 18 – 30 in. in dbh.

Leaves:
 Arrangement: alternate; simple

 Shape: elliptical to obovate

 Margin: doubly serrate

 Texture: scabrous above, pubescent below

 Variation: parallel

Red brown bark, non-diamond shaped fissures, does not show patches or streaks when sectioned. Mucilaginous inner bark.

Ash to brown gray in color, scabrous, buds pubescent. Buds are chestnut brown to black in color.

Flowers appear in short pedicelled fascicles.

Doubly serrated leaf, scabrous leaf and twig, bud more stout that American Elm buds.

Southern Maine west to Nebraska, south to Louisiana.

Intermediate tolerance. Rich, moist bottomlands, along streams.

Not important for lumber, used in manufacture of boxes, baskets and crates. Seeds are eaten by birds and small mammals, twigs are browsed by deer and rabbits.

This is a medium sized tree with a height to 80 feet tall and a width of 2 ft. It has a short bole and an irregular crown.

Leaves:
 Arrangement: opposite; pinnately compound normally with 7-11 leaflets

 Shape: lanceolate

 Margin: serrated

 Texture: glabrous

 Variation: pinnate

Blue ash bark is brown to ash gray, and rough and scaly when young. When the tree matures it forms irregular fissures and scaly ridges giving a shaggy appearance.

It has a relatively stout twig that is 4-angled. The leaf scars are notched and the buds are gray to reddish brown in color.

The flowers occur in panicles that appear before the leaves. The fruit is a samara, with a wide wing and a flattened seed.

It has opposite compound leaves and the twigs have 4 distinct edges. The inner bark turns blue when exposed to air.

Blue ash is found in Southern Wisconsin west to Ohio, south to northern Georgia and west to eastern Oklahoma.

This species in most common on calciferous dry limestone uplands.

It was once used for blue dye by the pioneers. The wood is used in flooring, baseball bats, furniture, tool handles, barrels and crates.

Height ranges from 40 ft. to 125 ft. and the diameter ranges from 48 in. to 60 in. This tree usually forks near the root collar and rises to have a small arched branch crown.

Leaves:
 Arrangement: alternate

 Shape: varies from oblong obovate to elliptical

 Margin: doubly serrate

 Texture: top is glabrous and occasionally slightly scabrous, bottom is pubescent

 Variation: parallel

On mature trees it is separated into grayish, flat ridges. The outer bark, when pulled from tree, is layered with reddish brown fibrous tissue.

The twig is slender, brown, and glabrous with occasional slight pubescence. Lateral buds are oval shaped, coming to a point at the apex, but not sharply. Buds have a light reddish brown color.

Flowers appear before the buds opens and occur in fascicles of 3 and 4. Fruit matures in the spring and is oblong obovate with a ciliate margin.

Sectioned bark is layered with reddish brown fibrous tissue in the middle.

American elm is found in Nova Scotia west to eastern Montana, and south to central Texas.

It is commonly found on flats and bottom lands and does not appear at elevations above 2,500 ft. It grows best on well drained rich soils. The species is deemed to have soil improving characteristics because of its nutrient rich rapidly decomposing leaf litter.

Fruits and saplings are browsed by wildlife, especially deer and rabbits. It was formerly used extensively in landscaping, but has lost it’s popularity due to it’s susceptibility to Dutch elm disease. This species is the state tree of Massachusetts and North Dakota.

Shrub that can reach up to 8 ft. in height and having an open and rounded crown.

Leaves:
 Arrangement: opposite; simple

 Shape: ovate

 Margin: coarsely serrate

 Texture: tomentose below

 Variation: pinnate

Light brown and exfoliating.

glabrous, light brown to brown, leaf scar shallow

Small white flowers in flat topped or rounded clusters. Fruit is a ribbed brown capsules

shrub, white flowers, opposite arrangement, remains of fruit retained year round.

Eastern Half of the U.S.

Rich, damp soils of a deciduous forest.

Native Americans used to used the roots for a variety of medicinal applications.

A large shrub ranging from 3 to 10 feet in height. It has a straight trunk with spreading, rising branches.

Leaves:
 Arrangement: alternate

 Shape: oval with a cordate base

 Margin: doubly serrate

 Texture: pubescent below

 Variation: parallel

It has smooth and light gray bark.

Twigs are slender with stiff red hairs and buds are somewhat flat topped.

Monoecious with males flowers appearing as brown catkins and female flowers smaller, appearing as reddish threads coming from gray to brown buds. Brown nuts enclosed in a hairy, leafy husk with rough edges, mature in the late summer.

Pubescent stems, doubly serrate leaves, with pubescent leaves and is a colonial species

Occurs from Maine to Saskatchewan, south to eastern Oklahoma, to Georgia, and north through New England

Tolerant. Occurs along streams, meadows, woodlands, roadsides. It grows best on rich, moist, well-drained soils

The leaves and nuts are browsed by birds, squirrels, and deer. The nuts were also used to flavor soups by the Native Americans. It has been used as an ornamental since the late 1700’s.

This is a medium-sized reaching a height of 60 to 80 ft. and 1 to 2 ft. in width. It has a rounded, open crown.

Leaves:
 Arrangement: Alternate; pinnately compound with 7 to 11 leaflets

 Shape: Lanceolate

 Margin: Serrate

 Texture: Glabrous above and Glabrous or pubescent below

 Variation: pinnate

Bitternut has smooth bark when it is young. When is matures shallow furrows and narrow, small interlacing ridges develop.

The twigs are moderately stout, varying from a grayish-brown to greenish-brown color. Terminal buds are sulfur-yellow, pubescent, and valvate.

The nut, which develops in September, is somewhat globose but flattened with a thin husk that has 4 distinct wings. The male flowers are catkins with 3 hanging from one stalk. Female flowers are short and 4-angled. Flowers appear from April to May.

One of the best ways to identify this species is by looking for the sulfur-yellow terminal bud. Also make sure it is alternately arranged and has pinnately compound leaflets.

Bitternut is found in southern Quebec, west to northern Minnesota, south to eastern Texas, and northern Florida. It encompasses the eastern U.S. and is the only member of the pecan family in the north.

It occurs on a variety of sites including both dry uplands and moist woods and bottoms. It reaches it ‘s largest size in the rich bottomlands of the lower Ohio River Basin and is not found at the higher elevations in the Appalachian Mountains. Bitternut is the shortest lived of the hickories.

It is important for lumber and pulpwood. The fruit is not preferred by wildlife, but rabbits, beavers, and small rodents will sometimes feed on the bark.

Small tree with a spreading, rounded crown; height usually ranges from 15 to 70 ft.

Leaves:
 Arrangement: alternate; simple

 Shape: orbicular

 Margin: coarsely serrate

 Texture: scabrous-pubescent above

 Variation: pinnate

The bark is thin, reddish-brown to dark brown, and scaly developing irregular long ridges.

It has a relatively slender twig that zigzags and is often pubescent. Buds are covered with overlapping scales.

Male and female flowers are small, green hanging catskins. Catkins appear in April and May. The fruit is similar to a blackberry and forms in clusters. Fruits mature from June to August.

Two shapes of leaves, leaves coarsely serrated, fruit similar to blackberry. Sap is milky white.

Massachusetts west to southeastern Minnesota, south to central Texas and east to southern
Florida.

Tolerant. Best growth occurs on moist, well-drained soils of coves and flood plains. It does grows on a variety of soils including clays, sands, and loams. It also tolerates a wide range of soil pH and is often found in pastures and on field borders.

It has little or no commercial value but has been used in the past for fence posts, furniture, interior finish, and caskets. Birds and small mammals eat the fruits. Notable species include wood ducks, bluebirds, indigo buntings, gray catbirds, eastern kingbirds, towhees, orchard orioles, brown thrashers, summer tanagers, vireos, red-cockaded woodpeckers, red-bellied woodpeckers, great crested flycatchers, Lewis’ woodpeckers, opossums, raccoons, fox squirrels, and gray squirrels. White-tail deer browse the the foliage and twigs and beavers have been know to consume the bark

This species can grow to a height of 125 ft, however, on average, it grows to around 80 ft. It has a long, smooth trunk and a small rounded crown.

Leaves:
 Arrangement: alternate; pinnately compound; 9 – 21 leaflets

 Shape: ovate-lanceolate

 Margin: finely serrate

 Texture: glabrous

 Variation: N/A

The bark is grayish black to a dark brown and separated into thin ridges by deep narrow furrows.

The twigs are stout with a light brown to an orange-brown color and have a light brown chambered pith. Large terminal buds are short, blunt, and covered with a few pubescent scales. Lateral buds are smaller.

The flowers are staminate with 17 to 50 sessile stamens. The fruit is globose arranged solitarily on clusters. The husk is thick semi fleshy, yellowish green, pubescent, and with a strong odor. A hard ridged shell protects the nuts strong tasting meat.

