Category Archives: Trees

Christmas Holly

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We had the first significant snowfall of the season a few days ago, so I decided to go outside and take a look around.

When the Pilgrims landed the week before Christmas in 1620 on the coast of what is now Massachusetts, the thorny leaves and red fruit of American Holly reminded them of English Holly, a symbol of Christmas for centuries in Europe.

Since then, American Holly, also called White Holly or Christmas Holly, has been one of the most popular trees in the Eastern United States for its foliage and berries. It is widely used for Christmas decorations and for ornamental plantings.

Christmas Holly is primarily a plant of the humid Southeastern United States. There are separate male and female plants. Only females produce berries. Birds are the main consumers of the fruit, although deer, squirrels and other small mammals also eat them.

The height of Christmas Holly ranges from 25 feet to as tall as 60 feet in the warmer parts of its range. The stout, stiff branches of this broad-leafed evergreen bear dark green, non-glossy, spine-tipped leaves.

In Ohio, this tree is only grows in the extreme southeastern part of the state. So it’s a bit surprising to see one in the woods in the Greater Cleveland Area. Is it a Christmas miracle? You be the judge of that.

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Eastern White Pine

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Eastern White Pine is the tallest native conifer in eastern North America and is the state tree of Maine and Michigan. It grows to over 100 feet tall and has a straight trunk up to four feet wide.

Like all pine trees, this tree is evergreen, so it keeps its leaves (needles) year-round. Each needle can grow up to five inches long. The needle bundles cluster into brush-like formations.

Pine trees aren’t the easiest trees to identify, let’s face it – they all look the same. But there’s an easy trick for Eastern White Pines, their needles are grouped in bundles of five. It is the only eastern pine with this characteristic.

The fruits of this tree are large brown pine cones, four to eight inches long. Each cone has seeds in it. Birds eat Eastern White Pine seeds, including two types commonly seen here: Black-capped Chickadees and White-breasted Nuthatches. Many species of birds also nest in Eastern White Pines; they are a favorite nest site of American Bald Eagles.

Squirrels, chipmunks, voles and mice eat pine needles as well as seeds. Cottontail rabbits eat the bark from larger trees, as do beaver.

Eastern White Pine needles contain five times the amount of Vitamin C (by weight) of lemons and make an excellent herbal tea. In the past, this tree was used for ships’ masts, because of its large, straight trunk. These days it is used extensively for furniture because it is very easy to carve and has less resin than other pines. There is widespread cultivation of Eastern White Pines for Christmas trees, because they grow well, especially in the tree’s native habitat.

Mature trees can easily be 200 to 250 years old and some have lived over 400 years.

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Witch-hazel

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Back in Ohio, the Witch-hazel is starting to bloom in South Chagrin Reservation. Its twisted yellow flowers appear in clusters of three. It has an unusual flowering time (in the autumn).

This small tree (typically less than 20 feet tall) usually has multiple crooked trunks. It tends to grow naturally along rivers and anywhere else where the soil is very rich.

Witch-hazel’s name strikes mysterious connotations. In colonial America, the shrub’s flexible forked branches were a favorite “witching stick” of dowsers used for searching out hidden underground water. This has nothing to do with witchcraft, rather it originates from the old English word for pliable – “wych.”

Although it’s not a hazel, the leaves have a striking resemblance to those of the common American Hazelnut.

Its leaves, twigs and bark are aromatic and have long been used for medicinal purposes. Witch-hazel produces an oil that is widely used as an ingredient in skin care products and pain relief medication.

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Shagbark Hickory

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Shagbark Hickory is probably the most distinctive of all the hickories because of its loose-plated “shaggy” bark. Each long, thick bark plate is attached at the middle, with both ends curving away from the trunk, giving the tree a truly ragged appearance.

The nuts are edible with an excellent flavor, and are a popular food among people and squirrels alike.

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It is a slow-growing but potentially massive tree located throughout Ohio and is frequently found in association with other hickories and oaks.

Shagbark Hickory’s timber is prized for making tool handles, athletic equipment and furniture. Its “green” wood (or sometimes seasoned, but freshly-wetted wood chips) is also sought after for the smoking of meats.

