March Roundtable Greater Lowell District Jon Dixon Plant Identification March Roundtable Greater Lowell District Jon Dixon

Evergreen Trees – Pines Red Sandy regions Needles in bundles of 2-3 Eastern White Most common in area Needles in bundles of 5 Red Pine White Pine Pitch Sandy and rocky regions Needles in bundles of 3 Pitch Pine

Evergreen Trees – Spruce and Fir Spruce (Red, White, Black) “Square Sharp” needles White Spruce Balsam Fir Balsam Fir “Flat Furry” needles

Evergreen Trees – Cedar/Hemlock Cedar (Eastern Red, Atlantic White) Scale-like leaves Eastern Hemlock Flat needles Needles grow parallel to ground Eastern Red Cedar Atlantic White Cedar Eastern Hemlock

Deciduous Trees – Oaks White Oak Red Oak Black Oak Acorns Leaves red in fall Northern Red and Black have pointy leaves White has rounded leaves Red Oak Black Oak

Deciduous Trees – Beech Serrated leaves “Alternate emergence” Prickly 3-sided nut Leaves may persist into winter

Deciduous Trees – Birch/Aspen Paper birch has whitish bark Yellow birch has gray to yellowish bark Bark peels easily Quaking Aspen Occurs in thickets May be most massive living thing on earth Heart-shaped leaves Smooth bark

Deciduous Trees – Maples Sugar maple leaf on Canadian flag Palmate leaf shapes “Helicopter” seeds Red Maple Sugar Maple

Deciduous Trees – Shagbark Hickory Distinctive bark Edible nut “Pinnately” compound leaves Lanceolate leaflet

Shrubs – Berries Lowbush Blueberry Cranberry Highbush Blackberry Red Raspberry

Shrubs – Sumac “Pinnately” compound leaves 11 – 31 lanceolate leaflets per leaf Staghorn sumac leaves 16” - 24” long Smooth sumac leaves 12” - 18” long

Shrubs -- Rhododendron Evergreen shrub May grow to 33 ft Clusters of white or pinkish flowers

Flowers – Trillium Purple Large-flowered Tri = 3 Three leaves around stem Three petals Perhaps backed by three more petals or leaves

Flowers Queen Anne's Lace Jack-in-the-Pulpit Clover

Northern Pitcher Plant Flowers Black-Eyed Susan Northern Pitcher Plant

Flowers Purple Loosestrife Indian Pipe

Ferns Interrupted Bracken Cinnamon

Poisonous Plants Poison Sumac Poison Ivy Poison Oak Water Hemlock Buttercup Poison Ivy Poison Oak

Online resources http://www.cnr.vt.edu http://forestry.about.com/ http://www.uwgb.edu/biodiversity/herbarium/ http://www.fs.fed.us/database/feis/index.html http://www.asu.edu/fm/arboretum.htm http://www.forestry.auburn.edu/samuelson/dendrology/ http://www.fw.vt.edu/4h/bigtree/bigtree_search.cfm http://nefern.info/