Tree Identification Lumberton High Forestry

Cypress

A large tree with a pyramid-shaped crown, cylindrical bole, fluted or buttressed base and often with knees. Fibrous, red-brown bark but may be gray where exposed to the weather. Cones are composed of peltate scales forming a woody, brown sphere with rough surfaces, 3/4 to 1 inch in diameter.

Cypress Linear and small, 1/4 to 3/4 inch long, green to yellow-green, resembles a feathery pinnately (or bi-pinnately) compound leaf.

Shortleaf Pine

Evergreen, 3 to 5 inches long, two or three (on the same branch) slender and flexible needles per fascicle, dark yellow-green in color. Compact, 2 inches long, ovoid, somewhat persistent. Cones are red to brown in color.

Loblolly Pine

Evergreen, 6 to 9 inches long, with (usually) three yellow-green needles per fascicle Cones are ovoid to cylindrical and red- brown in color. A medium to large tree that self-prunes well and develops a straight trunk and an oval, somewhat dense crown. A medium to large tree with a small, open, pyramidal crown.

Virginia Pine

Evergreen, 1 1/2 to 3 inches long, with 2 yellow-green, twisted needles per fascicle. Cones are 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 inches long, sessile and persistent, conical or ovoid in shape. A small to medium-sized tree, usually of somewhat poor form. Eventually develops a flat top. Dead branches self-prune poorly.

White Pine

Evergreen, 3 to 5 inches long, with five blue-green, slender needles per fascicle. Cones are 4 to 7 inches long, cylindrical, with thin, rounded cone scales, very resinous. On young trees; thin, smooth and gray- green in color. A large tree with a very straight stem.

White Oak

Alternate, simple, oblong to ovate in shape, pinnately veined with an evenly lobed margin, 4 to 7 inches long leaf. Ovoid, but may be oblong, with a warty cap that covers 1/4 of the fruit. Whitish or ashy gray, varying from scaly to irregularly platy or blocky. A large tree; when open grown, white oaks have rugged, irregular crowns that are wide spreading, with a stocky bole.

Scarlet Oak

Alternate, simple, 3 to 7 inches long, oval in shape with very deep sinuses and bristle- tipped lobes. Acorns are 1/2 to 1 inch long, with a scaled cap covering 1/2 of the nut. On young trees, gray-brown, with smooth streaks. Later developing irregular ridges and furrows. A medium-sized tree with generally poor form, irregular crown, and many dead branches.

Southern Red Oak

Alternate, simple, 5 to 9 inches long and roughly obovate in outline. Two forms are common: 3 lobes with shallow sinuses or 5 to 7 lobes with deeper sinuses. Acorns are 1/2 inch long, orange-brown and pubescent. The cap covers less than 1/3 of the nut and is quite thin and flattened.

Southern Red Oak Dark in color, thick, with broad, scaly ridges separated by deep, narrow furrows. A medium-sized tree with a short trunk and large branches supporting a rounded crown.

Black Oak

Alternate, simple, 4 to 10 inches long, obovate or ovate in shape with 5 to 7 bristle-tipped lobes. Acorns are 1/2 to 3/4 inch long, ovoid and 1/3 enclosed in a bowl-shaped cap. At first gray and smooth, becoming thick, nearly black and deeply furrowed vertically with horizontal breaks.

Black Oak A medium-sized tree with an irregular crown and a tapering, limby bole.

Chestnut Oak

Alternate, simple, 4 to 6 inches long, obovate in shape with a crenate margin. Acorns are 1 to 1 1/2 inches long, ovoid in shape and separate from the cap when mature. Gray-brown to black, very smooth when young. Older trees in the northern part of the range develop a corrugated cardboard appearance.

Chestnut Oak A medium-sized tree that develops an irregular dense crown.

Cottonwood

Alternate, simple, pinnately veined, 3 to 6 inches long, triangular (deltoid) in shape with a crenate/serrate margin. Cottony seeds, 1/4 inch long borne in a dehiscent capsule. Smooth, gray to yellow-green when young. Later turning gray with thick ridges and deep furrows.

Cottonwood A large tree with a clear bole and an open spreading crown resulting in a somewhat vase-shaped form.

Post Oak

Alternate, simple, 6 to 10 inches long, oblong in shape, with 5 lobes, thickened texture. Acorns are 1/2 to 2/3 inches long and ovoid. The cap is bowl-shaped and warty, covering 1/3 to 1/2 of the nut. Very similar to white oak or bur oak, but more reddish-brown in color. A small to medium-sized tree with a crown that has snarled and twisted branches.