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Sweetgum: My Favorite Tree

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The star-shaped leaves make for easy identification of this tree. It is often planted as a shade tree and for its bright red fall colors. Sweetgums are aromatic, meaning they have a pleasant smell. You can crush a leaf to get a good sense of this.

Oak trees are the only other tree that surpass the Sweetgum in commercial value – its dark reddish-brown hard, heavy wood is used for barrels, flooring, plywood and furniture veneer. Sweetgums often grow with other trees, like maples, oaks, pines and elms.

Sweetgum has woody, spiny, ball-like fruit that is still immature when green, though later in the year, when it turns brown, it opens and releases seeds, which are eaten by birds and animals. I have several of these trees planted at my place of work and some of them are carrying fruit.

But perhaps the most famous use of this tree is that pioneers once peeled the bark and scraped the resin-like solid to produce chewing gum. The resin has also been used medicinally as well as for soaps and adhesives.

It’s genus name is Liquidambar. While in high school and learning tree identification, my teacher told me that its a easy genus to remember, because “You get liquid at the damn bar.” What more can you ask for in a tree?

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Sassafras: The root beer tree

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Sassafras is an easy tree to identify by its leaves. The leaves can have a mitten shape, with either a left thumb or a right thumb, or the leaf can be three-lobed. It can also have an oval, unlobed leaf. Usually, you’ll see all three shapes on the same tree.

The Sassafras Tree is a member of the laurel family and it has aromatic foliage. Rub a leaf between your fingers, and its spicy scent becomes noticeable. Crushing a twig from this tree produces that same result.

In earlier times, homemade root beer was made by fermenting molasses and Sassafras root. Commercial root beer used oil of Sassafras for flavoring. Oil of Sassafras was also used “back in the day” for perfuming soap.

This tree often has a crooked trunk, it produces dense cover and provides fruit for wildlife. Sassafras doesn’t attain its full growth potential in northern states. Around here a typical tree is about 30 feet tall.

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Joshua Tree

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The Joshua Tree, the largest of the yuccas, grows only in the Mojave Desert. Natural stands of this picturesque, spike-leafed evergreen occur nowhere else in the world. Its height varies from 15-40 feet with a diameter of 1-3 feet.

The name Joshua Tree was given by a group of Mormon settlers who crossed the Mojave Desert in the mid-19th century. The tree’s unique shape reminded them of a Biblical story in which Joshua reaches his hands up to the sky in prayer.

Joshua Trees (and most other yuccas) rely on the female Yucca Moth for pollination. No other animal visiting the blooms transfers the pollen from one flower to another.

The spiny leaf iis turned upwards in hopes it will catch any moisture in the air. Then it stores the water in the limbs and trunk. The Joshua Tree often grows in groups called groves and has a lifespan of about 200 years.

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Flowering Dogwood

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Although the woods are mostly brown today with only a few trees sprouting leaves, there’s still plenty of beauty to be found, especially in the showy blooms of Flowering Dogwood.

Flowering Dogwood is fairly small, usually 20-30 feet tall. It is a useful tree not only for its eye-catching appeal in the springtime, but its berry-like fruit is eaten by many bird species as well as other animals in the autumn.

The dogwood sprouts tiny greenish-yellow flowers in clusters, with each flower surrounded by four large white bracts (often incorrectly labeled as petals). It is considered by many the most spectacular of the native, flowering trees.

There is much Christian religious folklore surrounding this tree. The blooms often appear in the shape of a cross, with holes in the tips of the pedals signifying the nails that were driven into the cross. If you look closely at these holes you can notice a faint red stain representing the blood. In the center you will find a green bloom symbolizing the crown of thorns placed on the head of Jesus.

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American Beech

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Some trees just don’t want to “throw in the towel” and admit that it’s winter. The American Beech is one of those trees and I admire it for that. Their leaves often remain attached to the tree throughout the winter.

The American Beech is a shade-tolerant species, favoring shade more than other trees. It is commonly found in mature forests. The leaves have distinct, strong veins and toothed edges. Beechnuts are among the most important of wildlife food; squirrels, grouse, bear, raccoons, deer and many other animals eat them.

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Even when its leaves are green, this tree is easy to identify because beech has silver-gray, paper-smooth bark and unfortunately many people are compelled to carve into it.

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This sturdy, imposing tree creates beautiful scenery – even on overcast mid-February days like today.

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