Dendrology

Magnolia virginiana

Family: Magnoliaceae

Common Name: sweetbay

Range: Texas-> FL, up to NY.

Habitat: Hydric Soils

Bark: Thin, Tan/Grey, Shallow Fissures

Leaves: Simple & Alternate (arrangement), elliptic (shape), entire (margin).

Evergreen (in Southern range), Entire, Dark Green w/ Glabrous topside and Glaucous Underside (abaxial)

Other Info: Shade Tolerant, Not Fire Tolerant, Flood tolerant. Slow growing. Used in landscaping up North. Sweet smelling leaves, has stipular scars (go around the twig), Height: 80-120.'

Fruits: Aggregate follicles with red seeds.

Uses: Low Commercial Value, Ornamental, used in Pulp Wood

Aesculus pavia

Family: Hippocastanaceae

Common Names: red Buckeye or Firecracker

Range: Mid-Atlantic to Central FL, to Texas, up to the lower Piedmont in NC.

Habitat: Mesic Soils. Rich, moist soils.

Bark: Thin, tan-grey. Has lenticels.

Leaves: Compound palmate leaves, oppositely arranged with 5 leaflets. Serrated edges, Green, elliptic, distinctly pinnate venation. Glabrous topside (adaxial).

Deciduous. Dichotomous branching due to opposite leaf arrangement.

Other: Not Fire Tolerant, Shade Tolerant, Height: up to 30', Not Commercially Valuable. Native to the Southeastern US. Shrubby, small shade tolerant tree. Doesn't grow "naturally" in dry areas. Monoecious (produces both male and female reproductive parts).

Fruit: Capsule Form, Roundish Nuts. Up to 3 seeds in capsule.

Flowers: Tubular panicle.

Diospyros virginiana

Family: Ebenaceae

Common name: "Common Persimmon"

Native, pioneer species. Likes disturbed sites. Early successional speices.

Range: Native to East of the Rockies to FL, down the gulf coast, and throughout the East coast.
~Most of the continental US minus Northern states and a few Western states minus Utah and California.

Soil: Wide range of soil types

Height: Up to 80ft tall. Usually grow in colonies and is usually small in FL.

Leaf persistence: Deciduous.

Bark: Square, blocky, corky, dark. Reddish, brown inner bark.

Leaves: simple, alternate, elliptic-->ovate (variable in shape). Acuminate apex. Entire (leaf margin). Pinnate, arcuate venation. The branching of the leaf veins makes it look like "broken glass."

Other: Due to a fungal pathogen, persimmon often has splotchy leaves. The

Fruit: botanical berries, astringent when unripe

Uses: Dense wood used to be used for golf clubs.

Tolerance: Low salt tolerance, low flood tolerance, medium drought tolerance. Fast to resprout.

Liquidambar styraciflua

Family: Hamamelidaceae

Common Name: sweetgum

Range: East of Mississippi (CT-FL) (TX-IL)

Habitat: Hydric Soils

Bark: Thick, furrowed, corky. Sometimes features corky winged appendages. Trunk typically does not divide.

Leaves: Simple and Alternate, palmate venation. Deciduous. Serrated edges. Chemical, green apple smell when crushed.

Flowers & Seeds: Flowers nondescript but seeds have capsules for seeds. Spiky aggregate, ecologically important for small animals.

Other: Shade intolerant, R-selection: Colonizer, will sucker sprout. Low fire tolerance, but readily resprouts. Tolerates flooding. Grows in bottomland areas.

Height: 75' (large spread up to 50 ft.)

Uses: Ornamental, pallet wood, sometimes pulp.

Cephalanthus occidentalis

Family: Rubiaceae

Common name: buttonbush

Range: Eastern and midwestern NA up to Canada, west to Texas plus California and Arizona.

Habitat: hydric, fresh water

Bark: brown/tan, medium fissures, rope-like as it matures. Bark has raised, corky lenticels.

Multi-stemmed, bent shrub

Leaf persistence: deciduous

Leaf arrangement/composition: simple, whorled or opposite

*Look at leaf scars for leaf arrangement when leaf off

Leaf shape: elliptic to ovate

Leaf apex: acute/acuminate

Leaf margin: entire

Leaves: dark green above with some pubescence on the underside, mostly glabrous on the upper surface

Flower: globous (globe shaped) ball. Nutlets!

