Download Common trees of North Carolina

Common Trees of North
Carolina
Environmental and Natural
Resources I- Objective 29.01
American Elm
• Leaves are oval, long,
curved and pointed,
sharply toothed
margins
• Bark is dark gray
• Common on
bottomlands
• 75-100 feet,
diameter 2-5 feet
American Holly
• Leaves are spiny, wavyedged, 2-4 inches long,
dark green in color
• Red berries on female
trees
• Bark is light gray,
roughened wart-like
growths
• 15-40 feet by 1-2 feet
American Sycamore
• 3-4 lobed leaves, shallow
sinuses, 4-7 inches long
and broad, palmate,
toothed margins
• Multi-colored, mottled
trunks
• Fruit is a ball 1”
diameter
• 80-110 feet by 3-8 feet
Bald Cypress
• Leaves are ½ to3/4
inches long and are
arranged in a
featherlike fashion
along two sides of small
branchlets
• Trunk has a broad,
fluted based “knee”
• Bark is dark reddish
brown to silver and is
finely divided by
longitudinal fissures
• Swamplands
Black Walnut
• Leaves are alternate,
12-24 inches long, 15-23
sharply oval, finely
toothed, leaflets that
are 2 inches long,
pinnately compound
• Bark is thick dark brown
to black, deep fissures
• Lower slopes to
bottomlands
• 50-90 feet by 2-3 feet
Common Persimmon
• Leaves are broadly
oblong, pointed, 4-6
inches long, small dark
veins on the underside
• Fruit is reddish purple,
1-2 inches and only on
females
• Bark is dark and deeply
divided in to small,
square plates
• Not found in mountains
• Used to make clubheads
for golf clubs
Eastern red Cedar
• Leaves are smooth,
dark green, 1/16 inch
in length, whorls of
three
• Bark is light
reddish-brown, think
and separates into
long, peeling, fibrous
strips
• Found all over
• 40-50 feet by 1-2
feet
Eastern White Pine
• Needles are bluishgreen, 3-5 inches,
clusters of five, white
line on two surfaces of
each needle
• Bark is smooth, greenish
on young, dark gray on
old
• Cones are 4-8 inches
• Does best in mountains
• 100 feet by 4 feet
• Largest conifer in East
U.S.
Loblolly Pine
• Needs occur in clusters of
three and are 6-9 inches long
• Oblong cones are 2-6 inches
long, with a spine at the tip
of each scale
• Mature bark is thick, bright
reddish to brown and is
divided by shallow fissures
• Coastal Plain throughout the
eastern Piedmont
• 90-110 feet by 2-3 feet
• Most common and
commercially important pine
Red Maple
• Leaves are 3-5
lobed, serrated, 2-6
inches long
• Samaras are reddish
in color, V-shaped
• Bark is smooth and
light gray on young,
dark gray on old
• 40-70 feet by 1-2
feet
River Birch
• Leaves are oval, pointed,
double toothed serrated
margins
• Bark varies from
reddish brown to
cinnamon red in color
and peel back tough
papery layers
• Found on rivers,
swamps… not in high
mountains
• 60-80 feet by 1-2 feet
Shagbark Hickory
• Leaves are 8-14 inches
long with five (rarely 7)
leaflets that are
tapered, oval, smoth,
and finely toothed
• Bark is light gray that
separates into thick
plates a foot or more
long
• Tree likes damp soil
• Hickory Nuts
• 60-80 feet by 1-2 feet
Southern Red Oak
• Irregularly shaped lobes that
are narrow and bristle tipped
or pear-shaped with three
rounded lobes
• Leaves are dark green above
and tan below, 5-9 inches
long
• Bark is rough light gray on
young, dark gray on old
• 60-80 feet by 2-3 feet
• Higher ridges of Coastal
Plain and throughout
Piedmont
Sweetgum
• Leaves are star shaped,
5 deeply separated
lobes
• Bark is light gray, corky
scales
• 60-80 feet by 2-3 feet
• Grows in swamps, rivers,
and even on drier
uplands
• Large, valuable forest
tree
White Oak
• Leaves are 5-9 inches,
7-9 rounded lobes
• Acorn is ¾ inche long
and chestnut brown
when mature
• Thin bark is light gray
and covered in loose
scales on broad plates
• Abundant in the
Piedmont and lower
mountains, found in
Coastal Plains
• 80-100 feet by 3-4 feet
Yellow Poplar
• Tulip tree, composed of
four large lobes, 5-6
inches long
• Bark is light gray
• Flowers are tulip-like
• 90-110 feet by 2-5 feet
• Grows best in deep
moist soils of streams
and lower mountains
• Greenish yellow
heartwood