STATE OF ILLINOIS
OTTO KERNER, Governor

FOREST TREES
OF ILLINOIS

HOW TO KNOW THEM

A POCKET MANUAL DESCRIBING THEIR
MOST IMPORTANT CHARACTERISTICS

Revised by Dr. George D. Fuller, Professor
Emeritus of Botany, University of Chicago,
Curator of Botany, Illinois State Museum, and
State Forester E. E. Nuuttila.

(1st. ed., 1927, by Mattoon, W. R., and Miller, R. B.)

Revised 1955

DEPARTMENT OF CONSERVATION
DIVISION OF FORESTRY
SPRINGFIELD
WILLIAM T. LODGE,
Director

(Printed by Authority of the State of Illinois)

TABLE OF CONTENTS

  Page Ailanthus 54 Alder, black 19 speckled 19 Apple, crab 45 Arbor vitae 7 Ash, black 65 blue 65 green 64 pumpkin 65 red 64 white 64 Aspen, large-tooth 8 quaking 8 Bald cypress 6 Basswood 60 white 60 Beech 22 blue 19 Birch, black 21 river 21 white 20 yellow 21 Black locust 53 Black walnut 11 Bois d’arc 37 Box elder 58 Buckeye, Ohio 59 Buttonwood 44 Butternut 12 Catalpa 66 Cedar,

northern white 7 red 7 Cherry, black 50 choke 50 wild 50 Chestnut 22 Coffee tree, Kentucky 52 Cottonwood 9 swamp 9 Crab, apple 45 Bechtel’s 45 prairie 45 sweet 45 Cucumber, magnolia 39 Cypress, bald 6 Dogwood, alternate-leaved 61 flowering 61 Elm, American 34 cork 34 red 35 rock 34 slippery 35 water 35 winged 34 Gum, cotton 62 sour 62 sweet 43 tupelo 62 Hackberry 36 southern 36 Haw, green 48 red 48 Hawthorn, cock-spur 47 dotted 47 green 48 red 48 Hedge apple

tag="{http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml}a">37 Hercules’ club 63 Hickories, key of Illinois 13 Hickory, big shell-bark 16 bitternut 14 Buckley’s 18 king-nut 16 mockernut 17 pecan 15 pignut 18 shag-bark 16 sweet pignut 17 water 14 white 17 Honey locust 51 Hornbeam, American 19 hop 20 Horse-chestnut 59 Kentucky coffee-tree 52 Larch, American 6 European 6 Linden, American 60 Locust, black 53 honey 51 water 51 Magnolia, cucumber 39 Maple, ash-leaved 58 black 56 Norway 58 red 57 river 57 silver 57 soft 57 sugar 56 swamp 57 Mulberry, red 38 Russian 38

class="left90b">white 38 Oak, basket 26 black 29 black jack 32 bur 25 chinquapin 26 jack 29 northern pin 29 northern red 28 over 24 pin 30 post 27 red 28 rock chestnut 26 scarlet 30 shingle 33 Shumard’s 28 southern red 31 Spanish 31 swamp chestnut 26 swamp Spanish 31 swamp white 25 white 24 willow 33 yellow chestnut 26 Oaks, of Illinois, a key 23 Ohio buckeye 59 Orange, osage 37 Papaw 41 Paulownia 66 Pecan 15 Persimmon 63 Pine, Austrian 4 jack 5 Scotch 5 shortleaf 5 white

tag="{http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml}a">4 Plane tree 44 Plum, Canada 49 wild 49 wild goose 49 yellow 49 Poplar, balsam 9 Carolina 9 European white 9 Lombardy 9 yellow 40 Redbud 52 Red cedar 7 Sassafras 42 Service-berry 46 smooth 46 Shadblow 46 Sour gum 62 Spruce, Norway 5 Sweet gum 43 Sumac, shining 55 smooth 55 staghorn 55 Sycamore 44 European 44 Tamarack 6 Thorn, cock-spur 47 dotted 47 pear 47 Washington 48 Tree of Heaven 54 Tulip tree 40 Tupelo gum 62 Walnut, black 11 white 12 Willow, black 10 crack 10 peach-leaved

href="@public@vhost@g@gutenberg@html@files@37646@[email protected]#Page_10" class="pginternal" tag="{http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml}a">10 weeping 10 white 10

See pages 70 and 71 for Index of Scientific Names

WHITE PINE Pinus strobus L.

THE white pine is found along the bluffs overlooking Lake Michigan in Lake and Cook counties and is also scattered along river bluffs in Jo Daviess, Carroll, Ogle and LaSalle counties. The only grove of this beautiful tree in Illinois is in the White Pines Forest State Park near Oregon, Ogle County, where there are trees over 100 years old that have attained a height of 90 feet with a diameter of 30 inches. This tree formerly formed the most valuable forests in the northeastern United States, stretching from Maine through New York to Minnesota. The straight stem, regular pyramidal shape and soft gray-green foliage made it universally appreciated as an ornamental tree and it has been freely planted throughout the State.

The leaves, or needles, are 3 to 5 inches in length, bluish-green on the upper surface and whitish beneath, and occur in bundles of 5, which distinguishes it from all other eastern pines. The pollen-bearing flowers are yellow and clustered in cones, about ⅓ inch long at the base of the growth of the season. The seed-producing flowers occur on other twigs and are bright red in color. The cone, or fruit, is 4 to 6 inches long, cylindrical with thin usually very gummy scales, containing small, winged seeds which require two years to mature.

The wood is light, soft, durable, not strong, light brown in color, often tinged with red, and easily worked. It was formerly much used in old colonial houses where even the shingles were of white pine. It is excellent for boxes, pattern making, matches, and many other products.

Its rapid growth and the high quality of the wood make it one of the best trees for reforestation on light soils in the northern part of the State. The white pine blister rust was introduced into America about 35 years ago, and has since become widespread and highly destructive of both old trees and young growth.

SHORTLEAF PINE Pinus echinata Mill.

THE shortleaf pine, sometimes called yellow pine, occurs in very small stands in the “Pine Hills” of Union County, in Jackson County, in Giant City State Park, and near “Piney Creek” in Randolph County. It forms forests on light sandy soils in Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Texas. At maturity, the tree has a tall, straight stem and an oval crown, reaching a height of about 100 feet and a diameter of about 4 feet.

The leaves are in clusters of two or three, from 3 to 5 inches long, slender, flexible, and dark blue-green. The cones are the smallest of our pines, 1½ to 2½ inches long, oblong, with small sharp prickles, generally clustered, and often holding to the twigs for 3 or 4 years. The bark is light brownish-red, broken into rectangular plates on the trunk but scaly on the branches.

The wood of old trees is rather heavy and hard, of yellow-brown or orange color, fine grained and less resinous than that of other important southern pines. It is used largely for interior and exterior finishing, general construction, veneers, paper pulp, excelsior, cooperage, mine props, and other purposes. The tree transplants readily, grows rapidly, succeeds on a variety of soils and has proved valuable for reforestation.

BALD CYPRESS Taxodium distichum Richard