American Persimmon

Posted on October 20, 2023 by tspuckler

While visiting southern Illinois this month, I encountered this fine tree and tasted its fruit, which happened to be in season.

American Persimmon is native to most of the eastern half of the United States. It grows in full sun and a wide variety of soils. The dark green leaves are your stereotypical “leaf shape,” so aren’t much help by themselves for identifying the tree. It grows wild, but has been cultivated for its fruit and wood since prehistoric times by Native Americans.

This tree can be 60 feet tall, but normally it doesn’t reach more than 20 feet. The trunk and branches are thin with grey-brown bark that is said to resemble reptile scales. The principal uses of the wood are for golf-club heads, shuttles for textile weaving, and furniture veneer.

American Persimmon is dioecious, which means some trees only produce male flowers and some trees only produce female flowers. The fruit is round, usually orange-yellow, and about two inches in diameter. Both the tree and the fruit are referred to as Persimmons, with the latter appearing in desserts and other cuisine.

During the spring, the flowers provide a rich source of nectar for Honeybees, Bumblebees, Small Carpenter Bees, Digger Bees, Mason Bees, Leaf-cutting Bees and Cuckoo Bees. Raccoons, Foxes, Black Bears, Skunks, Turkeys, Yellow-rumped Warblers, Cedar Waxwings, Catbirds, American Robins, Pileated Woodpeckers and Mockingbirds eat Persimmon fruit. The fruit is high in vitamin C, and extremely astringent when unripe.

Known scientifically as Diospyros virginiana, Diospyros means “divine fruit” in Greek.

American Persimmon is also known as Common Persimmon, Eastern Persimmon, Simmon, Possumwood, Possum Apples, and Sugar Plum.

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Slippery Elm

Posted on September 1, 2023 by tspuckler

Slippery Elm is named after its slick, mucilaginous inner bark, which was chewed by the Native Americans and pioneers to quench thirst when water was not readily available.

This tree may reach 60 feet tall by 50 feet wide, when found in the open. It grows best and on moist, rich soils of lower slopes and flood plains, although it may also grow on dry hillsides with limestone soils.

In Spring, Slippery Elm is one of the first trees to come into flower, its wind-pollinated flowers are produced before its leaves, usually in tight, short-stalked clusters of 10–20.

Slippery Elm’s flowers soon develop into rounded samaras. The reddish-brown fruit is slightly notched at the top and the single, central seed is coated with red-brown hairs.

The inner bark of this tree is used for a number of herbal preparations, many of which relieve throat and digestive issues. The light, fluffy bark is commonly used as a binder for making herbal pills.

For me, the thing about this tree that is most unexpected is the leaves, which are broadly elliptical and are sandpapery rough on both the upper and lower surfaces.

This tree’s other common names include Red Elm (in reference to its reddish brown heartwood), Gray Elm, Soft Elm, Moose Elm and Indian Elm.

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Red Alder

Posted on June 2, 2023 by tspuckler

While looking for snakes in California, I wandered into this stand of trees. Red Alder is the largest species of alder in North America and one of the largest in the world, reaching heights of 65 to 100 feet.

This tree is most often found in moist woods and along streambanks. It quickly colonizes recently cleared land. Although many consider Red Alder a “weed” tree because it will often invade landscapes, this species is the first choice for ecological restoration.

Red Alder is a host to nitrogen-fixing bacteria that form nodules on its roots. Because of this association, the introduction of Red Alder to disturbed sites can quickly improve the fertility of soils, making the site more amenable to the colonization by longer-living conifers. The bark of this tree is mottled, ashy-gray and smooth, often covered by white lichens and moss. Its common name derives from the bright rusty red color that develops in bruised or scraped bark.

Red Alder’s leaves are ovate, 3 to 6 inches long, with bluntly serrated edges and a distinct point at the end; the leaf edges tend to be slightly curled under, a diagnostic characteristic which distinguishes it from all other alders.

Long catkins appear in Spring, before the leaves, producing copious amounts of pollen. Later it produces small brown cone-like strobiles less than an inch long that remain on the tree through the Winter.

Because of its oily smoke, Red Alder is the wood of choice for smoking salmon.

