Leaf Information
Beech
The American beech is a shade-tolerant species, favoring the shade more than other trees, and commonly found in forests in the final stage of succession called a climax forest. Although American beech wood is heavy, hard, tough and strong, the tree is typically left during lumbering and often left
uncut to grow. As a result, many areas today still have extensive groves of old beeches.
Dogwood
Flowering dogwood is one of the most popular ornamental landscape trees in eastern North America. They are usually displayed beneath large oaks or pines, both in the wild and as an ornamental. 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.
Maple
Sugar maple is a maple native to the hardwood forests of northeastern North America, from Nova Scotia west to southern Ontario, and south to Georgia and Texas. Sugar maple is an immensely important species to the ecology of many forests in North America. Sugar maples engage in a "hydraulic lift," drawing water from lower soil layers and exuding that water into upper, drier soil layers.
Sweet Gum
Sweetgum is sometimes called redgum, probably because of the red color of the older heartwood and its red fall leaves. Sweetgum grows from Connecticut southward throughout the east to central Florida and eastern Texas and is a very common commercial timber species of the South. Sweetgum is easy to identify in both the summer and in winter.
Birch
Paper birch is a pioneer species and is first in after a forest disturbance. It needs high nutrient soils and a lot of sunlight. The bark is highly weather-resistant. Often, the wood of a downed paper birch will rot away leaving the hollow bark intact. This easily recognized and peeling birch bark is a winter staple food for moose even though the nutritional quality is poor.
Ginkgo
Ginkgo biloba, commonly known as ginkgo or gingko, also known as the maidenhair tree, is the only living species in the division Ginkgophyta, all others being extinct. It is found in fossils dating back 270 million years.
Scientific name: Ginkgo biloba
Rank: Species
Conservation status: Endangered
Oak
Black oak has readily hybridized with other members of the red oak group of oaks, being one parent in at least a dozen different named hybrids. This single species' compatibility is fairly uncommon in the Quercus genus group. Black oak is seldom used for landscaping. The inner bark of the black oak contains a yellow pigment called quercitron, which was sold commercially in Europe until the 1940s.
Tulip Tree
Yellow poplar or tulip poplar is the tallest hardwood tree in North America with one of the most perfect and straight trunks in the forest. The yellow poplar tree has very unique leaves with four lobes separated by rounded notches. The tree is a valuable source for lumber products.
Cherry
The black cherry is a pioneer species. In the Midwest, it is seen growing mostly in old fields with other sunlight loving species, such as black walnut, black locust, and hackberry. It is a moderately long-lived tree, with ages of up to 258 years known. Black cherry is prone to storm damage with branches breaking easily but any resulting decay progresses slowly.
Linden
Introduction: This American native was used for centuries for its fibrous inner bark and fragrant flowers. It bears unique flowers and large, heart-shaped leaves. The tree is stately as a single specimen or when it is allowed to form a clump. Unless suckers are removed from the base of the tree, a clump of small trees rather than one large tree will form.
Red Bud
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. Quickly following the flowers come new green leaves which turn a dark, blue-green and are uniquely heart-shaped. Cercis canadensis often has a large crop of 2-4 inch seedpods that some find unappealing in the urban landscape.