Water Oak

Alternate, simple 2 to 4 inches long and extremely variable in shape (from spatulate to lanceolate). Acorns are 1/2 inch long, very dark in color, and 1/3 covered by a flattened cap with appressed scales. Dark and quite tight, smooth when young and later with irregular rough patches. A medium-sized tree with a slender bole and rounded crown with ascending branches.

Willow Oak

Alternate, simple, 2 to 5 inches long, linear or lanceolate in shape with an entire margin and a bristle tip. Acorns are 1/4 to 1/2 inch long, nearly round and yellow-green. On young stems, smooth, gray and tight. Later forming thick, irregular ridges and deep furrows. Medium-sized tree that forms a dense oblong crown when open grown.

Red Cedar

Evergreen, with two types of leaves, often on the same tree. Scale leaves 1/16 inch long, dark green, with 4 sides. Berry-like cones, light green in spring, turning dark blue and glaucous at maturity, about 1/4 inch in diameter. Red-brown in color, exfoliating in long, fibrous strips, often ashy gray where exposed. A small tree with a dense pyramidal or columnar crown.

Black Walnut

Alternate, pinnately compound with 10 to 24 leaflets, 12 to 24 inches long. Round with a thick, green indehiscent husk. The husk contains an irregularly furrowed nut that contains sweet, oily meat (edible). Light brown on surface, dark brown when cut, ridged and furrowed with a rough diamond pattern. A medium-sized tree that developes a straight, clear bole with a narrow crown under competition.

Hickory

Alternate, pinnately compound with 7 to 11 leaflets, 7 to 10 inches long. Leaflets are lanceolate and serrate. Nearly globose but slightly flattened, 1 inch long, partially dehiscent from the middle to the sharp-pointed tip. Smooth when young, much later with shallow furrows and interlacing ridges. A medium-sized tree with an open, rounded top.

Beech

Alternate, simple, elliptical to oblong-ovate, 2 1/2 to 5 1/2 inches long, pinnately-veined, with each vein ending in a tooth. Nuts are irregularly triangular, shiny brown and edible, found in pairs within a woody husk covered with spines, 1/2 to 3/4 inch long. The bark is smooth, thin, and gray in color, sometimes mottled. Often carved with initials. A medium to large tree with a rounded crown.

Hemlock

Evergreen, 1/2 inch long, dark green in color, with 2 lines of white stomata below. Ovoid, 3/4 inch long with rounded, entire scales. Maturing September to October. On young trees, gray-brown, smooth, turning scaly. When cut or broken, purple streaks are obvious. A medium-sized tree with a dense, conical crown, fine branches and a drooping terminal shoot.

Tupelo Gum

Alternate, simple, pinnately veined, 4 to 8 inches long, oblong to obovate, entire margin but may have a few large teeth. A reddish purple drupe, 1 inch long and tear shaped, flesh surrounds a deeply grooved pit. Brownish gray, scaly ridges or even blocky (somewhat variable). Large tree to 100 feet, several feet in diameter, clear trunk which is typically swolen at base, roots often grow out of soil.

Black Locust

Alternate, pinnately compound with 7 to 19 leaflets. Leaves are 8 to 14 inches long. Leaflets are oval, one inch long, with entire margins. Brown, flattened, shaped like pea pods, 2 to 4 inches long; containing 4 to 8 kidney- shaped, smooth, red-brown seeds. Maturing September to October.

Black Locust Gray or dark brown, ridged and furrowed-- resembles a woven rope. May develop a straight stem with a very small crown. Often forms thickets by root suckering.

Sourwood

Alternate, simple, elliptical to lanceolate, very finely serrate, 4 to 7 inches long with very slight pubescence on the mid-vein below. Dehiscent, 5-valved capsules borne on panicles. Capsules are dry when mature (September to October) and release the tiny, 2-winged seeds.

Sourwood Grayish brown, very thick with deep furrows and scaly ridges. A small tree, usually with poor form and an irregular crown.

American Holly

Alternate, simple, and persistant, thickened and leathery, eliptical in shape, 2 to 4 inches long, dark green and shiny above, pale green below with entire or spiney-toothed margins. A berrylike drupe, red, rarely yellow when ripe, 1/4 inch in diameter, containing ribbed nutlets.

American Holly Light gray, with prominent warts. A small tree, with a thick crown and pyramidal form, usually with branches to the ground.