This species has 12 to 24 leaflets with the terminal leaflet missing occasionally. It also has stout twigs and branches with large leaf scars and a light brown chambered pith.

Occurs throughout the eastern U.S. south to northwestern Florida. Isolated populations are found in eastern Texas, western Oklahoma, central Kansas, and southeastern South Dakota.

This species grows best on deep, well-drained neutral soils that are moist and fertile. It grows slowly on wet bottomlands, dry ridges, and slopes and is commonly found on limestone soils.

It ranks with the most durable hardwoods in the U.S. The wood is heavy and strong. Used primarily for furniture, tables, and as an interior finish. The veneer is used in the highest grade plywood panels. The nuts are of great importance to the eastern fox squirrels diet.

This is a medium-sized tree generally 30 to 60 ft. in height and 2 ft. in width. It has an irregular bole, shallow root system, and a spreading crown.

Leaves:
 Arrangement: opposite; compound

 Shape: Varies between ovate, oval obovate. or ovate-lanceolate

 Margin: Coarsely serrate or lobed

 Texture: Glabrous or slightly pubescent above, pubescent along the veins below

 Variation: N/A

It has thin and light brown to gray bark with shallow interlacing ridges. Older trees are slightly furrowed.

Twigs are stout, green to purplish green. Leaf scars are narrow, connecting in raised points. Buds are white and hairy with the lateral buds appressed.

Flowers are yellow-green drooping racemes, occurring in drooping racemes. Fruit occurs in the form of paired V-shaped samaras.

It is opposite with compound leaves and green twigs. There is a square shape to it’s leaflets. It is in the maple genus

Box elder is found from Nova Scotia west to Southern Alberta and south all the way to Guatemala.

It grows best on moist sites along lakes, streams and flood plains, but it is also capable of existing in extreme climates and can withstand short periods of flooding.

There is very little commercial value in the wood, but it provides important shelter for many wildlife species. It serves as a pioneer species on moist sites helping to stabilize soils in disturbed areas. This tree could be poisonous to livestock.

Very straight, few limbs, heights of 120 ft. and a dbh of 18 – 24 in.

Leaves:
 Arrangement: alternate; simple

 Shape: 4 lobed, orbicular

 Margin: entire

 Texture: glabrous

 Variation: palmate

on young trees dark greenish or orange-brown and smooth, with small white spots; soon ashy gray, breaking up into long, rough, interlacing rounded ridges separated by fissures; inner bark bitter and aromatic.

Twigs are moderately stout, reddish brown, bitter to the taste. Buds are long and flattened and have valvate scales on the the bud which give it a “duck bill” appearance. Stipule scars encircle the twig.

The flower has and orange corolla with yellow-green petals. The fruit is similar to an okra pod, breaking up into samaras.

One of the tallest and straightest trees in the forest. It is easily identified in the early spring by its light green pyramid shaped crown. Remains of seed pods on the limbs make it identifiable in the winter.

Central New York west to southern Michigan south Louisiana and east to Florida.

It is intolerant of shade and grows in coves and on moist slopes with deep rich soils.

Traditionally used for log houses; used by bears for dens

Small to medium sized tree reaching from 30 to 50 ft. in height and 20 in. in width. Irregular shaped crown with a poorly formed trunk.

Leaves:
 Arrangement: opposite; odd-pinnately compound with 5-9 leaflets

 Shape: Elliptic to lanceolate

 Margin: serrate

 Texture: Glabrous to silky above, pubescent below

 Variation: N/A

Grayish brown with furrows progressing into narrow, irregular, interlacing ridges.

Varying from stout to moderately slender, gray to greenish brown in color. Terminal buds are conical to ovate with a rusty brown pubescence. Lateral buds are reniform to triangular in shape.

Flowers before leaves appear. Male and female are both borne in glabrous to tomentose panicles. Samara as a fruit.

Pinnately compound with 7-9 leaflets, serrate, samara as fruit, twig flattened at the nodes. Bud sits on top of the leaf scar. Usually found on moist sites.

Eastern U.S. to Canada and the northern Great Plains.

Intermediate tolerance. Moist bottomlands, stream side species. Once established can survive on dry sterile soils, adaptable to the extremes of climate.

High strength, hardness, high shock resistance, and excellent bending properties, allow it to be used in specialty items such as tool handles and baseball bats. Popular as a shade tree in residential areas due to its good form, adaptability to a wide range of sites. The seeds are browsed by a number of game and non-game animals.

Large rounded shrub often reaching 8 ft. or taller.

Leaves:
 Arrangement: alternate; simple

 Shape: elliptical

 Margin: entire

 Texture: glabrous

 Variation: pinnate

Grayish brown to brown with white lenticels.

It has gray to olive-green glabrous twigs.

Flowers usually appear as small paired yellow balls, but may occur in clusters. Fruit is a shiny red drupe.

When twig is cut or leaves are crushed a spicy, peppery smell is emitted. Alternately arranged. Red fruit is obvious in the fall

Eastern half of the United States

Shaded areas with moist to wet soils. Usually found on riverbanks and stream sides.

Several edible and medicinal uses; fruit eaten by wildlife.

Small to medium sized tree 30 – 50 ft. in height and 1 ft dbh. Rounded crown with branches spreading at right angles.

Leaves:
 Arrangement: alternate; simple

 Shape: ovate-oblong or oval

 Margin: entire

 Texture: glabrous

 Variation: parallel

The bark is nearly black and broken into squarish blocks.

The bud is black and triangular. It has one bundle scar within the leaf scar.

The plum-like fruit that is green when unripe and orange to black when ripe.

Look for the black bud (remember- family = Ebenaceae, ebony = black). Also look for the plum-like fruit, alternate leaves, and the rough black bark.

Southern Connecticut south to Florida west to eastern Oklahoma.

It is shade intolerant and grows on both moist bottoms and dry uplands.

Wood used for veneer, golf club heads, and low grade lumber. Fruit is food for squirrel, quail, and opossum.

This is a small tree reaching 5-20 ft. in height with spreading branches.

Leaves:
 Arrangement: alternate; pinnately compound; 12-24″ long; 13-25 leaflets

 Shape: lanceolate

 Margin: serrate

 Texture: glabrous above and pubescent below

The bark has a red-brown tint. It is smooth when young and slightly scaly with age. It is also lenticellate.

Twigs are glabrous and stout and have small rounded buds.

It’s white flowers are dioecious.

It has a reddish petiole reddish that contains a sticky sap.

It can be found throughout the eastern United States.

Smooth sumac is intolerant of shade. It is common on dry upland sites, along woods borders, and in small openings.

It is the most common of sumacs. The wood is not commercially valuable.

Medium sized 60 – 70 ft. in height and 1-2 ft. in dbh Prymidal in shape.

 Length: 1/3-2/3″ long

 Shape: flattened needles with blunt tips

 Other: white stomata below

scaly and thin when young, becoming deeply furrowed and ridged

small cones (3/4″)

shortest needles, small cones, terminal stem droops, 2 lines of white stomata below.

New England west to western Kentucky south in the Appalachian mountains. Grows from 1,000 to 5,000 ft. in elevation.

very tolerant; cool, moist soils along streams; mountain slopes, uplands

Mostly used for pulp. Provides a dense nesting habitat for birds. Seeds are food for birds and mammals. Important in moderating temperatures of stream habitats.

This is a medium-sized tree reaching 70-100 ft. in height and 2.5- 4 ft dbh. It generally has a thin, spreading crown and a straight bole.

Leaves:
 Arrangement: alternate

 Shape: deltoid with truncate base

 Margin: crenate-serrate

 Texture: glabrous

 Variation: pinnate

Photo Courtesy: Robert H. Mohlenbrock, USDA NRCS Plants Database

The bark is yellow-green and smooth when young becoming ashy gray, thick, and furrowed with age*

Terminal buds have a shiny brown appearance and are conical in shape.

Silky-haired seeds develop with shells that drop in early spring;

The petiole is long and flattened. The buds have a resinous strong scented odor. Look for a more acuminate leaf tip and serrations with more of a hook shape to distinguish this species from big-toothed aspen.

Eastern cottonwood is found north as far as New York, south into Florida, and west into Texas, but it is concentrated in the river bottoms of the eastern Great Plains.

This species is very intolerant and occurs alluvial bottoms.

This species is important for lumber, pulpwood and is slightly non-resistant to decay. Provide valuable habitat for deer and grouse in the Great Plains.

Medium to large tree reaching 60 – 80 ft. in height and a dbh of 3 – 4 ft. with spreading branches.

Leaves:
 Arrangement: alternate, simple

 Shape: 7-9 lobes, rounded; not bristle tipped

 Margin: entire

 Texture: glabrous above, glaucous below

It has light ashy-gray colored bark that can be very thick.

Twigs are light reddish-brown in color, stout, and glabrous. Each twigs has multiple globose terminal buds.