Tolerance: High flood tolerance, no fire tolerance, drought tolerance is intermediate, intermediate shade tolerance

Wildlife value: hummingbirds, pollinators, nesting, shelter, fish nesting (where stems and roots go into the water)

Sometimes planted ornamentally or for restoration purposes

Betula nigra

Birch family, Betulaceae

Common name: River birch

Native to most of the Eastern U.S.

Habitat: Mesic-> Hydric (mostly hydric), growing in/near rivers, streams, bottomlands

Deciduous, medium sized tree. Can grow up to 35 meters tall. Rarely straight, often found leaning over water.

Bark: reddish, brown to salmon pink papery, peely bark with horizontal lenticels.

Leaf: simple, alternate, rhomboid to triangular ovate, up to 3in long.

Leaf apex: obtuse to acute

Leaf base: truncate, sometimes angled

Leaf margin: doubly serrate

Venation: angled & ascending parallel

Leaf color: upper side is bright green and glabrous. Under side is pale green and sometimes pubescent

Petioles somewhat flat and densely pubescent

Stipules are hairy and deciduous

Twigs are slightly zig-zaging w psuedo-terminal buds.

Two-ranked

Flowers: Male-catkins. Female-strobile (cone-like).

Monoecious!

Fruit: two-winged nutlets

Wildlife: small mammals and birds use

Commercial: furniture, cabinets, ornamental

Tolerance: No shade tolerance, no salt tolerance, no fire tolerance, low drought tolerance, medium flood tolerance.

Sabal palmetto

Angiosperm & monocot

Family: Arecaceae

Common name: cabbage palm, sabal palm

Distribution: Native to FL, found throughout the coastal plain from South Carolina through FL out to Texas.

Habitat: Found in coastal communities. From wet to dry (xeric->hydric).

Forms a single stem (monocot).

Evergreen

Can get up to 90ft tall, but slow growing

Bark: Boots (bases of petioles). Lattice-like pattern. Boots can fall or burn off. If they fall off they leave rings.

Leaves: simple, alternate, costa palmate. The petiole extends into the base of the leaf blade (hastula/spear). Parallel venation. Smooth petiole.

Flowers/fruits: Doesn't flower until mature. Monoecious. Fruits are drupes. Bluish-purple. 1/2in in diameter and fall off the tree.

Well adapted to disturbances esp. the ones typical of FL.

*Susceptible to Lethal bronzing

Native Americans ate the interior below the terminal bud

Commercially important for horticulture

Wildlife: bears, birds, pollinators, etc.

Vitis rotundifolia

Angiosperm, dicot, vine

Family: Vitaceae

Common Name: muscadine grape

Range: SE U.S. Virginia -> FL -> West to Texas up to Oklahoma

Habitat: Mixed Hardwood, not extremely site specific. Wetter areas to xeric hammocks. Wide range of site conditions.

Bark: Thick woody vines, peels off in plates (large strips), has tendrils for climbing

Leaves: Deciduous, Simple & Alternate, Green & Glabrous (without hair, above and below), Orbcircular shape, Dentate Margins, Acute Apex, Cordate Base, Palmate Venation.

Flowers/fruits: white, non-descript flowers. Fruit is a botanical berry (grape). Round purple or green.

Other: Moderate Shade Tolerance, low fire tolerant but will resprout quickly, little salt tolerance. Medium flood and drought tolerance.

Uses: Chowing down for humans and animals.

Callicarpa americana

Angiopsperm, dicot
Family: Verbenaceae

Range: Southeastern US (from Midatlantic to FL, west to Texas, up to Missouri)

Habitats: Wide range of habitats. Pinelands, sandhills, disturbed areas, mesic hammocks. Typically a pioneer species (early succession).

Usually less than 15ft tall. Multi-stemmed shrub. Woody and deciduous.

Bark: light tan colored but gets gray with time, smooth and tight, has lenticels sometimes (vertical).

Leaves: simple, opposite, 4-ranked (decussate). Elliptical in shape (can vary due to environment). Acuminate apex. Cuneate base. Leaves are pubescent on both sides. Arcuate venation. Crenate margin. Leaves are pungent smelling.

Twigs: sticky pubescence. Opposite/dichotomous branching.

Flowers/fruits: cymes, clustered fruits. Drupes. In the axils of the leaves.

Uses: songbirds and wildlife love, humans can eat, insecticide, ornamental native.