Yellow Poplar

Alternate, simple, palmately veined, orbicular, 4-lobed with an entire margin, 4 to 8 inches long. An oblong aggregate of samaras, deciduous at maturity. Light gray-green in color, often with white in grooves or in patches. In a stand, this tree is very straight with a limb-free bowl.

Sycamore

Alternate, simple, palmately veined, 4 to 8 inches wide, ovate in shape, with three to five lobes. A spherical multiple of achenes borne on a 3 to 6 inch stalk. Thin, mottled brown, green and white. Often referred to as "camouflage" bark that readily exfoliates. A very massive tree with heavy, spreading branches with obviously zigzag twigs.

Red Maple

Opposite, 3 to 5 palmate lobes with serrate margins, sinuses relatively shallow (but variable), 2 to 4 inches long; light green above, whitened and sometimes glaucous or hairy beneath. Clusters of 1/2 to 3/4 inch long fruit with slighly divergent wings, appear May to June, on long slender stems.

Red Maple On young trees, smooth and light gray, with age becomes darker and breaks up into long scaly plates. Medium-sized tree. In forest, trunk usually clear for some distance, in the open the trunk is shorter and the crown rounded.

Dogwood

Opposite, simple, arcuately veined, 3 to 6 inches long, oval in shape with an entire margin. A shiny, oval red drupe, 1/4 to 1/2 inch long, in clusters of 3 to 4. Gray when young, turning very scaly to blocky. A small tree with a short trunk that branches low, producing a flat-topped crown.

Black Gum

Alternate, simple, pinnately veined, obovate in shape with an entire margin, 3 to 5 inches long. A dark, purplish-blue drupe, 1/2 inch long, with a fleshy coating surrounding a ribbed pit. Gray, quite often blocky--resembling alligator hide on very old stems. A medium-sized tree, with slightly curled spur shoots. Branches stand at right angles to the trunk.

Sweet Gum

Alternate, simple, palmately veined, orbicular, 4 to 6 inches across with 5 to 7 lobes, and a finely serrate margin. Easy to identify "gumballs", woody brown spheres, 1 to 1 1/2 inches in diameter with openings in the surface that release 2 seeds from each capsule. Gray brown, irregular furrows and ridges.

Sweet Gum A medium to large tree with a straight stem and a pyramidal crown, especially when young.

Ash

Opposite, pinnately compound with 7 to 9 serrate leaflets that are lanceolate to elliptical in shape. A one-winged, dry, flattened samara with a slender, thin, seed cavity, maturing September to October and dispersing over winter. Ashy gray to brown in color, with interlacing corky ridges forming obvious diamonds. A medium-sized tree with a poorly formed bole and an irregular crown.

Birch

Alternate, simple, pinnately-veined, rhombic to ovate, 1 1/2 to 3 inches long, obviously doubly serrate, with a wedge- shaped base; green above, paler and fuzzy below. Cone like, 1 to 1 1/2 inches long, with many hairy scales, containing tiny, 3- winged seeds.

Birch Smooth on young trees, salmon to rust colored. On older trees, developing papery scales, exfoliating horizontally with several colors (creamy to orangish-brown) visible. River birch is a medium-size tree with poor form.

Persimmon

Alternate, simple, pinnately-veined, 2 1/2 to 5 1/2 inches long. A plum-like berry that is green before ripening, turning orange to black when ripe, 3/4 to 2 inches in diameter when ripe. Very dark, broken up into square scaly thick plates; reminiscent of charcoal briquettes. A small to medium-sized tree with a round- topped crown.

Elm

Alternate, 3 to 6 inches long, 1 to 3 inches wide; margin coarsely and sharply doubly serrate, base of leaf conspicuously inequilateral. Rounded samaras, 3/8 to 1/2 inch across, deeply notched at apex, hairless except for margin. Dark, ashy-gray, flat-topped ridges separated by diamond-shaped fissures; outer bark when sectioned shows distinct, alternating, buff colored and reddish-brown patches.

Elm In the open, the trunk is usually divided into several large, ascending and arching limbs, ending in a maze of graceful drooping branchlets.

Black Cherry

Alternate, 2 to 5 inches long, oval to oblong, lance-shaped. Margins are finely serrated, dark green and lustrous above, paler below. Flesh is dark purple, almost black when ripe, with a bitter-sweet taste. Smooth with narrow, horizontal lenticels when young. It becomes very dark (nearly black) breaking up into small, rough, irregular, upturned plates (burnt corn flakes), when older. Medium-sized tree which on good sites develops a long, straight, clear bole.