Acorns mature in one season. The warty cap covers about 1/3 of the acorn.

It has 7 – 9 lobed leaves that do not come to a distinct point like most of the red oak species. It can be distinguished from the post oak by the different leaf shape. It does not have the cross-shape as does post oak.

Southwest Maine to Florida west to eastern Texas

It is intermediately tolerant of shade and occurs on mesic to dry upland soils.

Wood used in furniture, veneer, and paneling. Deer browse on twigs and leaves. Acorns eaten by a variety of animals. Most important consumers of acorns include: black bear, mallard, wild turkey, and ring neck pheasant. Also very long lived, up to 800 years.

It grows to 50 – 100 ft. in height and 2 – 3 ft. in dbh. An flat top and irregular bole with scraggly branches develop with age.

 Length: 1-3″ long

 Shape: N/A

 Other: N/A

It has thin, flaky, red-brown bark.

The cone scales have purplish tinges (resembling a turkey tail) on outer edge with a small prickle at the end.

Look for the turkey tail cone, 2 twisted needles per fascicle, and numerous dead branches.

Southern New Jersey west to southern Ohio south to northern Mississippi and east to Georgia.

It is very intolerant of shade and grows on dry uplands and droughty clay soils.

Used as pulpwood. Food source for small mammals, Northern bobwhite, and other birds. Can quickly reforest abandoned fields.

This is a large evergreen tree reaching 80 to 100 ft. in height and 2 to 4 ft. in dbh. Crowns often spread in width in open areas. This characteristic can be enhanced by the white pine tip weevil (Pissodes strobi), which attacks the terminal leader on white pine. It self-prunes poorly. Large trees often develop a lopsided, wind-swept appearance with large gaps between branches.

 Length: 3-5 ” long

 Shape: acicular

 Other: fine and limber needles are not as sharp as needles of other pines; white line along needle; sometimes blue-green in color

Gray to black and smooth when young; becoming scaly, plate-like, and thick with age.

The cone is narrow 3 to 8 in. long and occasionally curved.

The tree has uni-nodal growth, which can be used for age determination (1 year for every node or whorl of branches), a large cone, 5 needles per fascicle and has plate-like bark.

This species occurs from Maine to north Georgia, west to Kentucky.

This species is one of the more shade-tolerant pines, particularly when young. Preferred sites are moist uplands or mountain coves.

Historically, this species had great economic importance in the Lake States and Northeast. It is used today in furniture and cabinetry.

This tree is medium sized and reaches 70 to 80 ft. and 3 to 4 ft. in dbh.

Leaves:
 Arrangement: alternate

 Shape: simple, linear-lanceolate

 Margin: bristle tip around the entire margin

 Texture: N/A

 Variation: N/A

The bark is smooth and gray when young. It later becomes deeply furrowed with thick rough ridges.

The twigs are slender and red-brown. The buds are ovid and long.

The flower is solitary and yellowish to green in color. The flower is also borne on catkins. The fruit is the smallest of all acorns.

Smallest acorn of all oak species. Tree has a willow species appearance and has distinctive buds.

This species occurs from western Illinois to southern Georgia.

This species is intolerant and occurs on moist alluvial flats, bottom lands and grows best on well-drained loams and poorest on poorly drained clay soils.

This species veneer is used in plywood and habitat for various wildlife species.

One of the tallest eastern species with heights ranging 60 -130 ft. and a 2 – 8 ft. dbh, upper part of bole exfoliates.

Leaves:
 Arrangement: alternate

 Shape: Ovate with 3 -5 lobes

 Margin: toothed

 Texture: Veins are pubescent

 Variation: palmately veined

It’s bark is gray-brown and scaly at base and peels extensively, revealing a mottled white to gray-brown upper trunk.

It has a zigzagging twig that is orange-brown in color. The bud is hidden within the petiole base.

Flowers are not showy. The fruit is an aggregate of achenes arranges in the form of a small golf ball.

Look for the exfoliating bark, toothed leaves with 3 lobes, and buds that are partially enclosed.

Southwest Maine to eastern Nebraska, south to southeastern Georgia

It is intolerant of shade and prefers to grow on stream bottoms and low slopes.

Valuable timber species, used for furniture, pulpwood, particle, and fiberboard. Few species of birds and rodents eat the seeds. Also noted as a medium rated habitat for waterfowl.

This is a small tree reaching 30 – 40 ft. in height and around 2 ft. in dbh.

Leaves:
 Arrangement: alternate; simple, pinnate

 Shape: ovate to oval

 Margin: doubly serrate

 Texture: glabrous below

 Variation: parallel

It has thin, smooth, blue-gray, muscular, bark.

Zigzagging twigs are gray to red in color. Buds are angled in cross section.

The fruit is a ribbed nutlet.

Look for the muscular bark, alternate and doubly serrated leaves, and zigzagging twigs.

Central Maine to central Iowa south to Florida.

It is very tolerant of shade and grows on moist uplands, bottom lands, stream banks.

It is also called ironwood or blue beech. The wood has been used for tool handles and golf club heads. Ruffed grouse and ring neck pheasants eat limited quantities of seeds. When acorns are scarce seeds are eaten by ducks.

This tree is small reaching 15 to 30 ft. in height and 1 ft. or more in dbh. It is a colonizing species.

Leaves:
 Arrangement: alternate; simple; pinnate; base tapered into short, stout, grooved petiole

 Shape: ovate

 Margin: N/A

 Texture: papery

 Variation: rugose

The bark is thin and grayish-brown in color. It is also blotchy and smooth with warty protuberances.

The twig is dark brown with brown fuzz. The bud is dark brown.

The fruit is a large oblong berry that has a flavor like banana.

This species leaves have an aromatic (green pepper) aroma. The leaves can be up to 1 ft. in length and the fruit is distinctive. Also a colonizer species through root suckers.

This species occurs throughout the eastern U.S.

This species is intolerant and occurs on moist soils, bottoms and along streams.

This species wood is soft that it is rarely used. Fruit is eaten by raccoons, black bears, foxes, and squirrels.

This tree is medium sized reaching 70 to 80 ft. in height and 2 1/2 to 3 ft. in dbh. It also is prymidal in shape.

Leaves:
 Arrangement: alternate; 5-9 lobed (usually 5-lobed)

 Shape: base truncate

 Margin: bristle tipped

 Texture: N/A

 Variation: N/A

The bark in thin gray to grayish-brown in color. It is smooth when young and with age has scaly ridges with shallow fissures.

The twigs are reddish brown in color, slender, and lustrous. The buds are ovid and long with brown scales.

Flowers are borne on catkins and spikes. The fruit is clustered and is long and spherical.

This species leaves have sinuses nearly to midrib and almost at 45 degree angle. In addition the lower branches droop.

This species is found from Southern Michigan south to eastern Arkansas and east to Virginia.

This species is intolerant and occurs in swamps and bottom lands.

This species is generally not commercially important. Fruit is important for white-tailed deer, wild turkeys, and waterfowl, especially wood ducks.

This is a medium sized tree reaching 70-100 ft in height and 3-4 ft in dbh. It has a rounded crown and a slender bole.

Leaves:
semi-evergreen  Arrangement: alternate

 Shape: varies – spatulate, oblanceolate or shallowly 3-lobed

 Margin: bristle tipped

 Texture: glabrous above and rarely pubescent below

 Variation: pinnate

The bark is uncharacteristically smooth and thin compared to most oak species. It develops shallow furrows with wide scaly ridges.

The twigs have a light reddish-brown color, and are slender and glabrous. The buds are covered in light brown scales.

Acorns are ½ inch in height with cap covering 1/3 of acorn.

It’s lower branches droop downward with age (ascending branches). Look for the small spatulate leaf shape.

It occurs north to New Jersey, south to northern Florida, and west into Oklahoma.

Water oak is intolerant to shade. It is a classic bottomland species that can sometimes be found on moist to mesic uplands as well, often when it is planted.

It is a valuable source of pulp and lumber. Acorns are eaten by waterfowl, wild turkey, and various other wildlife.

This is a shrub that reaches 10 ft. in height. It typically has multiple stems.

Leaves:
 Arrangement: opposite

 Shape: ovate to elliptical

 Margin: entire

 Texture: dark green above, whitened & pubescent below

 Variation: N/A

The bark is light brown, thin, and has lenticels.

Twigs have an aromatic smell and attached are pubescent brown buds.

It produces purplish flowers in late spring. The fruit pod contains many seeds*.

It has fragrant when leaves are crushed; it is a shrub(up to 6 feet in height). It is opposite and spicebush is alternate.

Virginia south to Florida west to Mississippi.

It is shade tolerant and grows in mixed deciduous forests and along stream banks.

Commonly used as a landscape plant in Europe.

This is a small to medium sized tree reaching 35 to 60 ft. in height and 1 to 1 1/2 ft. in dbh. It also has a large bole and a spreading crown.