Tolerances: not extremely shade tolerance, low salt tolerance, can resprout after fire, low drought tolerance, low to intermediate flood tolerance.

Pteridium aquilinum

Family: Dennstaedtiaceae

Common Name: bracken fern

Range: Global

Habitat: Wide range of sites. Hydric to Xeric Soils (FL: Sandhill & Flatwoods)

Deciduous, perennial. Underground rhizomous distribution.

Bark: Stiff Stem extending from ground

Leaves: Triangular fronds. Has leaflets called pinna. The subleaflets are called pinules. Branched. Has a stalk and rachis.

Other: Rhizome, Toxic to Livestock, Reproduces with Spores, wildlife use for habitat. Intermediate fire tolerance. Natives would eat the rhizomes.

Height: 4-5ft

Prunus caroliniana

Angiosperm, dicot

Family: Rosaceae

Common name(s): Carolina laurel cherry or cherry laurel

Range: Native to the Southeast, found along the SE coastal plain

Habitat: Xeric -> hydric. Found in disturbed areas.

Height: Smaller tree that gets up to 40' tall.

Root sprout distribution.

Leaf persistence: Evergreen

Bark: thin > smooth w/ lenticels.

Leaves: simple, alternate, elliptic. Entire or serrated (varied). Not consistently serrated. There are two glands at the base of the leaf. Glabrous leaf darker on top and lighter on bottom.

Tolerances: tolerates shade and fire but not salt.

Leaves smell like maraschino cherries!

Prunus serotina

Family: Rosaceae

Common Name: black cherry

Range: Most of the U.S., east of the plains. Grows down into Mexico and Central America.

Habitat: Xeric to Mesic Soils, Broad ecological amplitude, often found near powerlines and along fence lines. Likes rich, moist soils. Pioneer species in most of its range. Needs full sun!

Height: 80'-150' tall. Medium->large tree. Has a drooping look.

Bark: Smooth, thin, light grey to dark bark. Horizontal lenticels, older trees flaky and darker.

Leaves: Deciduous, Simple & Alternate, glossy dark green on top, lighter on bottom. Glands on petiole. Leaves ovate to oblong, consistently serrate margin (finely serrated), acuminate apex, obtuse base, pinnate venation.

Other: leaves taste bitter (Cyanide), fast growers, toxic to livestock, not shade tolerant, moderate drought tolerance, medium salt tolerance, produces a gummy sap

Used for Niche Woodworking

Flower: raceme

Fruit: drupe (black cherry)

Acer rubrum

Family: Aceraceae

Common name: Red maple

Range: As far north as Newfoundland in Canada, as far south as FL, and all throughout Eastern North America.

Habitat: Hydric sites in FL but can grow in many conditions other places.

Height: Can grow up to 100ft tall.

Leaf persistence: Deciduous

Bark: thin, grayish, gets a lil flaky as it matures.

Leaves: opposite, simple, 3-5 palmately lobed (mostly 3-lobed). Serrate to dentate margin w/ squareish central lobe.
Dull dark green upside, silvery glacous underside.
Petiole is variable but can often be red.
Seeds are samaras: 45-90 angle
red flowers in spring, red leaves in fall

Other:
Used for roosting and for hardwood in the North. Shade tolerant, low salt tolerance, low fire tolerance, moderate flood tolerance. Used in urban planning bc it's usually disease free. Used in horticulture.

Magnolia grandiflora

Family: Magnoliaceae

Common name: Southern magnolia

Leaf persistence: deciduous

Bark: thin, gray to tan in color

Leaves: simple, alternate, elliptic-oblong, entire (margin), glabrous, rusty pubescence (sometimes).

Diaphragm pith.

Flower: Big white flower

Fruit: aggregate of follicles with red seeds.

Tolerates shade and is slow growing.

