While visiting Point Reyes National Seashore in California, I encountered a few of these fine trees that grow in mild climates. They range from the mountains of southern Oregon to Baja California, with the greatest concentration in northern California and the Oregon-California border.

Knobcone Pines are tough trees, often growing in the poorest soils, so mature trees vary greatly in size from 25 to 75 feet tall, depending on the soil and other conditions. This conifer often has a scruffy appearance, likely due to the suboptimal conditions that it grows in. This is the most widely distributed of the West Coast closed-cone species. The Knobcone Pine community occupies a transitional position between chaparral and woodland and higher elevation forests.

Unlike other closed-cone species whose cones open with hot weather, the Knobcone Pine must have fire for reproduction. Cones are sealed with a hard resin that requires a high temperature in excess of 350°F to open. An unburned Knobcone Pine cone will remain closed even after its host tree has decayed and fallen; it can stay viable for up to 50 years.

The cones are distinctive, as they grow clustered tightly around the branches in whorls rather than at the branch tips, as in other pine species. The cones are asymmetrical and since the scales are tightly shut, they appear knobby. Cones stay on the tree for years — so long, in fact, that the wood of the branches sometimes grows around them, leaving odd bulges in the branches.

The heavily spiked, closed cones deter most seed predators, although the Western Grey Squirrel consumes some seeds. The needles are a faded olive-green color and are borne in bundles of three.

The bark is thin and smooth, flaky and gray-brown when young, becoming dark gray-red-brown and shallowly furrowed into flat scaly ridges in age. The twigs are red-brown and often resinous. Its wood is knotty and of little interest for lumber.

This was a neat tree to come across on my travels.

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While visiting southern Illinois, I went on a short hike to see one of the most highly valued Red Oaks in the southern United States. Its leaf structure is unusual in that the lobes are not necessarily paired on opposite sides of the leaf, instead they appear alternate or sometimes haphazard in arrangement.

Cherrybark Oaks often attain heights of 100 to 130 feet and trunk diameters of 36 to 60 inches, making it among the largest of the red oaks in the South. The name “Cherrybark” comes from its similarity to the bark of Black Cherry. The bark is gray and has scaly, narrow ridges.

With the Latin Name of Quercus pagoda, this species is characterized by leaves with pointed, bristle-tipped lobes and acorns that take two years to mature. The name “pagoda” refers to the pagoda-like shape of its leaves when viewed from above.

This tree grows mostly in humid, temperate climate characterized by hot Summers and mild Winters where surface soil pH is acid to medium acid. It is a lowland tree, but is seldom numerous on wet or swampy soils. In natural stands, dissemination of acorns by gravity is important on steep slopes. The hoarding habit of squirrels is also significant in acorn dispersal.

Wildlife consumes the acorns of the Cherrybark Oak. Mammals and birds that include acorns as a substantial part (10 percent or more) of their diets are the Gray Squirrel, Wild Turkey, and Blue Jay, followed by the Wood Duck, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Redheaded Woodpecker, White-breasted Nuthatch, Common Grackle, Raccoon, White-tailed Deer, and Eastern Fox Squirrel.

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While hiking in the Indianapolis Area of Indiana, I came across this neat plant. This is a species of shrub in the Rose Family native to eastern North America, ranging from Canada to the central United States. Its natural habitat can vary from bogs and swamps to dunes and rocky outcroppings.

It is multi-stemmed and deciduous, growing 4 to 8 feet in height. Black Chokeberry’s clusters of white to pink-tinged flowers bloom in April through May. The blooms are followed by fruit that turns from red to blackish-purple. These tart fruits are edible and are the subject of University of Maryland research for their potential use as an alternative fruit crop. The fruits are unpleasant when raw (hence the common name), but when processed they have culinary and nutraceutical value.

In recent history, Black Chokeberry has been extensively produced in Russia as a small fruit used in juice products (mixed with apple juice), wine, compote and pickles. It has been commercially grown in Europe where its fruit is used in juice, alcoholic beverages, energizing beverages, and as a food colorant. Its fruit has higher levels of antioxidants than any other temperate fruit.

In Autumn, its foliage of turns to brilliant shades of red and burgundy. Over time, it tends to sucker profusely (form new shoots from the base) and may produce a thicket of growth when free from competition of other plants.

In wildlife habitat and in wildlife gardens, Black Chokeberry provides browse for White-tailed Deer and Rabbits, and fruit for Ruffed Grouse, Sharp-tailed Grouse and Prairie Chickens.

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This is a common, but not abundant species of hickory in the Eastern United States and Canada. The range of this tree covers nearly all of the eastern United States. This particular example lives on my street and I pass it throughout the seasons when I walk my dog.

Pignut Hickory’s pear-shaped nut ripens in September and October, has a sweet maple like smell, and is an important part of the diet of many wild animals. The nuts are quite bitter, and though popular with many mammals, they are not consumed by man.

