How Much Dimensional Change Should You Expect? Tea is brewed from the bark of roots and leaves are used is as a thickener in soups and sauces. Osage Orange Fruit, Maclura pomifera. Other common names are spotted oak, Schneck oak, Shumard red oak, southern red oak, and swamp red oak. Any oak with pointed, bristle-tipped leaf lobes belongs to the red oak group, including Northern red oak. The avenue of live oaks at Oak Alley Plantation in Vacherie, Louisiana, planted in the early 18th century. The names "Box Elder" and "Boxelder Maple" are based on the similarity of its whitish wood to that of boxwood and the similarity of its pinnately compound leaves with those of some species of elder. American sycamore is a massive tree and can attain the largest trunk diameter of any of the eastern U.S. hardwoods. Young sassafras seedlings are usually unlobed but older trees add unique mitten-shaped leaves with two or three lobes on other leaves. The alternate maple-looking leaves are large and also unique to those familiar with sycamore. The fall color of sourwood is a striking red and orange and associated with blackgum and sassafras. Red oak is the fastest growing of all oaks and when on the right site, one of the largest and longest-lived. Both the post oak and the blackjack oak are the major trees of the "Cross Timbers" area in Texas and Oklahoma. This tree makes a handsome shade tree. S. albidum is a host plant for the spicebush swallowtail. The large seed crops provide food to many kinds of wildlife. Red alder trees invade clearings or burned-over areas and form temporary forests. (Peter Stevens/Wikimedia Commons/CC BY 2.0), Derek Ramsey/derekramsey.com/Wikimedia Commons/GFDL 1.2, (United States Department of Agriculture/Wikimedia Commons). It can occur as far east as New England and southern Quebec where the soils are mesic with relatively high pH. It has a swollen base that tapers to a long, clear bole and often occurs in pure stands. The acorn or winter buds identify Nuttall oak, easily confused with pin oak (Q. palustris). Aspen propagates itself primarily through root sprouts, and extensive clonal colonies are common. You can easily identify a hardwood from a conifer. Silver maple is a weak tree but often introduced in the landscape to the dismay of many who plant it. Cultivars selected for superior fall color include 'Autumn Applause' and 'Autumn Purple.'. As a result, many areas today still have extensive groves of old beeches. Furniture looks, elegant simplicity mark new styles in kitchen cabinetry, Hardwood Cabinets Enhance Universal Design, Fashion for the home: Hardwoods are key design element in contemporary furnishings, Furnishing the Nursery with an Eye to the Future, Solid Hardwood Furniture, Still the Classic Choice, Create Character with the Crowning Touch of Hardwood Mouldings, Add style to your home from floor to ceiling, Transform an aging room into a dazzling showcase, Creating Characterful Interiors with Hardwood Moulding, Enhance a Home’s Character with Hardwood Architectural Details, Taking a closer look at ‘Natural and Healthy'American hardwood products, The Confident Choice for Eco-conscious Consumers, American Hardwoods: Renewable, Abundant and Sustainable, American Hardwoods: The Natural, Eco-Friendly Choice for Your Home. This Guide features 20 of the most abundant and most often used Hardwood species. A favored shade tree, willow oak is widely planted as an ornamental. Scarlet oak is a popular shade tree and has been widely planted in the United States and Europe. It is a choice fuel for smoking meats. The oak is popular due to an attractive pyramidal shape and straight, dominant trunk, even on older specimens and because of availability. Sweetgum is sometimes called redgum, probably because of the red color of the older heartwood and its red fall leaves. As a young man, it is reported that Abraham Lincoln spent a lot of time splitting rails and fence posts from black locust logs. Although it is usually found on wet bottomlands, it grows on dry sites and also grows well on poor soils low in nutrients. Internet Archive Book Images/Wikimedia Commons. Dozens of red maple varieties have been developed and the tree is prized for its fall color. Laurel oak or (Quercus laurifolia) is commonly used as an ornamental tree in landscaping because of its fast growth and pleasing appearance; it is planted with little regard to soil type. It is abundant further south on the southern coast and in the Gulf states, reaching its greatest size on the bottomlands of southern Arkansas and eastern Texas. A lot of that popularity has been challenged because of iron-deficiency chlorosis, persistent brown leaves on the tree into the winter, and a ragged look with the stubby twig "pins" that stand out and is a negative to some. Dogwoods are among the earliest springtime blooming trees. With its dense crown, flowering dogwood provides good shade, and due to its small stature, it is useful in the smallest yards. Basswood flowers draw hordes of bees and other insects. The wood resembles elm but is difficult to work, rots easily and is a bad choice for planting in the landscape. Green ash is the most widely distributed of all the American ashes. By using ThoughtCo, you accept our. Locate it where the slimy fruit will not fall on sidewalks and cause people to slip and fall. American basswood is dominant in the sugar maple-basswood association most common in western Wisconsin and central Minnesota. Black willow is named for its dark gray-brown bark. Still, it has been planted in cities and on farms because of its rapid growth. "Now you see why they are called BIG leaf maples.". Holly boughs and leaves are popular Christmas decorations and inseparably connected with the Christmas season. Kayaking among water tupelo trees at Finch Lake