| Black Walnut |
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The
Black Walnut has compound leaves, dark brown to black bark with deep
furrowed ridges, and a 1 1/2-2" diameter nut with a thick yellowish
green husk. It is one of the most highly valued of North
American hardwoods. The fruit is eaten by many animals as well as man. |
| Shagbark
Hickory |
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The Shagbark Hickory has compound leaves with 5-7 hairless leaflets.
The Hickory has light-colored and shaggy bark and egg-shaped nuts. The
shagbark hickory is a slow growing tree that can produce up to 2-3 bushels of nuts
annually. Hickories are important food sources for wildlife. |
| White
Ash |
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The White Ash has compound leaves with 5-9 oblong leaflets and ashy gray
bark. This is our most valuable and largest native ash. It provides durable
timber for furniture, tool handles, oars, musical instruments, baseball bats, and skis. |
| Black
Locust |
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The Black Locust has compound leaves with 6-20 egg-shaped leaflets, dark,
deeply ridged bark with short thorns on its branches, and produces long flat pods with 4-8
seeds in each one. This tree was once planted extensively for erosion control and
harvested to make railroad ties and fence posts. Because the wood swells or
contracts very little with changes in moisture it was used as "tree nails" in
wooden ship construction. |
| Sycamore |
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The Sycamore has large simple leaves with 3-7 lobes. Its bark is
mottled with white, green, and brown and its fruit becomes fuzzy when pulled apart.
The sycamore is commonly found along stream banks and in bottomlands. It is
used mostly for wood pulp. |
| Red
Oak |
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The Red Oak has hairless, thin and dull leaves that are lobed with
sharp edges. The bark is dark and furrowed. The Red Oak produces acorns.
It is widely used as an ornamental because of its ease in transplanting, the fall
color of the leaves, and the nice form of the tree. It also provides food for
wildlife. |
| White
Oak |
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The White Oak has evenly lobed, hairless leaves, a whitish bark and and
produces an acorn. The white oak produces many nuts, but not regularly, and many
years may pass without any crop. Many squirrels help distribute the seeds throughout
the forest. It is slow growing and can live 400-500 years. |
| Black
Cherry |
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The Black Cherry tree has long, narrow, dark green, shiny leaves that have
sharp teeth along the outer edges. The bark of young trees is smooth and brown to black
and older trees have black, scaly bark. The Black Cherry produces a dark purple
fruit that occurs in long clusters from June to October. As one of the largest
cherries, it is of value for lumber and as food for wildlife. The dark wood is used
for furniture. The berries can be made into jelly but the leaves and seeds contain a
strong acid. |
| Red
Elm |
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The Red Elm (Slippery Elm) has elliptical leaves that have a rough topside
and a hairy underside. The bark of the red elm is reddish brown with scaly
ridges and the seed is round surrounded by wings. The common name, slippery elm,
comes from the slimy inner bark. It was used to quench thirst, sooth sore throats,
and was known as a scurvy preventive. The American Indians used the wood for
tomahawk handles. |
| American
Beech |
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The American Beech has papery thin, egg-shaped leaves with coarse-toothed
edges, smooth and gray bark and an edible nut that is triangular shaped with weak spines.
The name "beech" has a very ancient origin and means "book."
The early writings of the Germanic peoples were inscribed upon tablets of this
wood. The quality of the wood is fair. The fruits are eaten by many types of
wildlife including turkey, raccoon, deer, fox, rabbit, squirrels, and opossum. |
| Cottonwood |
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The Cottonwood tree has a coarse-toothed, triangular shaped leaf, dark and
deeply ridged bark when mature, and oval shaped fruit that hangs in clusters. The
cottonwood is a medium-sized to large tree, 80-100 feet high and 3-4 feet in diameter.
It thrives in wet areas. Like other poplars, cottonwood produces large numbers of
silky-haired seeds which travel by air or by water for many miles. |
| Black
Willow |
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No picture available |
The Black Willow tree has long, narrow, hairless leaves with fine teeth,
bark that is dark and has deep fissures and scaly ridges and a fruit that occurs in droopy
clusters. Black willow is a small to medium-sized tree 30-60 feet high and about
14" in diameter. It is found on moist or wet soils along the banks of streams
and lakes. |
| Sugar
Maple |
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The Sugar Maple has leaves that are 5-lobed with deep notches between
lobes and pale green on the underside. The bark is dark brown marked with rough
vertical grooves and ridges. The fruit is a double winged seed. Besides its
importance as a timber producer, the sugar maple is used as an ornamental, as a source of
food, and yields valuable syrup and sugar. |
| White
Pine |
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The White Pine has dark bluish-green needles, the bark is not scaly, but
dark with deep furrows. The cones are 3-10" long, slender and tapering at the
end and contain the seeds. White pine is one of the most important and tallest
timber trees in the Northeast. The wood is light, soft, straight-grained, and is of
great value for house construction. It is used for reforestation projects since it grows
rapidly. |
| Tulip
Tree |
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The Tulip Tree has simple leaves with 4 lobes that are smooth and shiny.
The bark is dark green and smooth in young trees and as the tree matures the bark
breaks into rough ridges separated by gray fissures. The fruit is conelike
containing a winged seed. The tulip tree is also a valuable timber producer.
It can attain heights of 200 feet and a diameter of 12 feet. Tulip trees grow
quickly and very straight. They were used by pioneers to make log cabins. |