Donald Culross Peattie

“ Shape with a round topped head: up to 115 ft. tall. Bark dark brown or black or gray, covered with warty, corky, rectangular plates. Leaves rather thick, shiny above, pale and often downy beneath, turning deep claret in fall. Flowers thick petaled with an odor like Gardenia, the sexes on separate trees. Fruit at first green, hard, and astringent, becoming amber or ruddy about the time of the first frosts, soft and edible. ”

“ Shape pyramidal in youth, broad topped in age; up to 80 ft. tall. Bark on young parts lustrous red brown, on old brown and cracked. Branches ultimately wide spreading, drooping at the ends. Twigs slender, lustrous red brown. Leaves fragrant, like the bark, 21⁄2-6 in. long with yellow midrib, the undersides veiny and downy in the axils. Range: Me. to the mts. of Ala., w. to Ohio. The wood is heavy, strong, dark and satiny. It is used for ships and furniture. It yields birch oil which is employed medicinally and as a flavoring. Birch beer is made from the sugary sap. ”

“ Railroads were bent to great stands of it, wooden cities and mushroom fortunes arose from its exploitation and great fleets were built to export it. Now desolate stump lands tell the decline of an empire. ”

“ Shape broad headed, 40-140 ft. tall. Trunk massive. Branches ascending above, horizontal below, often corky ridged on the twigs. Bark gray brown, deeply furrowed vertically, the ridges broad, flat and scaly. Twigs bright green. Leaves fragrant when crushed, turning deep yellow or rich red in autumn. Fruit a hard, spherical head, often persistent all winter, most of its chambers empty of fertile seeds. ”

“ Particularly the shape as described applies to trees growing in the open. Under crowded forest conditions all trees tend to have spindling outlines. At the limits of their ranges many trees become mere shrubs. ”

“ Shape broad topped, 60-90 ft. tall. Bark light grayish brown, scaly. Leaves white down beneath, turning yellow brown or orange red in autumn. Range: s. N. E. to Gt. Lakes region and Minn., s. to Tex. and Fla. The wood is valuable like that of the White Oak but the tree is not so handsome. It is easily distinguished by its bark and the numerous twigs. ROCK CHESTNUT OAK (Quercus montana) is a massive tree with dark brown, ridged bark and foliage similar to the above but larger, glossy above and not downy beneath except in youth. Acorn large, lustrous, and handsome. ”

“ WHITE SPRUCE (Picea canadensis) ranges from Labr. to Alaska, s. to N.E., centr. parts of Mich. and Wis., the Black Hills. w. slopes of the Rockies in Can. and Mont. Not a large or valuable tree except for paper pulp, it is the most ornamental eastern spruce. ”

“ Shape narrowly round-topped, up to 40 ft. high. Bark gray, with sepia brown striping, becoming furrowed into flat scaly ridges on old trees. Leaves turning rusty red in autumn. Flowers blooming while the leaves are just expanding (March-May,) similar to those of apple or hawthorn, but the petals strap-shaped and more graceful. Fruits edible, similar to those of hawthorn. Ripe in summer. Range: Me. to Ga., Ia., La., and Mo. In N.E. this is a mere shrub, but it becomes quite a fine tree southward. In the s. Appalachians it is very beautiful when in flower. ”

“ Bark thick, fibrous, deeply grooved, dark cinnamon-brown, the outer plates dull lavender-gray. Branches short, slender, curving forward and upward on young trees and clothing stem to base; on old trees lofty, large, crooked, drooping at tip. Leaves blue-green, scale-like and overlapping, or, on young or fertile shoots, shorter, bristling. Cones 1-3 in. long, resembling a little pineapple until the scales ultimately spread open. Range: at 5000-8000 ft., w. slopes of the Sierra Nevada in Calif. The wood is very durable and valuable, a dull red brown. ”