Campground, Louisiana. The wood is the hardest and heaviest of all elms. Wildlife and people harvest most of the nuts and those remaining produce seedling trees readily. Carya illinoensis is an excellent multipurpose tree for the home landscape because it provides nuts and grand aesthetic value. It is a very important keystone hardwood tree throughout the western American states and stunningly beautiful in Autumn. The lumber is often cut and sold as red oak. The tree hates shade (intolerant) and best growth occurs in a sunny open location and a moist rich soil, common along stream banks in its native habitat. Black tupelo (Nyssa sylvatica) is divided into two commonly recognized varieties, typical black tupelo (var. Because bitternut hickory wood is hard and durable, it is used for furniture, paneling, dowels, tool handles, and ladders. Live oak is a symbolic tree of the Deep South. All the red oaks, including Southern red oak, are the most prized hardwood species in the United States. He is a member of the Society of American Foresters. Most, but not all, hardwoods are deciduous, perennial plants which are normally leafless for some time during the year. Still, the bark is important to wintering moose because of its sheer abundance. Royal paulownia is an introduced ornamental that has become well established in North America. Biodiversity Heritage Library/Wikimedia Commons. Cucumber magnolia is one of the largest magnolias and one of the cold-hardiest. Paper birch is a pioneer species and is first in after a forest disturbance. Bruce Marlin/Wikimedia Commons/CC BY-SA 2.5. Live oak is the state tree of Georgia and a favorite in the coastal landscape. The name post oak refers to the use of the wood of this tree for fence posts. The medium to large willow oak has unique willow-like foliage and is known for its rapid growth and long life. Black cherry is prone to storm damage with branches breaking easily but any resulting decay progresses slowly. Branch of a bitternut hickory with developing nuts. Mockernut hickory is very common and abundant southward through Virginia, North Carolina, and Florida but grows from Massachusetts south to northern Florida, west to Kansas and Texas and up to Iowa. The tree grows largest in the lower Ohio River Basin. Finchlake2000/Wikimedia Commons/CC BY 2.0, Illustrations of Common Eastern United States Trees by Charles Sprague Sargent, Identification of the Most Common Hardwoods, Ten Most Common Trees in the United States, The Major North American Conifers with Descriptions, Major Common Oak Species of North America, Guide to Common Oak Trees of North America, The Eastern Deciduous Forests of North America, Scarlet Oak, A Top 100 Common Tree in North America, White Oak, A Common Tree in North America, Willow Oak: Favorite Wildlife Food and Landscape Tree, Identify Common Major Hickory Species in North America, B.S., Forest Resource Management, University of Georgia. The name White ash derives from the blueish white undersides of the leaves. For your next project download the American Hardwoods Species Guide Mobile App in the Apple Store |, https://www.facebook.com/AmericanHardwoods, https://www.pinterest.com/americanhardwds/, A quick and easy wood terms glossary for your reference |, © 2020 Hardwood Manufacturers Association, How Selecting Materials Impacts Our Lives, Trend Alert: Wood Planks Warm up Ceilings and Walls, From modest to magnificent: Create an entertainment space for any home. The yellow poplar tree has very unique leaves with four lobes separated by rounded notches. Some may actually be softer than many coniferous softwoods. Emily Richardson/Wikimedia Commons/CC BY-SA 3.0. Cercis canadensis often has a large crop of 2-4 inch seedpods that some find unappealing in the urban landscape. It is also very strong and takes a high polish which offers a wide range of uses, notably shipbuilding, furniture, agricultural tools, and musical instruments. A number of cultivars have very attractive bark and selected for garden planting, including 'Heritage' and 'Dura Heat.' Rock elm or cork elm is a deciduous tree native primarily to the Midwestern United States and along the prairie and forest edge. It is normally seen along the larger river systems. Juglans cinerea, commonly known as butternut or white walnut, is a species of walnut native to the eastern United States and southeast Canada. The water oak is also called possum oak or spotted oak. The range of pignut hickory covers nearly all of eastern United States. Although American beech wood is heavy, hard, tough and strong, the tree is typically left during lumbering and often left uncut to grow. This beloved tree is the state tree of Missouri, North Carolina, and Virginia. Pignut hickory (Carya glabra) is a common but not abundant species in the oak-hickory forest association in the Eastern United States. It is rare in the north of its range (New England and New York) and always small there. American holly typically grows as an understory tree in forests. This not only benefits the tree itself but also many other plants growing around it. Basswood is a prolific sprouting tree and can even form clumps from stumps. The less than "respectable" maple is not particularly desired in the landscape because of rapid trunk rotting, prolific sprouting and branch shedding. Ontologicalpuppy/Wikimedia Commons/CC BY-SA 4.0, Jean-Pol GRANDMONT/Wikimedia Commons/CC BY-SA 3.0. In addition to the basics – where they grow, general description, and abundance – each Hardwood profile includes working and physical properties, availability, strength and mechanical properties, and main uses. The tree is a valuable source for lumber products. Many kinds of wildlife eat the fruits and water tupelo is a favored honey tree. 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