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Pitch Pine

Posted on January 1, 2021 by tspuckler

This interesting tree is found in environments which other species find unsuitable for growth, such as acidic, sandy and low nutrient soils. It is known as a “pioneer species,” since it is often the first tree to vegetate an area after it has been cleared away.

Pitch Pine has an exceptionally high regenerative ability; if the main trunk is cut or damaged by fire, it can re-sprout using epicormic shoots.

This is a rapid-growing tree when young, gaining around one foot of height per year under optimal conditions until the tree is 50 – 60 years old, whereupon growth slows.

Pitch Pine trunks are usually mostly straight with a slight curve to them. They are covered in irregular, thick, large plates of bark. Its globular form of twisting, gnarled, drooping branches does a poor job at self-pruning.

This is one of the most fire resilient eastern conifers. Its adaptations allow for survival in a high frequency fire area such as the Pine Barrens of New Jersey.

High resin content in this species produced the name “Pitch Pine.” Early American settlers would often ignite pine knots for torches. Because of its high resin content, its decay-resistant wood was once popular for ship building, mine props, railroad ties and fencing.

Today Pitch Pine Pitch is an important food source for wildlife. Sprouts and seedlings serve as browse for White-tail Deer, Cottontail Rabbits and Meadow Mice. Its seeds are eaten by Red Squirrels and a wide range of birds.

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Eastern Cottonwood

Posted on June 12, 2020 by tspuckler

This is a large, fast-growing tree found growing along streams, rivers and lowland areas. It is what is known as a “classic floodplains tree.” I have one growing next to the creek in my backyard.

The genus of its Latin name, Populus deltoides indicates that it is a type of Poplar Tree. The species, deltoides, refers to its triangle-shaped leaves.

Eastern Cottonwood is almost as massive as a Sycamore in regard to its trunk and broad-spreading canopy. It commonly reaches 80 feet tall by 60 feet wide, but can be much larger.

The flat leaf stems cause its leaves flutter in the slightest breeze, often looking like a hand waving back and forth, as do the leaves of most Poplars.

In late Spring and early Summer, I get “snow in June” when the fruit capsules open to release their small seeds attached to many cotton-like strands. It is the continuous release of these fluffy seeds for 2-3 weeks that results in the tree’s common name.

These trees develop very deep fissures in their bark. Mature Eastern Cottonwood bark is among the thickest of all trees in North America.

Eastern Cottonwoods have many unique characteristics that make them worth checking out.

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Sequoia

Posted on May 24, 2019 by tspuckler

While visiting Yosemite National Park in April, I walked a mile through the snow to have my first-ever encounter with these massive trees.

This species is the largest known tree on earth and grow only on the western slope of the Sierra Nevada at elevations between 4,500 to 7,000 feet. Found nowhere else on the planet, they are closely related to California’s Coast Redwoods – the tallest trees in the world.

Sequoias can grow to be about 30 feet in diameter and more than 250 feet tall. They can live to be over 3,000 years old, with the oldest one on record living more than 3,500 years.

Mature Sequoias lack branches on the lower half of their trunks. Their trunks taper as they rise, forming a rounded top where individual branches sweep downward. Their green needles are small and arranged in spirals.

The snowpack from the Sierra Nevada provides these giant trees with the thousands of gallons of water every day.

It was an awesome experience to meet a tree “in person” that I have been reading about for so many years!

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Pawpaw

Posted on October 27, 2018 by tspuckler

While walking along the edge of a cypress swamp in southern Illinois, I encountered this iconic tree. It’s the only member of a large, mainly-tropical plant family naturally residing in the United States, and it produces the largest edible fruit native to North America.

Pawpaw is a small tree, typically growing to a height of 35 feet. It tends to grow in the understory or at woodland edges, and is often found in moist places such as the bottoms of ravines, steep hillsides and on the banks of creeks.

The fruit is fragrant and has a distinctly bright, tropical flavor, often compared to bananas, but with hints of mango, vanilla and citrus. It has the inelegant appearance of a small green potato and may occur in clusters on the tree.

The dark green leaves (which turn yellow in Autumn) of the Pawpaw have a tropical look, with their large, shiny blades that are widest just behind the leaf tip. The leaves often hang down like “dog ears” from the twigs.

The smooth, thin, gray bark of Pawpaw becomes more warty and rough with increasing trunk girth.