Cercis canadensis

Family: Fabaceae (legume)

Common: eastern redbud

Plant size: small tree, shrub-like stature

Persistence: deciduous

Twigs: pseudo-terminal buds (zig zag), brown smooth bark, scattered lenticels

Leaf: simple, alternate, 2-ranked, ovate-reniform shape (cordate base), petioles dilated w/pulvini (swollen), palmately-veined, short-acuminate to rounded apex, margins entire, dark green glabrous above, pale green pubescent below

Flowers: flowers in spring, pink/purple

Fruit: legume, flat w/ brown seed pods

Uses: legumes serve as wildlife food,widely used in the horticulture industry

Tolerance: Shade tol, low salt, resprouts from fire, low flood, high drought

Nitrogen fixer

Rhus copallinum

Family: Anacardiaceae
Common name: winged sumac
Range: Native to eastern NA. East Texas to Southern New England.
Habitat: Early successional, well drained soils, edges of disturbed sites, open areas. Edges of flatwoods. Not too wet.
Height: up to 15-20ft
multi-stemmed in stature
Forms colonies from rhizomes.
Bark: thin tan to grayish bark. Has lenticels.
Leaves: Pinnately (odd) compound. Ovate leaflets. Dark green upper, lighter green under. Rachis has a winged appendage. Alternate.
Persistence: deciduous
Dioecious
Flowers/fruits: Terminal flower producing a clustered drupe, bright red when ripe.
Tolerances: moderately drought and fire tolerant. Low salt tolerance and shade.
Other: Nice reddish orange color in fall. Valued by wildlife such as birds. Sometimes used ornamentally.

Serenoa repens

Family: Arecaceae (palm)

Common: saw palmetto

Habitat: wet areas, flatwoods. sometimes scrubs and hammocks but prefers well drained soils.

Persistence: evergreen

Bark: "gator backs", dark to black stem, more or less horizontal. leaf bases stay attached.

Leaf: saw teeth on petioles, palmate without a costa, green or yellowish green. Simple, glabrous.

Flowers: calyx tubular below, 3 minute lobes distally, 3 petals nearly separate

Fruit: drupelike, usually oblong-ellipsoid, black or blueish black when ripe

***Monocot, extremely slow grower

Other: decumbent (growing along the ground/crawling). Can grow taller w/o fire. Important for wildlife including black bears and diamondback rattlesnakes. Especially important for pollinators. Medicinally valuable especially for prostate issues. Used as an ornamental.

Tolerances: high drought, moderate flood, shade, salt, fire.

Asimina angustifolia

Family: Annonaceae
Common name: slimleaf pawpaw
Native range: North central FL, GA, some parts of South Carolina, flatwoods, some hammocks, prefer open areas
Size: Small woody shrub up to 4-5ft tall
Persistence: late deciduous
Bark: thin, tan
Leaf: linear leaf shape w an entire margin. dark on top, lighter on bottom.
Flower: bell shaped whitish yellow flower
Fruit: large "berries" tasting of tart banana pudding
Tolerance: moderately fire tolerant, low flood tolerance
Other: highly sought after by wildlife and humans.

Ilex glabra

Family: Aquafoliaceae (holly)

Common: gallberry or inkberry

Plant size: shrub up to 6 ft

Persistence: evergreen

Twigs: green of season, very finely pubescent, older twigs glabrous, grayish brown, round lenticels with vertical slits

Leaf: simple, alternate, elliptic to ovate, powdery-pubescent petioles, blades leathery glabrous, dark green upper, pale dull green lower, crenation near leaf apex. Glands near base.

Flowers: functionally staminate and pistillate flowers, corolla 5-8 lobed

Fruit: Drupe black

Uses: #1 deer food, galberry honey, used to produce ink long ago

Tolerance: mod shade, mod salt, highly flammable, high flood, low drought

Other: dioecious

Lyonia lucida

Family: Ericaceae (heath)

Common: fetterbush

Plant size: shrub up to 8 ft, 4m

Persistence: evergreen shrub

Range: SE US

Habitat: wet sites, swamps, floodplains

Bark: reddish, shreddy/peely

Twigs: young twigs strongly angled (crowns as broad as height of the plant), green flecked with dark, loose narrow scales, pseudo terminal bud (zig zag)

Leaf: simple, alternate, elliptic, cuneate bases, short-acuminate apices, leathery, glabrous, dark glossy green above, somewhat paler beneath, minute punctate dots distributed among leaves, raised intramarginal ridge (vein). Translucent margin. No glands, just glabrous

Flowers: showy and handsome when in flower, fascicle of cylindrical (bell-shaped) flowers.