Leaves:
 Arrangement: alternate

 Shape: lanceolate

 Margin: finely serrate

 Texture: lusterous above and glabrous below

 Variation: N/A

The bark is nearly black and is deeply furrowed with thick scaly ridges.

The twigs are slender and green. The buds are red brown to yellow.

The flowers are found in aments. The fruits is slender and large.

This trees leaves have a very short petiole. The twigs are slender and green. The fruit is slender, long, and ovid. The flowers are dioecious.

This tree occurs from central Michigan south and east to the Atlantic coast and west to New Mexico.

This species is very intolerant and occurs on stream banks and low areas. The tree also roots readily from stem cuttings.

This species is the largest and only commercial willow. It is used in making furniture, turnery, doors, and polo balls. White-tailed deer browse twigs and leaves.

This is a medium sized tree reaching 70 – 80 ft. in height and a dbh of 2-3 ft.

Leaves:
 Arrangement: alternate; simple

 Shape: wedge-shaped or truncate base

 Margin: doubly serrate

 Texture: dark green above, pale and pubescent below

 Variation: parallel

It has salmon colored dehiscent (flaky) bark.

Twigs are brown slender and covered with lenticels.

The fruit grows in a cylindrical pubescent bract.

Exfoliating bark that is salmon (pink) in color.

Throughout the eastern U.S. excluding the Appalachian mountains.

It is shade-intolerant and typically grows along river banks and within flood plains.

It has little commercial value. Wild turkeys and white tail deer browse this species.

This is a medium-sized tree reaching 50-70 ft in height and 2 ft. in dbh. It generally has a rounded crown.

Leaves:
 Arrangement: opposite

 Shape: simple; 3-5 lobed

 Margin: serrate

 Texture: glabrous above and glaucous below

Very thin and light gray in color when young. It develops a scaly appearance with age. It normally peels from the top or bottom of each piece that is separating from the rest of the bark.

Twigs have a lustrous brown appearance. They are also slender and are usually speckled with lenticels.

Samara fruits mature in the spring.

It has a serrated margin which is noticeably different from the smooth margin on sugar maple and it has shallow lobes, which distinguish it from the deep lobes of silver maple.

It occurs throughout the eastern United States: north into Maine and Minnesota and south from Texas east all the way to the Atlantic coast.

Red maple has intermediate tolerance to shade. It prefers moist bottoms, but seems to be invading drier upland sites as well.

Red maple has become prolific in oak understories due to increasing mesic conditions and fire suppression.

This is a medium sized reaching 60 – 80 ft. in height. It’s branches often grow at right angles.

Leaves:
 Arrangement: alternate

 Shape: obovate to elliptical; abruptly acuminate

 Margin: entire

 Texture: glabrous

 Variation: parallel

The bark is light grayish-brown in color, fissured, and broken into blocks.

It has a leaf scar with 3 bundle scars. The twig is light brown.

It produces a fleshy purple-black drupe. Flowers hangs in clusters and are greenish-white in color.

It has alternate leaves which distinguishes it from flowering dogwood. It can be confused with sourwood. However, it does not have hairs along the midrib like sourwood and it has a more tear dropped leaf shape.

Central Florida north to southwest Maine west to west Tennessee.

It has intermediate tolerance to shade and prefers mesic to dry uplands.

The fruit is good for animals. It develops bright red fall foliage before other trees begin to change. The wood has been used for gun stocks and pistol grips.

Medium to large sized tree, 50 – 80 ft. in height and 1 – 3 ft. in dbh. Straight trunk with upward reaching branches.

Leaves:
 Arrangement: alternate

 Shape: 2 leaf shapes: 1) 3 lobed ,resembling a turkey’s foot. 2) 5 – 7 lobed, bristle-tipped, base bell-shaped.

 Margin: entire

 Texture: lustrous green above, tomentose below

gray-black; deeply furrowed with broad scaly ridges

Dark red, often pubescent; multiple terminal buds with puberulent scales

acorn matures in 2 seasons, acorn about 1/2 in. long.

“turkey foot” leaf, multiple terminal buds, often pubescent.

New York south to Florida west to eastern Oklahoma and north to southern Ohio

intermediate tolerance; dry to mesic uplands

Wood used in furniture, veneers, and lumber. Acorns provide food for waterfowl, wild turkey, and white-tailed deer.

The tree is medium to large in size reaching height of 65 to 100 ft. and a 1 to 1 1/2 ft. dbh. The crown is open and rounded. The trunk is often swollen at its base.

Leaves:
 Arrangement: alternate, compound; mostly 7-9 leaflets

 Shape: lanceolate

 Margin: serrate

 Texture: leaflets, rachis, and petiole are tomentose

 Variation: parallel

The bark is dark gray with shallow furrows. It also has low interlacing ridges that form a diamond pattern.

Twigs are stout and pubescent. They also have a 3 lobed leaf scar. The terminal buds are long, reddish-brown, and tomentose.

Female and male flowers occur in catkins clusters of 2’s and 3’s. However, male flowers only occur in 3’s. The fruit has a thick dark reddish brown husk and contains a light reddish brown nut.

The terminal leaflet is larger than others. A thick husk that covers a light reddish brown nut.

Occurs from Massachusetts to southeastern Iowa. South to east Texas and east to eastern Florida.

This species has an intermediate tolerance and occurs on dry to mesic uplands sites.

The wood is used for tool handles, lumber and pulpwood. Squirrels especially prefer mockernuts. However, black bears, foxes, and beavers also feed on the nuts. The twigs are also browsed by white-tailed deer. Also noted as the most abundant species of the hickories.

This is a large tree reaching 70 – 80 ft. in height and 2 – 3 ft. dbh. The upper branches form a dense crown.

Leaves:
 Arrangement: alternate, simple

 Shape: lanceolate

 Margin: small teeth

 Texture: glabrous above and pubescent below

 Variation: parallel

Thin, smooth, and light gray throughout even on trees with large diameters

The twig is slender and slightly zigzagging. Buds are light brown and pointed.

Male flowers are borne on globose heads and female flowers are borne on spikes. Fruit is long and triangular and occurs in pairs or 3’s.

Smooth, light-gray bark, even on larger trees. Very distinguishable long and pointed buds. Look for the parallel venation in the leaves without having doubly serrate margin like the birches–it has small notched serrations instead.

Maine to eastern Wisconsin, south to eastern Texas and east to Florida.

very tolerant of shade; moist bottoms; coves, slopes and ridges; often found in clumps produced by root suckering

Wood used in veneer, flooring and furniture. Creosote from this species is used in the treatment of various human and animal disorders. Seeds are eaten by a variety of birds and mammals, especially black bear, ducks and deer. Due to their smooth bark, beech trees were favorites of early surveyors for marking as witness trees, and the bark of many beech trees has been carved with initials.

This is a small tree reaching 16 – 49 feet in height and 1-1.5 ft. dbh.

Leaves:
 Arrangement: opposite; simple

 Shape: elliptical to oval

 Margin: entire

 Texture: glabrous

 Variation: arcuate

The bark is brown and/or black, broken into blocks

Twigs are two-toned red and green and slender.

Flowers appear in heads, consisting of four leaves pink or white in color. Fruit is a glabrous red drupe that occurs in clusters.

Look for opposite leaves, clustered red drupes, 2 toned twigs, and pink or white flowers.

Southern Maine south to central Florida west to eastern Oklahoma.

It is shade tolerant and prefers mesic to moist slopes and coves

Wood applications include tool handles, golf club heads, and jewelers blocks. Fruits are consumed by songbirds and especially the American robin. It is a very popular landscape tree.

The tree is medium sized reaching 40 to 60 ft. in height and 1 to 2 ft. in dbh. It often forms thickets by suckering.

Leaves:
 Arrangement: alternate; pinnately compound w/ 7-19 leaflets

 Shape: oval

 Margin: entire

 Texture: N/A

 Variation: N/A

The bark is blackish in color and is deeply furrowed with interlacing, rounded ridges that resembles a woven rope.

Twigs have stipular spines from each side of the node.

The flowers appear in a drooping raceme and are all white and fragrant. The fruit is a brown, flat, oblong pod that resembles a large pea pod.

This tree has a pea pod fruit, spines on the twigs and bark blackish in color and is deeply furrowed with interlacing, rounded ridges that resembles a woven rope.

This species occurs from southern Ohio to northern Alabama, east to South Carolina.

This species is intolerant and occurs from dry, moist soils to dry slopes. It is also noted as a pioneer species.

The tree is a nitrogen fixer and has a very hard wood, used for fence posts.

This species is an evergreen tree. It is small to medium in size 40 to 50 ft. in height and 1 to 2 ft. in dbh.

 Shape: 2 types: Scale leaves – 1/16 in. long and 4 sided. Awl leaves – 1/8 to 3/8 in.