“ Bark light brown gray with narrow shallow furrows and short, flat topped ridges. Twigs light olive. Leaves of 3-6 veiny leaflets, dark or olive green. Range: throughout the e. U.S.A. (probably not native in N.E.) and s. Can. to the Rockies, and southwestward through the desert states. Variable over its wide range, sometimes with foliage white- or yellow-margined or spotted, this river bank tree passes unnoticed in the e. forest belt, but owing to its ability to stand drought, wind, cold, and heat, it is highly appreciated on the prairies and semi-deserts for shade. ”

“ Shape broadly or narrowly pyramidal, to 150 ft. tall. Trunk massive, buttressed and fluted, becoming hollow with age, and accompanied by outlying “knees” or spongy breathing knobs sometimes 10 ft. tall, and long horizontal surface roots. Bark light cinnamon brown, flaky. Branches erect or spreading, the much forked twigs drooping. Needles falling in autumn. Cones 1 in. long, with thickened woody scales. Range: Swamps near the coast, Gulf States n. to Del., and up the Mississippi to s. Ind. The wood, light brown to very dark, is very durable. ”

“ Shape round topped: to 120 ft. tall. Trunk slender. Branches spreading or pendulous. Bark light brown to silver gray, smooth until old age when broken into scales or warty knobs. Leaves lustrous and rough above, turning yellow in autumn; Fruit orange red to dark purple, with thin edible flesh and large stone. Range: N. C. to Kans. and n. to Que. and Man. This handsome tree has not much timber value; its leaves in the South are sometimes heavy and dark green. MISSISSIPPI HACKBERRY (Celtis laevigata) differs in its much narrower and longer leaves, the margins not toothed; fruits smaller. ”

“ Leaves 6-7 in. broad, downy beneath, very late in appearing and early turning dull brown and dropping. Flowers in beautiful upright clusters, the petals marked with gold and purple spots, exhaling a heavy fragrance. Pods persistent almost through the winter on the leafless twigs. Range: near the coast through the Gulf States. Widely planted and naturalized elsewhere. This tropical looking tree is lovely at flowering time. Honey from its flowers is reputed to be poisonous. CIGAR TREE (Catalpa speciosa) is much taller (up to 100 ft.) with thicker trunk and thick, strongly furrowed bark ”

“ Neb., and Rockies from Wyo. to N. Mex. Both are among the most important timber trees of the West. Lumbermen recognize many varieties of their woods. JEFFREY’S PINE (Pinus Jeffreyi) is similar, symmetrical, with long bluish green needles; twigs bloomy. Ore. to s. Calif.
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Southern Yellow Pine SOUTHERN YELLOW PINE
(Pinus echinata) Shape oblong, 50-100 ft. tall. Trunk ponderous, often clean and branchless high up. Bark deep ruddy brown, broken in age into broad armor-like plates built up of flaky scales. Needles 3-6 in. long in clusters of 2, deep olive green, slender. Cones very small. ”

“ They develop most luxuriously near their centers of distribution.
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California Nutmeg CALIFORNIA NUTMEG
(Torreya californica) Shape with a pyramidal head, becoming round topped in age, 15-90 ft. tall. Bark smoothish, thin, dark gray-brown, fissured into narrow ridges. Branches spreading, slightly pendulous. Needles flat, scattered along the twigs, the undersides marked with two whitish lines. Fruit olive-like or plum-like, green becoming purple-streaked, consisting in a fleshy aril in an open pit of which is buried the nutmeg-like seed. Range: n. ”

“ Colo. and Utah, and along the Sierras to s. Calif. It is used for mine timbers, railway ties, and its very tall, slender, straight stems furnished the western Indians with tepee poles. BEACH PINE (Pinus contorta) differs in being a stunted tree of bogs, shores, and windswept dunes from Alaska to Calif.; stems twisted: hark thick and dark; head broad and picturesque; needles darker green, 1-11⁄2 in. long. The two species intergrade, but the second, in contrast, is quite useless.
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