Fruit: woody capsule, ovoid in shape, strongly thickened sutures, amber brown

Uses: poisonous to livestock

Tolerance: shade tol moderate, no salt, sucker sprouts following fire, flood tolerant

***OTHER: similar in growth form to gallberry but the stem is not round

Gaylussacia dumosa

Family: Ericaceae
Common: dwarf huckleberry
Persistence: deciduous
Spreads by rhizome
Range: Up to Newfoundland down to FL (Eastern NA)
Size: Small, smaller than G. formosa
Leaves: Oval, thick, leathery. Bases strongly cuneate. Apex rounded or acute. Can have sharp mucrow (leaf tips). Glandular leaves (gold glands).
Fruit: lil drupe
~Important for wildlife

Gaylussacia frondosa

Family: Ericaceae

Common: dangleberry

Range: Native to Eastern NA. North FL up to the Northeast.

Habitat: Flatwoods, rocky outcroppings up North.

Plant size: shrub to 2m tall

Persistence: deciduous

Twigs: young often glabrous or short pubescent

Leaf: simple, alternate, elliptic or oblanceolate, cuneate base, rounded to obtuse apex, entire margins, glabrous upper, glaucous and gold glands under. Prominent veins. Rubs off gold (gays love gold).

Flowers: Racemes loosely 5-12 flowered. Corolla greenish white, dull and inconspicuous, tube cuplike, small lobes. Bell shaped flower.

Fruit: glaucous-blue/black drupe. Sweet and delicious.

Tolerance: moderate fire and shade, some salt tolerance.

Vaccinium stamineum

Family: Ericaceae (heath)

Common: deerberry

Range: Missouri to Texas to FL.

Habitat: well-drained places, upland mixed, pine flatwoods, hammocks.

Size: Shrub to about waist high. Up to 4ft tall. Small, woody shrub.

Persistence: deciduous

Bark: flakey texture, brownish grey scaley

Leaf: simple, alternate, elliptic to oblong, leathery, acute to rounded basally, apices acute to short-acuminate with occasional small mucros, glaucous pale lower (patchy, waxy underside), papery, entire margins

Flowers: little, non-showy white

Fruits: mostly a little broader than long, oblate to globose, juicy, somewhat bitter and sourish

Tolerance: mod. shade, no salt, resprouts following fire, no flood, mod. drought

Vaccinium myrsinites

Family: Ericaceae (heath)

Common: shiny blueberry

Size: low lying, branching shrub. forms colonies from rhizomes. Up to 3ft tall.

Persistence: evergreen

Habitat: coastal plains, flatwoods, drier sites among flats

Bark: herbaceous (green stem), young twigs glabrous or shortly pubescent
Leaf: simple, alternate, sessile, glossy smooth green, oblanceolate or elliptic, slightly crenate margins, consistently formed. thick and leathery.

Flowers: Urceolate (bell-shaped), 2-8 in axillary fascicles

Fruit: Drupes (flavored sand), blue-black

Uses: ground birds

Tolerance: Fire tolerance due to underground roots and high tolerance for drought.

Pinus elliottii

Family: Pinaceae
C: slash pine, variety elliottii
Range: Coastal S Carolina to FL keys to Eastern Louisiana
Persistence: Evergreen, gymnosperm
Habitat: Found in wet flatwoods. Well drained. Sometimes around lakes and streams. Not usually in scrubs or hammocks.
Bark: reddish, grayish, brown peely plates. Exfoliates.
Needles: clusters of 2s and 3s. 8 to 10in long needles. Only keeps cones one year then drops so it has a more rounded crown.
Cones: Less sharp than others. Orangeish-brown. ~Valued by wildlife and timber: pulp, turpentine, primary commercial pine
Mature trees are very fire tolerant. Can tolerate moderate drought and flood. Low salt.

Pinus palustris

Family: Pinaceae (pine)

Common: longleaf

Range: SE Virginia to Central FL to East Texas

Plant size: 80-100 ft, up to 500 yrs

Persistence: evergreen

Habitat: occurring on sandy ridges and hills with wiregrass/scrub oaks, also in seasonally wet flatwoods or savannas where oaks are absent

Bark: greyish brown, for the first several years stem of the seedling elongates very little (grass stage)

Leaf: needles 3 per fascicle, 15-30 cm long length of needles follows length of cones, really thick bud (fire adaptation)

Uses: Slower to grow, high quality timber
***NOTE: thickness of branches, BIG CONES, 3 per fascicle key to I.D.