The bark is reddish-brown in color. It is fibrous and peels in strips.

The cones are berry like. They are light green in the spring and turn dark blue and glaucous at maturity. They also are about 1/4 inch in diameter.

The bark is reddish-brown and fibrous. 2 types of leaves.

All states east of the great plains.

This species is intolerant occurring on dry uplands, heavy clays and on neutral soils.

The wood is used for fence posts, furniture and pencils. The foliage is browsed by deer, rabbits and mice. This is an important food source for songbirds. Also important for nesting and roosting birds.

This tree is medium sized reaching 60 to 70 ft. in height and a 2 to 3 ft. dbh. It also has a narrow crown and shallow roots.

Leaves:
 Arrangement: alternate

 Shape: oval

 Margin: finely serrated

 Texture: brown tomentose on lower midrib; petiole with 2 small, black glands; dark green and lustrous above, paler below

 Variation: glabrous

When the tree is young the bark is smooth and reddish-brown with horizontal lenticels. It later becomes black and scaly with age.

The twigs are slender and reddish brown to gray in color. The buds are covered by greenish to reddish-brown scales.

The flowers appear in racemes and are white. The fruit is globose and almost black when ripe.

The twigs have a bitter almond taste. Young bark has horizontal lenticels. The leaves are oval shaped.

Occurs from central Florida north to Maine and west to Texas.

This species is intolerant and occurs on varied, dry to moist sites. The best growth occurs on deep, rich soils.

The wood is most valued for cabinetry and furniture. The wilted leaves are know to be poisonous to cattle but deer do consume them in moderation and seem to be unaffected.The fruit is excellent source of food for wildlife.

This is a medium sized tree reaching heights of 60 to 80 ft. and a 2 to 3 ft. dbh. It has a short trunk with an open rounded crown.

Leaves:
 Arrangement: alternate, simple

 Shape: oblong-obovate; 7-11 lobed; bristle tipped

 Margin: entire

 Texture: glabrous except for axillary tufts

 Variation: pinnate

The bark is dark gray in color with shallow furrows that can resemble ski trails.

The twigs are moderately stout with a reddish brown color. This species has multiple terminal buds that are sharp pointed and reddish in color.

Flowers are borne on catskins and are staminate. The fruit is an acorn, that occurs in pairs or solitary. The acorn is about 1 in. in length and the cap is saucer-like with pubescent scales at the tips.

This species has distinctive oak leaves and a saucer like cap on its acorn.

This species is found from Maine to Georgia and west to eastern Nebraska.

This tree has an intermediate tolerance and occurs on mesic to moist upland soils, coves, and mountain slopes. However, it grows best on northerly and easterly aspects.

This species is an important source of hardwood lumber and is used in veneer, furniture, pulpwood, and flooring. White-tailed deer browse leaves and seedlings. Elk and moose also browse this tree in its northern regions.

This is a small to medium-sized tree reaching a maximum ht. of approximately 90 ft. and a maximum dbh of 15 inches.

Leaves:
 Arrangement: alternate

 Shape: tri-morphic (3 shapes)

 Margin: entire

 Texture: glabrous

 Variation: N/A

The bark is generally reddish brown in color and darker brown on the inside. It is deeply furrowed and aromatic when cut.

Green twigs are prevalent and quite aromatic when broken. Large buds (1/4 in. in length) are also green.

Flowers are dioecious, yellow and fragrant. The fruit is a dark blue drupe

It has three different shaped leaves (tri-morphic).

It can be found from Maine south to Oklahoma and east to central Florida

Intolerant characteristics make this a pioneer species. It can grow on dry sites, but reproduces best on moist, well-drained soils.

The wood has little commercial value, but has been used for fence posts. The leaves and twigs are often browsed by deer.

This species used to be one of the largest trees in the forest. Now it is only found at heights less than 20 ft. and as stump sprouts.

Leaves:
 Arrangement: alternate; simple

 Shape: oblong

 Margin: sharply serrate with bristle teeth

 Texture: both sides are hairless; dark green above, paler below

 Variation: parallel

The bark is a dark grayish-brown color and furrowed with broad, flat, scaly ridges.

The twigs are lustrous and brown. The buds are long and ovid.

The nuts are flattened on 1 side and found in 2’s and 3’s in each bur. The burs are 2 to 2.5 inches in diameter and are armed with very sharp spines.

This species has burr husk covering fruit and alternate, oblong, serrated leaves. Also the tree has dark brown shallowly fissured bark.

Formally found from southern Ontario to Maine and south along the Appalachian mountains to Georgia heading west to Mississippi and north to Indiana.

This species has an intermediate tolerance and occurs on mesic to dry slopes and ridges as well as sandy loams and rocky soils.

The tree was exterminated by chestnut blight, that was also a major blow to wildlife due to loss of consistent mast crops.

This is a large tree reaching 70 to 80 ft. in height and 2 to 3 ft. in dbh. It also has a narrow crown.

Leaves:
 Arrangement: opposite; odd-pinnately compound; 5-9 leaflets

 Shape: oval to oblong-lanceolate

 Margin: entire or serrate

 Texture: glabrous

 Variation: parallel

The bark has a gray color and is deeply furrowed with narrow interlacing ridges that form a diamond pattern.

The twigs are stout, covered with lenticels and are pubescent or glabrous. Lateral buds appear below the top edge of the leaf scar.

Flowers are dioecious and appear before the leaves. The fruit is a samara, that is oval to lanceolate in shape.

This species has a pinnately compound leaf, a twig with lenticels and leaf scars that are horseshoe shaped.

This species occurs from Maine to eastern Minnesota south to Texas and east to Florida.

This species has intermediate tolerance and occurs on moist uplands and coves.

The wood of this tree is used for almost all baseball bats and tool handles. Canoe paddles and snowshoes were also made from this species because of its strength. The fruit is eaten by wood ducks, finches, squirrels and mice.

Small tree ranging from 25 – 50 ft., the crown can be flat or somewhat rounded.

Leaves:
 Arrangement: alternate; simple

 Shape: cordate to reniform

 Margin: entire

 Texture: glabrous

 Variation: parallel

It has reddish brown to gray bark that is smooth when young; becoming scaly with fine furrows with age.

The leaf scar is fringed on top with tiny hairs. The twig zigzags between nodes.

Flowers are bright pink and clustered; The fruit is a legume, resembling a pea pod.

Look for the heart shaped leaves with entire margins and the “pea pod” fruit.

Southern Michigan south to eastern Texas and east along the coastal plain.

Intolerant; moist stream banks, bottom lands; low slopes and coves

No commercial value, fruit eaten by deer, pheasants and quail. Also called the Judas-tree. State tree of Oklahoma.

This tree is medium in size reaching 50 to 60 ft. in height and 2 to 3 ft. in dbh. It also has an irregular crown and a limby bole.

Leaves:
 Arrangement: alternate

 Shape: 5-7 bristle-tipped lobes; sun leaves have deep sinuses and shade leaves have very shallow sinuses

 Margin: entire

 Texture: thick; dark green and glabrous above; tomentose beneath

 Variation: pinnate

The bark is thick, grayish-black in color and is deeply furrowed vertically with horizontal breaks. The inner bark is orange.

The twigs are brown in color, stout and glabrous. The buds are long and sharp with a grayish pubescence.

The flowers are borne on catkins and are staminate. The fruit is an acorn that is long, ovid and 5/8 to 3/4 inches in length. The cap of the acorn has loose reddish-brown scales. It is also noted the the acorns mature in 2 years.

This species has characteristic oak leaves, produced mast every 2 years, and has long terminal buds.

This species occurs from Maine to Minnesota, south to eastern Texas and east to Florida.

This species has an intermediate tolerance and occurs on mesic to dry uplands.

The wood is sold as “red oak” and used for furniture and flooring. The acorns are eaten by a variety of mammals and birds. Notable species include: wild turkeys, squirrels, and white-tailed deer.

The tree is small ranging up to 35 ft. in height and a dbh of 1ft.

Leaves:
 Arrangement: alternate

 Shape: ovate-oblong

 Margin: doubly serrate

 Texture: glabrous above; pubescent in the axils of veins & on the petiole

 Variation: parallel

The bark is thin, gray and broken into thin strips. It look similar to a “cat scratch”.

The twigs are brownish-red and occasionally pubescent. The buds, in a cross section, are cylindrical with a grooved scales.

The fruit is very distinctive, resembling hops. It is a 1/4 inch nutlet enclosed in dried, leafy, papery sac in clusters.

This species has leaves with doubly serrated margins, shredding bark, a nutlet for a fruit, and twigs that are slender and brownish-red.

Occurs from Maine south to North Dakota and south to northern Florida.

This species is very tolerant and occurs on moist to mesic upland. It is also noted as being an understory species.

The wood is used in posts and golf club handles. The twigs are browsed by white-tailed deer. The fruits are browsed by various species of game birds.