Larvae of the Zebra Swallowtail Butterfly feed exclusively on young leaves of Pawpaw, but never occur in great numbers on the plants.

This tree is also known as Quaker Delight or Hillbilly Mango.

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Buttonbush

Posted on September 10, 2018 by tspuckler

Walking along the Ohio & Erie Canal Towpath, I noticed this distinctive white, spherical flower with needle-like projections growing on a shrub.

This plant is a member of the Coffee Family and is native to eastern and southern North America. Like the Coffee Plant, its leaves are glossy green and up to 4 inches long and 2 inches wide. It’s unusual flowers are a source of nectar, attracting butterflies, bees, moths, hummingbirds and 20-something other species of birds.

Buttonbush can be found in wet habitats such as marshes, shorelines, ditches and areas near the rivers and ponds. It is one of the first plants that will appear in areas destroyed by floods.

This is multi-branched, round-shaped shrub typically reaches 6 to 12 feet in height. Its older trunk bark is attractively diamond-patterned with lattice-like raised ridges. Its fruit is a reddish-brown, round-shaped capsule filled with two seeds. It ripens during September and October. Ducks and other waterfowl eat Buttonbush seeds.

If you come across a Buttonbush in bloom and patiently observe the activity around it, you’ll be likely to see spiders, bees, butterflies, moths, wasps and perhaps even a hummingbird buzzing around its flowers.

You’ll understand very quickly why this plant is so important native wildlife and our environment.

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Black Locust

Posted on July 7, 2018 by tspuckler

This tree is native to the eastern United States, but the exact natural range is not accurately known, since it has been cultivated and is currently found across the nation, in each of the 48 continental United States.

Black Locust Trees feature many oval, bluish-green compound leaves with a contrasting lighter undersides to give this tree a beautiful appearance in the wind and contribute to its grace. The tips of each leaflet may be slightly notched, rounded, or pointed.

Its sweetly fragrant, pendulous, creamy white flowers in hang clusters. Each cluster can be up to 8 inches long. Here in northeast Ohio, its flowers are produced in late May through June.

The Black Locust’s fruit is a flat, smooth pea-like pod 2–4 inches long and about a half an inch wide. It usually contains 4-8 seeds.

The wood is extremely hard, being one of the hardest woods in Northern America. It is very resistant to rot, and durable, making it prized for furniture, flooring, paneling, fence posts, and small watercraft.

Black Locust can quickly grow to 50 feet tall by 25 feet wide, when found in the open. They are not tolerant of shade. As a grade-schooler we planted these and is was astonishing how fast they grew.

This is a member of the Bean Family and is related to Redbud, Honeylocust, Kentucky Coffeetree, and Wisteria, as well as other Locust Tree species. Its many interesting characteristics make it a great tree to study.

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Coulter Pine

Posted on May 26, 2018 by tspuckler

While hiking on Mount Hamilton in California, it was impossible not to notice a few impressively-sized pine cones on the ground. The cones were extremely spiny and exuded a sticky substance that was noticeable when they were picked up.

The Coulter Pine is also known as Big-cone Pine; this species is named after Thomas Coulter, an Irish botanist and physician. Coulter Pine needles occur in bundles of three and are 6 to 12 inches long.

This tree produces the heaviest cone of any pine tree. Old time lumberjacks called them “widow makers” because the cones occasionally killed loggers when they fell. People are advised to wear hardhats when working in Coulter Pine groves.

This evergreen is native to the coastal mountains from central California to the Baja peninsula. The tree’s crown is broad, thin and irregular.

Its bark is dark gray to black, deeply rugged with scaly ridges. It can reach heights of 75 feet with a straight to contorted trunk up to 3 feet in diameter.

For its flower, male cones are yellow in tight clusters, while female cones dark red-brown. This is a slow growing species, reaching only 20 feet in 20 years. Given the proper conditions, the trees can live up to 100 years.

Their massive spiny cones, can be as long as 20 inches and weigh more than 10 pounds. This was a neat tree to spend time with on my California visit.

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Category Archives: Trees

American Persimmon

Slippery Elm

Red Alder

Pitch Pine

Eastern Cottonwood

Sequoia

Pawpaw

Buttonbush

Black Locust

Coulter Pine