The nuts represent an estimated 10 to 25 percent of the diet of several species of squirrel. The nuts and flowers are eaten by the Wild Turkey and several species of songbirds. And the nuts and bark are eaten by Black Bears, Foxes, Cottontail Rabbits, and Raccoons.

Pignut Hickory’s bark is gray-brown and smooth when young, developing scaly ridges that are interwoven in a diamond-like pattern with age.

This tree’s wood is heavy, hard, strong, tough, and elastic. It is used for a variety of products. Early uses included broom handles, skis, wagon wheels, and automobile parts. In modern times, sporting goods, agricultural implements, and tool handles are often made from the wood of Pignut Hickory.

Its deciduous, 8- to 12-inch long leaves create a coarse, oval canopy, and the strong but irregularly spaced branches resist breakage in storms, making it useful as a shade tree. Its leaves turn yellow in the Fall.

Other common names for this tree are Pignut, Sweet Pignut, Coast Pignut Hickory, Smoothbark Hickory, Swamp Hickory, and Broom Hickory.

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This tree is native to lowland wetlands in the eastern and south-central United States and in all the coastal states from New Jersey to Texas, inland as far as Oklahoma, Missouri, and Illinois.

Its common name refers to its acorns that are mostly enclosed within the acorn cup. This is a medium to large-sized deciduous tree, growing as tall as 150 feet, with typical height of 80 feet. The trunk averages 30 inches in diameter. It is slow-growing and often takes 25 to 30 years to mature.

Overcup Oak occurs in wet bottomland forests bordering swamps and in valleys with floodplain forests bordering rivers. This tree is adapted to use seasonal floodwaters as a way to float its acorns to new sites for dispersal. The cap that covers each seed is very corky, which causes the acorns to float.

This species is unique among the White Oaks in that their acorns exhibit a prolonged dormancy. Normally, acorns of the various White Oaks germinate in the Fall, not long after they are shed from their parent trees. However, living in areas prone to flooding would make germinating at that time of year a risky endeavor. As such, Overcup Oak acorns lay dormant for months until environmental cues signal that enough time has passed.

The species is known to provide both food and habitat for a range of wildlife. Its acorns can be eaten by small mammals and birds such as squirrels and Wild Turkey. Trees in general create their own small habitats upon their surfaces and with their shade. Countless insects creep around on the bark. Many plants, including wildflowers, can only survive among the leaf litter on a shaded forest floor.

Overcup Oak’s Latin Name Quercus lyrata, and the species name lyrata, means “lyre-shaped” referring to the shape of this tree’s leaves.

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Silky Dogwood represents a group of shrub dogwoods native to Ohio that have a strongly multi-stemmed growth habit and are always found in nature as a shrub rather than a tree. They are found throughout all of Ohio, and grow to 10 feet tall and 10 feet wide under optimum conditions as a single specimen. At this time of the year their berries are ripe.

This tree prefers moist to wet sites in soils of various composition and pH. It adapts to dry soils, poor soils, or soils that are wet in Winter and Spring, and dry in Summer and Autumn. Silky Dogwood is a host plant for the Spring Azure Butterfly. Its flower have also been found to support several specialist bee species.

The mid-Spring flowers of Silky Dogwood are flat-topped, and white but without the large, showy bracts that are characteristic of Flowering Dogwood. The blooms form in clusters, which are visited by a variety of bee and butterfly pollinators.

The blue-black fruits mature in mid-Summer and are quickly consumed by birds, squirrels, and other woodland mammals. More than 45 types of songbirds and game birds have been documented consuming Silky Dogwood’s berries. Indeed, at Beaver Marsh in Cuyahoga Valley National Park, the berries seem to be disappearing quickly.

Silky Dogwood has simple, opposite leaves that turn a brownish-red color in the Fall. Because of its preference for wetter areas, Silky Dogwood is sometimes referred to as Swamp Dogwood.

As with most of the “shrub dogwoods” that occur in the fields, forest edges, stream borders, and fencerows of the eastern United States, the growth habit is usually an upright, dense shrub in youth, which becomes a spreading, sprawling, open and loose collection of mature branches and vigorous suckers with age.

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It hard to miss this fine tree that produces 2 to 4 inch slightly-fragrant, greenish-yellow, tulip-like flowers at the twig tips in late Spring. Handsome at close range, they are borne so high on the tree that they are sometimes missed.

Cucumber Magnolia a large forest tree of the Eastern United States and Southern Ontario in Canada that tends to occur singly as scattered specimens, rather than in groves.

Its flower buds and flowers are edible and may have provided a minor food source to First Nations and white settlers.

This tree’s bark is smooth and pale gray on a young tree, becoming brown, deeply furrowed, and ridged on mature trees. One of the fastest-growing Magnolias, Cucumber Magnolia is pyramidal when young but becomes broad, oval or rounded with age, ultimately it can reach 60 to 80 feet in height with a spread of 35 to 60 feet.

