Leaves and Needles Every one of these leaves or needles represents a tree found in the United States today. While they appear to be widely different in shape and size, each one does the job of making food for its tree. All in all, they are a very useful and beautiful topping to our majestic forests. American Hornbeam Horse Chestnut Rocky Mountain Juniper California Laurel Black Locust Honey Locust Southern Magnolia Sugar Maple Red Mulberry White Oak Osage Orange Cabbage Palmetto Pecan Persimmon Eastern White Pine Balsam Poplar Eastern Redbud Redwood Sassafras Giant Sequoia Red Spruce Sweetbay Sweetgum American Sycamore Tamarack Hackberry Hawthorn Eastern Hemlock Shagbark Hickory American Holly Red Alder White Ash Quaking Aspen Bald Cypress American Basswood Beech Paper Birch Box Elder Butternut Northern Catalpa Black Cherry Eastern Red Cedar Northern White Cedar Kentucky Coffee Tree Eastern Cottonwood Flowering Dogwood American Elm Balsam Fir Black Willow Pacific Yew Douglas Fir Ginko Yellow Poplar Black Tupelo Black Walnut 2010 International Paper Company. All Rights Reserved.
Key: Alternate: one leaf attached at each node of the twig. Opposite: two leaves attached at each node on opposite sides of the twig. American Basswood leaves are not only edible but downright tasty! They are heart-shaped, fine-toothed, and hairless, measuring 5-6 long. American Elm s oval leaves are glossy, dark green on top, pale and downy underneath. They taper towards the tip with double-toothed edges. American Holly leaves are dark green and shiny above, pale green below. They re elliptical, evergreen - with very sharp spines! American Hornbeam has shiny, dark green, fine textured foliage. Fall colors in this broadleaf range from yellow or apricot to orange-red and plum. American Sycamore is our country s largest broadleaf tree and a popular shade tree because of its wide, dense crown. Bald Cypress is not really a cypress but a conifer that thinks it s deciduous! (Hence the name bald. ) one of only two species native to North America. Balsam Fir needles are flat, resinous, and short. This evergreen conifer reaches a maximum age of about 200 years. Balsam Poplar leaves are thick, wedged-shaped, shiny, dark green with a distinct fragrance. Beech leaves are small but still cast some of the darkest shade in the forest. They turn yellow in the fall, have no lobes, and are arranged alternately along the twig. Black Cherry leaves are alternate, leathery and contain small amounts of cyanide that are released when the leaves are damaged. Black Locust leaves are oval, entire leaflets. They alternate on the twig, and are highly poisonous when wilted. Black Tupelo has glossy dark green leaves which turn brilliant scarlet, orange, and yellow. A Glossary of Leafy Splendor Black Walnut leaves have a substance toxic to many other trees and plants, especially tomatoes. Black Willow leaves are smooth, dark green above, pale green below, measuring 3-6 but only a half-inch wide. Box Elder is actually a maple! But like the ash, its leaves are opposite, compound, with3-5 coarsely and irregularly toothed leaflets. Butternut leaves have 11 to 17 pointed, hairy and sticky leaflets. It is on the endangered plant list in the United States. Cabbage Palmetto have grayish green ribbed leaves whose tips are often brown from salt spray. They can be cooked to create a dish called Swamp Cabbage. California Laurel has oblong evergreen leaves that are pungently aromatic and may be used as a spice in soups and stews. Douglas Fir has evergreen, single, fragrant needles measuring 3/4-1-1/4 long which can expose as much as three acres of chlorophyll surface to the sun. Eastern Cottonwood, according to legend, the design for the tepee was first created by an Indian who twisted a cottonwood leaf around his fingers. Eastern Hemlock needles are evergreen, 1/2 long, with blunted tips and 2 lines of white stomata below. Eastern Redbud leaves are thin, papery, prettily heart-shaped and slightly hairy. Eastern Red Cedar foliage is not red at all, but green; and not really a cedar but a kind of juniper. Eastern White Pine, also called a white pine, has needles that are really evergreen but appear blue. Flowering Dogwood leaves are opposite, with two leaves attached at each