This species grows as a small shrub or an individual stem. It has thorns on stems, petioles, petiolules, and principal veins.

Leaves:
 Arrangement: palmately compound; 3-5 leaflets

 Shape: ovate

 Margin: doubly serrate

 Texture: pubescent to scabrous

N/A

N/A

Flowers are pink to white in color. The fruit is a group of black drupes.

It is an herbaceous shrub with thorns.

It is found from Maine south to Georgia and west to Kentucky.

It is most often found in old fields and along fence rows due to it’s intolerant characteristics for shade.

It is an important food source for black bears and other species of mammals and birds.

This is a medium sized tree reaching 60-80 ft. in height and 2-3 ft. dbh. It often has a swollen bole near the base of the tree.

Leaves:
 Arrangement: alternate

 Shape: *deeply 5-9 lobed

 Margin: lobes bristle tipped

 Texture: waxy/shiny above

 Variation: pinnate

The bark is bluish-gray when young and normally nearly black when older. It is thick and rough at base and thin with striped, shallow ridges above

Twigs are glabrous, slender, and reddish-brown. Terminal buds are angled, slightly pointed, and covered by dark reddish brown scales.

The acorn cap covers 1/3-1/2 of the nut.

The acorn has circles (concentric circles) around the point (apex). The sinuses extend nearly to midrib (very deep lobes).

The northern range extends into Maine and it is found southwest into Illinois and further south into Alabama.

Scarlet oak is intolerant of shade. It most often grows on dry to uplands due to drought resistance.

It can be substituted for low-grade northern red oak lumber and produces mast that is an important food source for wild turkeys, white-tailed deer, and squirrels.

This species is an evergreen fern.

Leaves:
 Arrangement: evergreen, clump forming

 Shape: pinnae outlined resembles a sock

 Margin: serrated

 Texture: glabrous

 Variation: N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

This species is a clump of evergreen fronds with pinnae, shaped as stockings.

Occurs throughout the east.

This species prefers rich, limy soils. It is commonly found on rocky, shaded slopes & along wooded stream banks.

This species has been used in the past for Christmas decorating.

Shrub with a height from 3 to 10 ft. Multiple stems and a spreading appearance.

Leaves:
 Arrangement: opposite

 Shape: narrow

 Margin: finely serrate

 Texture: glabrous

The bark has a green color with an appearance of lenticels.

Twigs are green in color and slender with orangish-red buds.

The fruit is red in the fall, which is very unique. The fruit is a four lobed capsules, that when opened, reveal red berries.

A shrub red fruit, green bark, and opposite leaves.

Reaches as far north as New Jersey and New York; South to Florida and west to Texas, Oklahoma, and Missouri.

This species is tolerant and found in mixed deciduous forest and low woodlands to swampy forests.

Strawberry bush is browsed heavily by white-tailed deer.

Small to medium sized tree reaching 30 to 40 ft. and 1 1/2 ft. in dbh

Leaves:
 Arrangement: alternate

 Shape: inequilateral rounded base

 Margin: serrate, but entire below the middle

 Texture: pubescent below

 Variation: 3 main veins originating at petiole

Brownish gray with a smooth surface and characteristic warts and ridges.

Zigzagging and slender, reddish brown in color. Buds are small and acute.

Flowers are small and green in color. They are produced on stalks near the twig. Fruits are a drupe with a long stem. The drupe has an ovid shape and a purplish to dark red color.

Tree has warty bark and a characteristic fruit. The leaf usually is serrated above the middle with 3 main veins.

Central Wisconsin east to central New York. South to northern Georgia and west to central Arkansas.

Occurs on rich, moist alluvial soils. However, it does occur on drier sites as well as on limestone outcrops.

The wood is used as substitutes for white ash, hickory, and elm. It does have a low timber value. The fruit is eaten by a variety of birds and mammals. Especially notable species include: wild turkey, ringneck pheasant, mocking bird, and fox squirrels. Also commonly called beaverwood.

This is a small tree or large shrub reaching 5 – 60 ft. in height.

Leaves:
 Arrangement: alternate

 Shape: oblong to elliptic

 Margin: coarsely serrate

 Texture: whitish tomentose below

 Variation: pinnate

It has reddish-brown bark with shallow furrows.

The twigs are orange-brown & pubescent. It also has pubescent buds.

The fruit is a spiny bur, with one nut enclosed.

It has smaller leaves than American chestnut & is tomentose below.

New Jersey west to Texas and east to Florida.

It has intermediate tolerance to shade and prefers dry uplands, hillsides, and ridges.

Fruit eaten by numerous species of wildlife.

This is an evergreen shrub species.

Leaves:
 Arrangement: Alternate, simple

 Shape: oblanceolate

 Margin: entire

 Texture: glaucous above, glabrous below

 Variation: parallel

It has thin gray-brown bark.

Slender twigs have brown pubescence.

Grayish berries are retained along stems. The fruit is wax coated.

This is an evergreen that is typically smaller than American holly. Look for the persistent berries and the lanceolate leaf shape with the spinose margin.

New Jersey south to Florida west to east Texas, along the coastal plain

It is shade tolerant.

Provides year round cover for wildlife and a variety of birds eat the berries.

Medium sized reaching 50 – 80 ft. in height and 1 – 2 ft. in dbh. Also has a rounded spreading crown.

Leaves:
 Arrangement: alternate; pinnately compound; 11-41 leaflets

 Shape: Ovate – lanceolate

 Margin: Entire except lobed/glandular toothed at base

 Texture: Glabrous

 Variation: Pinnate

Thin, gray, and smooth. Inner bark is bitter

Twigs are stout and light brown. Lacks terminal buds.

Flower are staminate and greenish yellow. Fruit is a samara.

Smell for the burnt peanut butter scent. It’s rachis and petiole are pubescent and it has a large compound leaf.

Native of China. Introduced in the 1780’s and is now found almost throughout the entire lower 48 states.

It is shade intolerant and grows on dry uplands and poor sterile sites.

It is resistant to air pollution; native to China and planted in eastern US 1784; bark extract used as a tonic. Very invasive forming impenetrable thickets in open sunny area. A prolific seeder and tends to be allelopathic.

This is a medium sized tree reaching from 75 – 100 ft. in height and 2 -3 ft in dbh.

Leaves:
 Arrangement: alternate; simple

 Shape: broadly ovate; inequilateral

 Margin: serrate

 Texture: glabrous

 Variation: pinnate

The bark is greenish when young, but dark gray with shallow furrows when older.

The twig is greenish red and zigzags. It normally lacks terminal buds.

The fruit is ovid, tomentose, and nutlike. It forms in a cluster attached to leaf base somewhat like a “fishing lure”.

Look for the “fishing lure” looking fruit and the reniform leaf that has an inequilateral base. Also, look for it growing with several main stems even when older.

Maine west to Minnesota south to north Arkansas and east to western North Carolina.

It is tolerant of shade and prefers moist to mesic upland sites.

It is an important wood producer in the northern hardwood stands of the Great Lakes region. It is browsed by white tailed deer and wood ducks use tree cavities for nesting.

This is a small to medium size tree.

Leaves:
 Arrangement: alternate

 Shape: lanceolate

 Margin: serrate

 Texture: glabrous

 Variation: parallel

The bark is gray-brown, scaly, becoming corky with age.

It has pointed white buds.

Fringed acorn cap covers half of nut.

Lanceolate leaves with sharply serrated leaves. Acorn cap fringed

Used as an ornamental

It has medium tolerance to shade.

Planted for wildlife. Originally from Japan/Korea/China & planted in southern US

This is a medium size reaching a maximum height of 60 ft. It has narrow branches and a rounded crown.

Leaves:
 Arrangement: alternate; simple

 Shape: Heart shaped to oval

 Margin: finely serrate margins

 Texture: leathery, lustrous, glabrous

 Variation: pinnate

The bark is smooth with many lenticels when young becoming grayish-brown with shallow furrows when older.

The twigs are stout and brownish in color with ridges running from base to leaf scar. The buds are elongate-ovoid and intensely woolly.

It forms clusters of white flowers and has a brown pomes for a fruit.

Heart shaped leaves, white flowers. Medium sized tree.

Exotic from China

N/A

It is a planted ornamental.

It is a shrub growing 2-7 ft. in height.

Leaves:
 Arrangement: alternate; 3 leaflets; compound

 Shape: terminal leaflet is slightly stalked

 Margin: serrated

 Texture: pubescent when young

 Variation: N/A

Bark is brown and slender.

Twigs are aromatic when bruised.

It produces red fruits with densely course hairs.

It is most easily identified as a shrub with 3 leaflets that is aromatic when crushed.

This species is often found in Nebraska east to the Atlantic coast, north to Maine, and south to Florida.

It grows naturally on dry rocky sites.

Fruits are consumed by various small mammals and birds.

