The name quaking aspen references the quaking or trembling of the leaves that occur in even a slight breeze due to the flattened petioles. The avenue of live oaks at Oak Alley Plantation in Vacherie, Louisiana, planted in the early 18th century. Steve Nix is a natural resources consultant and a former forest resources analyst for the state of Alabama. Slippery elm is one of the smallest native North American elms but with one of the largest leaves. This area comprises the border where trees transition to prairie grassland. Red maple is adaptable to a very wide range of site conditions, perhaps more so than any other tree in eastern North America. It needs high nutrient soils and a lot of sunlight. The Southern magnolia is the state tree of Mississippi and the state flower of Mississippi and Louisiana. Black gum trees have moderate growth rate and longevity and are an excellent food source for wildlife, fine honey trees, and handsome ornamentals. Redbud is a small tree that shines early in spring (one of the first flowering plants) with leafless branches of magenta buds and pink flowers. Many kinds of wildlife eat the fruits and water tupelo is a favored honey tree. American Hardwoods Offer a Breath of Fresh Air, Mix – Don’t Match – Wood Textures and Colors; Experts Across the U.S. Urge Diversity in Design, Straight Talk About Hardwoods from Four Savvy Design Pros, Hardwood Flooring Trends – A Touch of the Creative, Hardwood Flooring Must-Know Shopping Facts. American elm has long been very popular as a street or avenue tree but never really took to parks and cities. The large acorns with hardened cups that enclose all or most of the nut are diagnostic. It is the largest North American species in the Willow family and was the first tree species to be gene sequenced. 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. The tree is the largest and most important New World willow and is one of the first trees to bud in the spring. Green ash is seriously threatened in some areas, particularly Michigan, by the emerald ash borer, a beetle introduced accidentally from Asia, to which it has no natural resistance. Except for cleaning up the messy fruit if it falls on a patio or sidewalk, persimmon maintenance is quite easy and it could be planted more. Commercial overcup oak varies extremely with every site, fire damage, and degree of insect and decay defect. The name White ash derives from the blueish white undersides of the leaves. Paulownia has a tropical look with very large catalpa-like leaves although the two species are not related. Red alder trees invade clearings or burned-over areas and form temporary forests. Still, the bark is important to wintering moose because of its sheer abundance. This hickory is distinguished from other hickories by large leaves, large nuts and orange twigs. Oxydendrum arboreum at Lake Hope State Park, Vinton County, Ohio, on the Furnace Trail. Black cherry is prone to storm damage with branches breaking easily but any resulting decay progresses slowly. Aspen propagates itself primarily through root sprouts, and extensive clonal colonies are common. Bigleaf maple is the only commercially important maple of the Pacific Coast region. White ash is widely grown as an ornamental tree in North America. (R. A. Nonenmacher/Wikimedia Commons/CC BY-SA 4.0), Matt Lavin/Wikimedia Commons/CC BY-SA 2.0, Ohio Department of Natural Resources/Wikimedia Commons. The name post oak refers to the use of the wood of this tree for fence posts. Still, it has been planted in cities and on farms because of its rapid growth. Betula alleghaniensis is the provincial tree of Québec, where it is commonly called merisier, a name which in France is used for the wild cherry. Pignut hickory (Carya glabra) is a common but not abundant species in the oak-hickory forest association in the Eastern United States. If you find a supply, you have found a nut with the highest oil content and highest food value of all the walnuts and hickories. It is native to western North America, mostly near the Pacific coast, from southernmost Alaska south to southern California. Maximize your home’s value. A good mature tree will produce commercial timber used for furniture and crates. Scarlet oak (Quercus coccinea) is best known for its brilliant autumn color. Osage Orange Fruit, Maclura pomifera. Hardwood trees usually have broad, flat leaves as opposed to coniferous, needled, or scaled tree foliage. Oregon white oak is the only native oak in British Columbia and Washington and the principal one in Oregon. The inner bark of the black oak contains a yellow pigment called quercitron, which was sold commercially in Europe until the 1940s. This not only benefits the tree itself but also many other plants growing around it. Pignut hickory frequently grows on dry ridgetops and side slopes throughout its range but it is also common on moist sites, particularly in the mountains and Piedmont. (Peter Stevens/Wikimedia Commons/CC BY 2.0), Derek Ramsey/derekramsey.com/Wikimedia Commons/GFDL 1.2, (United States Department of Agriculture/Wikimedia Commons). biflora). Click below to view a particular species profile or download the guide. The leaf is unique, some saying it looks like an "Egyptian pyramid, with its coarse teeth as stone steps." Other common names are spotted oak, Schneck oak, Shumard red oak, southern red oak, and swamp red oak. Experts agree, American Hardwood sells! Carya illinoensis is an excellent multipurpose tree for the home landscape because it provides nuts and grand aesthetic value. Acer macrophyllum (bigleaf maple or Oregon maple) is a large deciduous tree in the genus Acer. Aspens do produce seeds but seldom grow from them. Hackberry is easily distinguished by its cork-like bark with wart-like protuberances. The osage orange creates a dense canopy, making it useful as a windbreak. Look for the star-shaped leaf as foliage grows in the spring and look for the dried seed balls in and under the tree. It is also a good species to plant along margins of fluctuating-level reservoirs. Royal paulownia is an introduced ornamental that has become well established in North America. Bitternut hickory is probably the most abundant and most uniformly distributed of all the hickories. Black tupelo (Nyssa sylvatica) is divided into two commonly recognized varieties, typical black tupelo (var.