lobe. It is especially stiking in autumn with its bright red foliage. Giant Sequoia needles are blue-green, and scale-like with short, sharp tips. The trees have survived for more than 3,000 years. Ginko leaves are used as tea for a variety of ailments. Their extract has been shown to improve memory and prevent blood clotting. Hackberry leaves are simple and ovate, light green, with long-pointed tips and grow from 1-2 long. Hawthorn leaves - rich in bioflavonoids - have been used to treat heart conditions and are believed to lower blood pressure. Honey Locust trees produce both once-compound and twicecompound leaves which cast a lighter shadow. Horse-Chestnut leaves make leaf scars on its branches in the shape of miniature horseshoes, from which the tree gets its name. Kentucky Coffee Tree features twice-compound leaves measuring an incredible 1 to 3 feet long, and arranged feather-fashion in 3-7 pairs of leaflets shaped like an oval. Northen Catalpa leaves are green, heart-shaped, long-stemmed, with long points, measuring 6-13 long. Northen White-Cedar leaf oil is distilled from boughs and used in medicines and perfumes. Osage-Orange has glossy, simple, lance-shaped leaves that are twice as long as they are broad and produce a chemical that has been used to repel cockroaches. Pacific Yew is a small, slow growing evergreen with flat, needles that have been approved by the FDA as an important source of a powerful anticancer drug. Paper Birch leaves are dull-green, egg-shaped with sharp pointed tips. Pecan leaves are really a group of 11 to 17 narrow, finely-toothed leaflets with pointed ends in a compound arrangement. Persimmon s bright green leaves change to a golden yellow in fall, and is prized as an ornamental tree. Quaking Aspen leaves are dark green, turning yellow in fall. Laterally flattened stalks allow leaves to flutter or quake in the slightest breeze. Red Alder leaves are oval-shaped with pointed tips and can be used as a cattle feed supplement and as a nitrogen-rich compost. Red Mulberry leaves are alternate, often heart-shaped but sometimes lobed, with a rough upper surface. Red Spruce neeedles are evergreen, plus they were the raw material for a flourishing chewinggum industry during the 19th century. Redwood trees have two sizes of needles! The top has smaller needles, which means less surface area from which water can evaporate. Rocky Mountain Juniper leaves are scale-like, pale yellowish-green, turning to grayish-green. Sassafras leaves are broadly oval, alternate and sometimes are used as a condiment in sauces and soups. Shagbark Hickory leaves measure 8-14, with 5 leaflets in dark yellowish green and a downy underneath. Southern Magnolia s large evergreen leaves are 5-8 long, leathery and dark glossy green on top, with rusty, velveteen undersides. Sugar Maple leaves are opposite, palm-sized and provide dramatic presentation of orange-yellow fall color. Sweetbay leaves in the South fall off the tree in the spring, not the fall! They are bright green and have a strong, pleasant, spicy odor when crushed. Sweetgum leaves can measure up to 7 across; they re star-shaped with fine-toothed edges and turn deep crimson in fall. Tamarack needles are bright blue-green and triangular in shape. They turn ocher in the fall - before they are shed. Yellow Poplar leaves have four-lobes with a notch at the tip, creating a tulip-like outline. White Ash leaf was once used as a snakebite preventive! Its juice also relieves mosquito bite itching. White Oak leaves are variable in size and shape. Alternate, 6-9 long and 4 wide, they are bright green in summer and red or purple in the fall.
Seeds Come In Every Shape and Size You Can Imagine! Each of these fruits and seeds is very different in appearance and they are scattered in many different ways, too. Some coast along the currents of the wind or attach to an animal s stomach! But, no matter how a seed travels or how it looks, one thing remains the same: if it eventually lands in soil and takes root and grows, it will one day become a beautiful tree, proving once more that the cycle of our forest is a complex, harmonious one. OAK PECAN WITCH HAZEL BEECH COCONUT MAPLE WILLOW CHERRY WHITE PINE APPLE BLACK WALNUT 2010 International Paper Company. All Rights Reserved.