This is a medium-sized tree ranging from 60-80 ft. in height and 2-3 ft. in dbh. It has a wide spreading crown.

Leaves:
 Arrangement: opposite, simple

 Shape: 5 lobed

 Margin: serrated

 Texture: glabrous

 Variation: palmate

Young trees typically have a smooth silvery gray appearance which eventually breaks up into thin plates that are unattached at the ends.

They resemble red maple, but are more brown in color. Terminal buds are obtuse and lateral buds are smaller than the terminal.

Perfect flowers are red to green in color. The fruit is a samara.

It has very deep lobes which distinguish it from red maple and has a serrated margin which distinguishes it from sugar maple.

It grows naturally from Michigan south to Louisiana west to eastern Oklahoma and east to the Atlantic coast

It grows best on wet bottomlands and along steam sides and lakes.

The wood can be used in furniture and paneling. The fruit is eaten by a variety of game birds and small mammals.

a woody, somewhat hairy vine

Leaves:
 Arrangement: alternate; compound, 3 leaflets

 Shape: oval, but nearly heart-shaped; can be lobed

 Margin: entire

 Texture: pubescent

 Variation: parallel

Brown and scaly

Brown and pubescent

reddish purple flowers smelling of grapes, Fruit is a brown pod appearing in clusters.

Vine, 3 leaflets, reddish purple flowers.

All across eastern U.S. High concentrations in the south.

waste areas, woods, roadsides; fast growing, up to 60′ in one season

native to Japan and China where it is grown for its edible, starch roots and for fiber made from its stems. Introduced to this country as livestock fodder in the late 1800’s and planted extensively to control erosion in 1930’s. A very serious pest species in the South especially in Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia. Goats the only know animal to consume this species.

Medium-sized tree reaching 50 ft. tall and 2 ft. dbh. It has a rounded crown with heavy branches.

Leaves:
 Arrangement: opposite; pinnate-netted

 Shape: cordate to oval with an acuminate tip

 Margin: entire with ciliate margin

 Texture: thick, velvety pubescence

 Variation: pinnate

Smooth and dotted with lenticels when young, becoming gray and furrowed with alternating smooth patches with age.

Pubescent, light brown and stout with lenticels, closed bundle scars and elliptical leaf scars, bud scales absent on terminal buds.

Fruit is a yellowish capsule & remains over winter

Heart-shaped, large leaves (note penny on seedling leaf in image at right), very sticky seeds, pinkish purple flowers.

Native to China and planted in US as an ornamental tree

Intolerant; moist slopes and stream banks

Invasive species along roadsides, waterways, and pastures. However, the wood can is quite valuable.

This is a shrub that develops arched branches and multiple stems.

Leaves:
 Arrangement: opposite, simple

 Shape: ovate with long-acuminate apex

 Margin: entire

 Texture: glabrous

 Variation: pinnate

It has non-exfoliating bark with conspicuous interlacing ridges.

It’s twigs are hollow and it has small buds.

Persistent red berries are born on short stalks.

Look for it’s red soft berries, white-yellow flowers, opposite arrangement. It often grows in clumps and has a woody stems which distinguishes it from Japanese honeysuckle which is more of a vine.

Eastern U.S. Introduced from Manchuria and Korea.

It’s best growth occurs in full sunlight, but will pretty much grow anywhere.

Highly invasive exotic, that displaces native plant populations.

This is a medium sized shrub, with a short trunk and spreading branches.

Leaves:
 Arrangement: alternate

 Shape: base inequilateral

 Margin: sinuate to crenate

 Texture: pubescent below

 Variation: pinnate

silver-gray, smooth to lightly scaly

Twigs are pubescent brown and slender. Buds are stalked and resemble a rabbits foot.

Yellow flowers are produced in the fall. The fruit is a ½ inch woody capsule containing 2 black seeds.

Aromatic, yellow flowers present in fall, aromatic foliage, persistent seed capsules.

Florida to Maine west to east Texas an north to Minnesota.

It is shade tolerant and grows on a variety of sites.

Historically, branches were used for water-witching. Fruits are eaten by several species of game birds and white tailed deer.

This is a perennial evergreen vine. It can grow up to 18 ft. in length.

Leaves:
 Arrangement: opposite

 Shape: Oval – ovate

 Margin: entire

 Texture: pubescent above and beneath

 Variation: pinnate

N/A

A hollow slender twig that is also light brown and pubescent.

It has fragrant white flowers from June to August and black berries from September to March.

Evergreen to semi-evergreen species, white-yellow flowers, black berries, and oval-ovate leaves

New York south along coastal plain to Texas. Also present in the Ohio and Mississippi river valley’s as well as Ozark mountains.

It grows anywhere with best growth in full sunlight.

This is an exotic species that is very invasive.

This is a small tree ( 20-60 feet in height). It is usually multiple stemmed.

Leaves:
 Arrangement: alternate, simple

 Shape: oblong to elliptical

 Margin: entire

 Texture: white/silvery glaucous beneath

 Variation: parallel

It has thin, light brown, often mottled, scaly bark.

Twigs are pubescent and pale green. Buds are long and curled at their ends.

Flowers are white and cup-shaped. Fruit is an aggregate of follicles.

Leaves have a silver underside. In contrast, southern magnolia has a brown underside.

It occurs naturally along the Atlantic coastal plain from New Jersey to east Texas.

It has intermediate tolerance to shade and often occurs on acid soils of swamps and lowland coastal plains.

Wood used for furniture, venation blinds, popcicle sticks and tongue depressors. White-tail deer browse this species.

This is a small evergreen tree reaching 40-50 ft. in height.

Leaves:
 Arrangement: alternate, simple

 Shape: revolute

 Margin: spinose teeth

 Texture: leathery

 Variation: N/A

It has thin grayish-white blotchy bark.

It’s twigs are pubescent and slender when young.

It produces a bright red berry-like drupe. The flowers are imperfect, solitary, and whitish green in color

Look for the pyramidal shape, spinose margin on the thick evergreen leaves, and it’s red drooping berries.

Massachusetts south to central Florida, and west toward east Texas, throughout the Atlantic Coastal Plain

Very tolerant; moist bottoms; low slopes

Good ornamental; Songbirds, wild turkeys, mourning doves, and small mammals feed on the fruit. The wood has been used in veneer, and occasionally for lumber and pulpwood. When the wood is died black it can be used in ebony applications.

It grows to approximately 50 ft. maximum height and 2 ft. dbh and has a wide spreading crown.

Leaves:
 Arrangement: alternate; odd-pinnately compound

 Shape: petiole swollen at base and enclosing bud; 7-11 leaflets

 Margin: entire

 Texture: silky pubescent below

 Variation: pinnate

It has thin smooth gray bark with light blotches.

It’s twigs are smooth and yellowish-brown in color. Leaf scars nearly encircle buds and lateral buds are pubescent.

It has fragrant white flowers that appear in panicles. Fruit is a legume, brown and papery.

It is pinnately compound and the bud is enclosed in the petiole.

Alabama northeast to southwest Virginia

It is shade tolerant and grows on moist mountain slopes and calcareous bluffs.

The wood yields a yellow dye and is used as paneling, gunstocks, and turning wood.

medium in size reaching 60-70 ft. in height and 2-3 ft. in dbh. Also has a prymidal crown.

Leaves:
 Arrangement: alternate; simple

 Shape: oval to ovate

 Margin: entire

 Texture: shiny, dark green and waxy above; rusty, tomentose beneath

 Variation: pinnate

thin, gray to light brown; scaly

Tomentose, rusty, and stout; long rusty or paleish terminal buds; stipular scar encircles the twig.

from May to June have showy, fragrant, white flowers; fruit (in Fall) – aggregate of follicles that change from green to red with red seeds

Dark shiny green leaves, distinctive fruit aggregate. occurring in the southeast.

North Carolina south to central Florida west to east Texas.

tolerant; moist bottoms; bays; rich soils

Wood used to make veneer and furniture. Seeds are eaten by small mammals, quail and wild turkey. State tree of Mississippi and state flower of Mississippi and Louisiana.

This is a shrub often seen pruned into hedges.

Leaves:
 Arrangement: opposite, simple

 Shape: elliptical

 Margin: entire

 Texture: leathery

 Variation: parallel

smooth; gray-brown

Slender and brown with lenticels. Species had small buds

very fragrant white flowers in terminal panicles; small blue-black berries

Semi-evergreen species, leaves elliptical in shape, small buds.

Introduced from China and Japan.

grows anywhere, an exotic

Very invasive ornamental that will crowd out native species, fruit eaten by a variety of bird.

Large tree ranging from 100 – 150 ft. and 2 – 7 ft. in dbh. Has spreading open crown.