Toxicodendron radicans

Family: Anacardiaceae (sumac/cashew)
Common: poison-ivy
Range: Native throughout eastern North America, west to Texas, up to Canada
Habitat: essentially ubiquitous in terrestrial, moist to wet, open and wooded
Persistence: Deciduous
Size: a trailing, low shrub or climbing (aerial roots)
Twigs: young twigs ashy or rusty pubescent, previous season twigs glabrous, leaf scars crescent-shaped, buds densely pubescent. When climbing, the twigs are covered in aerial rootlets as they attach to the tree.
Leaf: tri-foliately compound, petiolate, slender petioles, leaflets of 3, lateral pair sessile and mitten shaped while the terminal leaf stalked and equilateral, rounded basally, acute to acuminate apically
Fruit: single seeded, translucent drupe eaten by birds and mammals
~can cause rash or irritation in humans

Smilax spp.

Family: Smilacaceae
Common name: greenbrier, sarsaparilla, catbrier
Persistence: Evergreen to semi-evergreen
Leaves: simple, alternate, typically have 3 or 5 major veins from base to apex.
Flowers: Small clustered green, yellow, or brown
Fruit: small berry, 5-10mm in diameter. Each fruit contains 1-4 reddish seeds.

Sassafras albidum

Family: Lauraceae, Laurel fam
Common name: Sassafras
Native range: Found from Central FL, East Texas, Michigan, North Eastern US
Height: Up to 80-90ft tall, larger in northern parts of the range, small in FL.
Growth habit: Thickets, colonies, rhizomatous roots
Leaf persistence: Deciduous
~new growth: very green twigs
Bark: Scattered lenticels, has a cinnamon/orange bark as it ages and thick ridges.
Leaves: simple, alternate. Variably lobed. Lobed & unlobed. Polymorphic. Three leaf shapes: simple lobed, unlobed or ovate. Dark green glabrous on top, a little pubescence underneath.
Margin: Entire
~Turns autumn colors
Flower: cluster, yellowish green
Fruit: drupe (like mini avocado) dark purple with red stem
*Laurel wilt
Tolerances: early successional (open & disturbed). Well-drained soils preferred. Seeds spread by birds. High drought tolerance, sprouts back after fire. Moderate salt tolerance.

Quercus virginiana

Family: Fagaceae
Common name: live oak
Type of oak: White
Native range: VA, FL, West to Texas. Coastal Plain. Habitat: Hammocks. Wet to Dry.
Height: Long lived 300-500 yrs.
Leaf persistence: Evergreen
Bark: Dark, deeply furrowed thick bark.
Leaves: Simple, alternate. Elliptic->ovate. Some lobing when young. Dark green shiny above, grayish color underneath. Appressed (hairs on underside of leaf) entire revolute margin.
Flowers: Catkins, diff female/male flowers
~cluster of terminal buds
Fruits: acorns
Timber: worthless now bc too hard and dense. U.S. Navy live oak plantations.
Very sought after for horticulture.
Tolerances: Intermediate shade, moderate flood, drought, salt.

Red oaks

No tylosis, used for barrels. Acorns~ 2yrs to maturity. Higher tannin concentration; more regular production of fruits, fats & carbs, sharp mucros, darker bark that is thinner and tight to the tree. Scrub jay prefer red oaks bc of tannins.

White oaks

Executes tylosis (clogged vascular tissue, holds water). Acorns mature in 1 yr. Less tannic, sweeter acorns. Eaten more readily by wildlife. Has masting years and low production years. High carb acorns. Lobed or rounded apices. Lighter colored bark that is more shreddy/platy. Denser, more expensive wood. Rot resistant. Closes its wounds.

Vitis aestivalis

Family: Vitaceae
C: summer grape
Native Range: Native eastern US
Habitat: well-drained sites, dunes to fields and forests.
Leaf persistence: Deciduous
Twigs: Weedy vine with branched tendrils (biforcated "Y" shaped)
Height: Can get up to 80ft
Bark: dark brown shreddy bark like a cat scratched it. Reddish brown.
Leaf: simple, alternate, variously lobed, 3-7 lobes, serrated margin, dark dull green above, glaucous below with pubescence. Has a "broken glass" type veining pattern.
Flowers: yellow-green
Fruit: berry, dark purple.
Tol: mod drought, mod shade, low flood, mod salt, low fire.