Beautiful Beginnings APPLE Many trees depend on animals to spread their seeds. Apple seeds travel unharmed through a horse s digestive tract after the horse eats an apple. Depending on where the horse travels, apple trees may be scattered far and wide. The fancy apples favored by humans can only be reproduced by grafting. Plant the seed of any apple and it will yield only small, sour fruit. COCONUT Protected by a hard, nearly waterproof covering, this sea-going seed protects the young palm on its journey to shore. Once it reaches a beach, the would-be palm tree can survive if its nucleus, nourished by the coconut milk, can establish roots. These grow out through the familiar indentations in the shell. OAK Because acorns need to be planted in order to germinate, oak trees often depend on hoarding squirrels to bury them in order to get their start. The acorns most preferred by animals are the slowest to appear - a white oak often does not begin to produce its hallow-cupped nuts until it is about 50 years old. BEECH Small, oily beechnuts are a tasty part of many animals diets - from birds to bears. The pricklyhusked beechnut can also ride on an animal s pelt if it becomes entangled in its fur. The oil in the nuts, and throughout the tree, supposedly resists electricity, so that beeches are seldom struck by lightning. WHITE PINE High on a tree, mature second-year cones open their scales wide, exposing the winged seeds to the winds. The seeds on a single white pine cone are so plentiful that one cone could populate an entire meadow with trees in just a year or two. PECAN Even though its shell is thin, the pecan nut can float for long distances and still take root. Nuts from wild trees are delicious and rich in food value. Control-breeding selected trees produce even larger nuts, with thinner shells and more delicate flavor. BLACK WALNUT If the squirrels don t find it first, this nut can travel in streams for a long way. It s well protected for the journey by its tough husk. But cracking it is well worth the effort; ounce for ounce, a walnut has eight times the protein of milk. The fruits of this tropical tree germinate while they re still on the branch. Pointed like little spears, the seeds float to shore and embed deep into the mud where the waves can t dislodge them before they take root. WILLOW These seeds are also airborne, but with a difference. Because they re embedded in fluffy tufts, these seeds can be propelled by the slightest breeze! In the right conditions - good soil, sun, and rain - they will then germinate in just a few hours, putting out tiny green shoots. CHERRY Dark red cherries have a juicy pulp around a thin, hard covering that protects the seed. Because cherries ripen in clusters on the tree, they are quickly eaten by birds that then distribute the seeds over wide areas. MAPLE The graceful maple rotors belong to a botanical group known as samaras, or winged seeds. Each wing falls with a spinning motion that slows its descent. In a breeze, it can carry its seed hundreds of yards or more before reaching the ground. WITCH HAZEL Witch hazel pods contract as they dry, squeezing the seeds inside. When it s time, the witch hazel fires its seeds out of their pods like a shot, sometimes as far as ten feet away. As a result, new seedlings can grow uncrowded by the parent tree. 2013 International Paper Company. All Rights Reserved.
You Can Tell a Tree By its Bark What you see on the outside of a tree is really aging bark. As a tree ages, it splits and stretches its bark as if it were trying to burst out of its skin. This stretching creates lots of interesting patterns and appearances in the bark depending on the tree species. SHAGBARK HICKORY SYCAMORE PONDEROSA PINE WHITE BIRCH REDWOOD 2010 International Paper Company. All Rights Reserved.
How to Read a Tree by its Bark One of the easiest ways to identify a tree is to look at its leaf. Another way is its bark. What we see on the outside is really aging bark which, in the case of the giant sequoia, might be two feet thick. Underneath its rough exterior, cells are forming new layers of bark for the tree. As the tree ages, it splits and cracks back its bark as if it were trying to break out of its skin. This stretching process creates different patterns of peeling in the bark depending on its species. SHAGBARK HICKORY This tree gets its name from the way the long, flat plates of bark break free on either end and curl away from the trunk as it ages, giving it a shaggy appearance. The unusual bark texture makes it a good specimen tree for naturalistic landscapes and once identified, it s hard to miss! The mangrove s leathery bark helps it to adapt to its unique habitat,which is typically swamplike. The bark has astringent properties and contains a high percentage of tannin, used in tanning leather. The bark is charcoal gray to blackish with a whitish streak. Its roots are covered with corky, water-resistant bark to resist the strong acids that form in the mud. SYCAMORE Sycamore s distinctive bark is a patchwork of browns,yellows,and greens against a background of white. As the tree grows, the darker bark falls away in thin brittle sheets, exposing younger and lighter-colored bark. Throughout its history, the bark was used in medicines to cure many maladies. PONDEROSA PINE The Ponderosa pine s bark doesn t change to its mature orange color until after eighty or a hundred years! Up until then, its bark is black and scaly. Its thick, cracking bark (which, on a hot day, smells like vanilla) protects the tree from ground fires. WHITE BIRCH White birch, also called paper birch, is a beautiful, ornamental tree with paper-thin strips of bark that peel off easily. Pioneers used this bark for paper and canoes. Unfortunately, the tree is often damaged in ornamental plantings because people can t resist peeling its bark! Because the bark of paper birch is thin and highly flammable, even large trees can be quickly killed by fires. REDWOOD The bark of the mighty redwood tree can grow to be as much as a foot thick! It is very resistant to fire and insects, and exhibits an unusual property when exposed to fire it turns into a protective barrier, similar to how a heat shield on a re-entry vehicle works.