Leaves:
 Arrangement: alternate; odd-pinnately compound; 9-19 leaflets

 Shape: leaflets are often curved; inequilateral base

 Margin: finely serrate

 Texture: glabrous

 Variation: pinnate

light brown to grayish-brown; smooth when young, becoming furrowed with ridges

Stout, red-brown in color with orange lenticels, buds valvate, acute, and long.

nut – 4-winged with thin, dark brown husk. Flower is yellowish green and appears in catskins.

Compound leaf with 9 – 16 serrated leaflets, distinctive nut, large tree.

Along the Mississippi river from southern Iowa to Louisiana. Occur locally in Alabama and Kentucky.

intolerant; moist, well-drained bottoms; mesic uplands

Not important commercially; wood used for furniture and flooring. Nut eaten by a variety of wildlife. State tree of Texas.

This is a small tree reaching in height up 25 ft. and has an open, spreading crown.

Leaves:
 Arrangement: alternate

 Shape: oblong to elliptical

 Margin: finely serrate

 Texture: glabrous

 Variation: N/A

The bark has a light ashy gray color.

The twigs are slender and reddish-brown in color, and pubescent. The buds are brown and naked.

The fruit is red berries that when mature turn black.

The midrib of the leaf is yellow. The twig is reddish-brown with pubescence. It is also a small tree.

This tree occurs throughout eastern North America.

This species it tolerant and occurs on moist to mesic soils, rocky slopes, and calcareous soils.

The fruit is eaten by a variety of wildlife. It is an ingredient in drugs, dyes, and charcoal for gunpowder.

Small tree, 30 – 40 ft. in height.

Leaves:
 Arrangement: alternate; simple

 Shape: oblong-ovate to oval

 Margin: serrate

 Texture: pubescent below

It has greenish bark with white stripes when young. Older trees develop ridges and furrows and have a gun metal blue color.

The twig is slender and brown and often lacks a terminal bud.

It has white, bell-shaped flowers and a nut-like fruit with 4 prominent wings.

Look for the Bell shaped flower, alternate ovate leaves, the 4-winged fruit, and it’s distinctive bark.

West Virginia south to Alabama west to Oklahoma.

It is shade tolerant and prefers moist bottoms and low slopes

Desirable landscape tree. Wood used in crafts. Squirrels eat the seeds.

This is a medium to large tree 80 – 90 ft. in height with a dbh of 3 – 4 ft.

Leaves:
 Arrangement: alternate; simple

 Shape: broadly elliptical to ovate

 Margin: entire

 Texture: glabrous, thin

 Variation: parallel

The bark is thin and gray or yellowed brown when young becoming shallowly furrowed with narrow scaly ridges.

It has a white & pubescent bud. The stipule scar encircles twig.

It has golden yellow to greenish yellow flowers and a cylindrical to ovid, long and red fruit.

Look for the red-brown colored twig and very large leaves. It’s yellowish bark contrasts with gray bark of the other magnolias.

Found throughout the middle and southern Appalachian mountains and in sporadic patches in the south.

It is intermediately tolerant of shade and prefers coves, moist slopes, and/or loose fertile soils

It is a preferred food by beaver. Wood is mixed with yellow poplar. Lumber used for furniture, doors, and boxes.

This is a large tree reaching 90-110 ft. in height and 2-3 ft. in dbh. It generally has a dense crown and straight bole.

 Length: 4-9″

 Other: stiff needles

The bark is dark and scaly when young becoming furrowed with age. It usually has a gray to red-brown tint with platy scales exposing brown inner layers.

Cones are cylindrical to ovid (similar to slash pine).

Needles often smell like citrus fruit. It has a larger cone than shortleaf pine.

It grows in Virginia south along the coast and west to Texas.

It is planted on a variety of soils, but prefers sites with ample moisture and poor drainage.

It is the leading commercial southern pine. The seeds are eaten by a variety of songbirds and small mammals.

This is a medium sized tree 50 – 60 ft. in height and 1-2 ft. in dbh.

Leaves:
 Arrangement: alternate

 Shape: form a cross; cuneate base

 Margin: entire

 Texture: glabrous and dark green above; glaucous and pubescent below

 Variation: pinnate

The bark is gray with light patches, shallow furrows and narrow ridges similar to white oak but tighter.

Twigs are stout and somewhat tomentose. The buds are sub-globose and covered with chestnut brown scales.

Green to red appearing in catskins.

Look for the gray tomentose twig, cruciform (cross shaped) leaf shape, and scaly bark similar to white oak.

Massachusetts south to Florida west to Oklahoma and north to southern Indiana.

It has intermediate tolerance of shade and most often occurs on dry uplands commonly on heavy soils.

Wood resistant to decay, used in flooring siding and fence posts. Provides habitat for birds and mammals. Acorns eaten by deer, wild turkey, and rodents.

This is a spiny flat-topped tree, 25 – 30 ft. in height, 8 ft. dbh.

Leaves:
 Arrangement: alternate; bi- to tri-pinnately compound

 Shape: ovate – elliptical

 Margin: serrate

 Texture: glacuous

 Variation: parallel

It has smooth bark, but it is ringed with prickles.

Covered with spines, gray to dark yellow in color, stout; buds have few scales and are small.

The fruit matures in the fall and produces large umbels of purple berries.

The rachis has scattered prickles. Also look for the very large compound leaf.

New York south to Florida west to west Texas

intermediate tolerance; moist margins of woods, stream banks; often found as thickets; will for these clumps by root sprouts

Pollen used by insects and fruits are used by black bears and birds.

This is a medium size tree reaching 70-80 ft in height and 1-2 ft in diameter. It has a small open crown and normally a clear straight bole.

Leaves:
 Arrangement: alternate, compound; 5-7 leaflets with terminal longest

 Shape: ovate-lanceolate

 Margin: finely serrate

 Texture: glabrous above and pubescent below

The bark is thin and gray when young breaking into 1-3′ long plates that are free at one end with age.

The twigs are reddish-brown, stout, and lenticels. The relatively large terminal bud has pubescent scales.*

The nuts are slightly rounded and occur in pairs. The brown husk has a rough texture with indentations at the suture.

Look for a large terminal bud characteristic of hickories, and the the large pieces of shedding bark.

It occurs north as far as New York west to southern Wisconsin, south to Mississippi, and east to the Atlantic coast.

Shagbark has intermediate tolerance to shade. It typically grows on moist and mesic upland sites.

It produces a valuable wood used for furniture, flooring, and cabinetry. The mast is eaten by a variety of wildlife species.

Small tree with spreading branches.

Leaves:
 Arrangement: alternate; pinnately compound

 Shape: lanceolate

 Margin: entire

 Texture: leaflets pubescent below

 Variation: parallel

gray-brown; scaly; lenticellate

twigs covered with fine, velvety, reddish brown hair

yellowish-green found in panicles. Fruit is a terminal cluster of reddish drupes.

winged rachis, multiple leaflets, persistent fruit clusters.

Eastern United States

intolerant; dry uplands; woods borders

Landscape plant; Leaves can be steeped for a lemonade type drink; Native Americans use the bark for an astringent and leaves and roots mixed with tobacco for smoking. Aids in erosion control.

This is a medium to large tree reaching 70-100 ft. with a dbh of 1-2 ft.

Leaves:
 Arrangement: alternate; usually 5 leaflets

 Shape: lanceolate

 Margin: finely serrate

 Texture: glabrous above and pubescent below

Photo Courtesy: Robert H. Mohlenbrock, USDA NRCS Plants Database

The bark is thick, firm, dark gray and closely and deeply furrowed. It has interlacing ridges that form diamond shapes.

The twigs are glabrous, slender, and reddish-brown in color.

This species produces a pear-shaped nut, with a thin husk that typically has a teardrop point at one end*

It has a glabrous petiole and rachis which distinguishes it from the pubescent rachis on mockernut hickory. The teardrop pointed nut is also unique to pignut.

This species is widely distributed across the eastern United States: north into Maine, across the central hardwood region into Iowa, south into central Florida and east to the Atlantic coast.

Pignut has intermediate tolerance of shade. It grows well on both dry and mesic upland sites.

The wood is used in specialty applications. Deer and small mammals browse it’s leaves and twigs, and feed on the nuts.

This tree can reach 60-100 ft in height and 2-3 ft. in dbh. It has an ovid shaped crown when growing in the open and a relatively straight bole.

 Length: 6-9″

 Other: slightly shiny

The bark is dark and scaly when young becoming orange-brown and plate-like with thin papery layers and deep fissures.

It has a stalked reddish-brown cone.

Look for the orange tint in the fissures, the shorter needle, and the smaller egg-shaped cone to distinguish slash from longleaf pine.

It occurs north as far as Virginia and west to Texas, but is most prominent in along the coast in northern Florida.

Slash pine is intolerant to shade. It grows well on hallow sands with high water table.

It is quite susceptible to fire damage. The seeds are eaten by a variety of bird species and deer sometimes browse young seedlings.

Medium sized tree 40 – 60 ft. in height and a dbh of 1 ft.; irregular crown