Cucumber Magnolia is named for the green, warty, cucumber-shaped fruits that follow the flowers, which turn from green to red and then open to reveal small red seeds in late Summer. This fruit becomes forage for Towhees, other ground-feeding birds and small mammals.

Its foliage of huge, ovate, deep green leaves, up to 10 inches long, has nice yellow-gold Fall color.

These trees cast dense shade, and are beautifully symmetrical making them a park, residential and golf course tree of preference.

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While looking for reptiles and amphibians in the Golden State, I came across a small stand of these fine trees. This stately pine starts as an upright tree with a pyramidal shape; with age, it will develop a broad rounded crown that flattens at the top. When growing on a windy site with ocean influence, it develops a picturesque spreading growth habit that is asymmetrical and often with multiple trunks.

Under ideal conditions, it can grow to a height of over 100 feet with a branch spread of over 60 feet and a trunk diameter of over 4 feet. Again, under ideal conditions – and if it escapes a lethal attack from insects and diseases – it can live up to 150 years; however, its normal life span here is relatively short for a conifer, only 80 to 100 years.

Its needles are one of its most distinguishing features. The needles (3- to 6-inches long) occur at the ends of branches in dense clusters of 3 needles per cluster. These clusters persist on the tree for up to 3 years, before turning brown and dropping off. The needles also have a distinctive fresh fragrance when brushed or crushed.

This pine is adapted to cope with stand-killing fire disturbances. Its cones are serotinous, that is, they remain closed until opened by the heat of a forest fire; the abundant seeds are then discharged to regenerate on the burned forest floor. The cones may also burst open in hot weather.

The bark is thick and rather rough, with deep vertical fissures. It is a light gray brown when young; as it ages, it turns dark gray to black, with reddish brown within the fissures.

Although Monterey Pine is extensively cultivated around the world for lumber, the version of the tree used in the lumber industry is vastly different from the native tree. In its natural state, Monterey Pine is a rare and endangered tree; it is twisted, knotty and full of sap/resin and not suitable for lumber.

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While visiting Indiana I came across this tree which I have never encountered before. Its seed cone is longer than wide, with woody scales attached at the base. White Spruce has the smallest cones of any of the spruces. They are typically 1 to 2 inches long, cylindrical and pendulous, often clustered near the top of the tree.

White Spruce hails from northern climes and is one of the first tree species to colonize after glaciers recede. This evergreen usually grows to heights of 50 to 100 feet. This species is the northernmost tree species in North America, reaching just north of 69°N latitude in Canada’s Mackenzie River delta.

The pale green, pointed evergreen needles are 1/2 to 3/4 inch long. They are four-sided, often crowded on the upper surface of the stem. The aromatic needles can persist for three to four years before dropping. Scientifically known as Picea glauca, the waxy coating on its needles gives them a blue-green (glaucous) appearance, hence the Latin species name.

This tree adapts to a surprising variety of environments and climates. It prefers moist, well-drained alluvial soil, but grows on a wide diversity of sites. White Spruce is rarely found in pure stands.

White Spruce is the most commercially important timber species in the far north woods. Almost white, its wood is soft, light-weight, and moderately strong with a straight grain. It is used for wood fiber, house logs, and musical instruments.

Its bark is thin and scaly, flaking off in small circular plates 2 to 4 inches across. This tree was an important fuel source for early colonists and Native Americans of the north woods. In addition to human use, this tree provides cover for Moose, Martens and Lynx.

White Spruce has been the most popular selection for the U.S. Capitol Christmas tree, being used 13 times (as of 2020) since the tradition began in 1964.

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While exploring a sand prairie in Missouri, I came across a couple examples of this tree. European Black Pine (also called Austrian Pine) was one of the early tree introductions into the United States, first reported in cultivation in 1759. Today, it is one of the most common introduced ornamentals in the United States.

This is a large coniferous evergreen tree, growing to 65–180 feet high at maturity and spreading 20 to 40 feet wide. The bark is gray to yellow-brown, and is widely split by flaking fissures into scaly plates, becoming increasingly fissured with age.

At maturity, its brown cones are about three inches long, and have small prickles on the backside of their scales. They spread their scales to release their seeds, and remain on the tree for up to several years.

European Black Pine is a tree of the Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub biome. The majority of its range is in Turkey. It needs full sun to grow well, is intolerant of shade, and is resistant to snow and ice damage.

In the United States and Canada, it is planted as a street tree, and as an ornamental tree in gardens and parks. Its value as a street tree is largely due to its resistance to salt spray (from road de-icing salt) and various industrial pollutants.

During the late 1950s and early 1960s, when demand for natural trees was extremely high, its rapid growth, deep green color and low cost made it briefly a popular Christmas tree, but the extreme length of the needles (making it very difficult to decorate) soon led to its fall from favor.

Although not native, this tree has a long and interesting history in the United States.

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