Quercus falcata

C: Southern Red Oak
Family: Fagaceae
Native: SE US
Height: 120 ft tall
~Can be 150-200 yrs old
Habitat: Mostly upland areas with well-drained soils.
Bark: Thick, furrowed, grayish-brown.
Leaves: variable lobing (sickle-shaped). base- rounded, bell-shape. Dark green upper surface, golden-brown pubescence. Pinnate venation.
~multiple terminal buds.
Fruits: small, hemispherical acorns.
Wildlife love <333
Tol: moderately shade intolerant, intolerant of salt and flood.

Quercus geminata

sand live oak
Fagaceae
WHITE OAK
Native range: SE Coastal Plain, West to Louisiana & Alabama.
Habitat: Scrub, sandy soils, sandhills, coastal areas. Well-drained. High and dry.
Height: Small tree up to 40 ft tall
Twigs: Umbrella crown (drooping) with decumbent branches.
Bark: Fissured bark up to crown and branches.
Leaves: Simple, alternate, cuneate base with revolute margins ("makes a boat, sand live oak"). Can have sharp mucro. Pubescent (fuzzy) underside. Has drought prone features.
Acorns: in pairs (geminata), elongated. Black at maturity.
Uses: Valued by wildlife.
~Forms thickets/colonies.
Tol: high drought, mod salt, low flood, mod fire, low shade
KEY FEATURES: hairs on underside, revolute margin, impressed veins

Quercus hemisphaerica

"sand" laurel oak
Fagaceae
RED OAK
Native range: SE US
Habitat: Most everywhere except extremes. Weedy & prolific tree colonizer.
Lifespan: short-lived only 100-120yrs naturally, shorter in urban sites. Susceptible to decay.
Leaf persistence: Tardily deciduous (here it will keep it leaves until new leaves, north of here loses leaves)
Bark: tight, dark grey when young, fissures shallowly as it ages
Leaves: simple, alternate, shallow lobes, juvy leaves have mucro tip, as trees mature they produce fewer lobes, narrowly elliptic, almost no lobing in mature growth, darker on top, lighter bottom, margin entire, flat leaf. Glabrous.
Fruit: Produces small, hemispherical acorns that turn dark brown when mature
Uses: sometimes used as pulp and biomass.
Tol: mod shade but grows slow in understory, mod drought, low flood, low fire, low salt. Mature trees more resistant to fire.

Quercus laevis

turkey oak
Fagaceae
RED OAK
Habitat: North to Eastern NC, South to Central FL, West to Eastern Louisiana
Habitat: Dry, upland sandy areas in Coastal Plain.
Height: Up tp 50-60ft tall
Deciduous
Relatively slow growing, short lived.
Bark: Blocky, tight, fissured bark almost black (really stand out in winter), tend to be sparsely branched
Leaf: simple alternate, 5-7 lobes with mucro tip, glossy glabrous green on both sides, short petiole, kinda twisted no pubescence, cuneate (v shaped) base.
Acorn: bigger than other red oaks.
Uses: Loved by wildlife, wood for BBQ, not much for timber.
Tol: high drought, high fire, low shade and salt and flood

Quercus nigra

water oak
Fagaceae
RED OAK
Native range: TX, OK, South to Central FL
Habitat: Where fires lack.
Life span: Short-lived
Up to 125ft tall
Persistence: tardily deciduous
Bark: Tight, smooth, blackish/greyish
Leaves: lobed when juvenile. Spatulate shaped w/ mucronate tip when mature. Pinnately veined with "hairy armpits" (pubescence in axils of veins).
Acorns: squatty, 1/2in x 1/2 in
Uses: firewood, flooring, pulp wood.
Tol: mod shade, low fire, low-mod drought, low flood and salt

Quercus michauxii

swamp chestnut oak
Fagaceae
WHITE OAK
Native: E TExas, down to Central FL
Habitat: Mesic hardwoods, moist, well-drained rich soils. Likes the organic layer.
Persistence: large, deciduous tree
Bark: Light, grayish in color. Thin, peely, exfoliating bark.
Leaves: LARGE, Simple, alternate, obovate, dentate margin, veins end in teeth; lower surface has a pale, silvery pubescence, almost looks glaucous but not
Acorns: BIG 1 1/2in, bowl shaped cup for a cap.
Uses: GOOD food source. Highly valued timber. Basket weaving.
Tol: low-mod shade, low drought, low-mod flood, low fire

Quercus laurifolia

swamp laurel oak
Fagaceae
RED OAK
Native range: VA, TX, FL, Coastal Plain
Habitat: Coastal/lowland areas.
Life span: longer lived, fast growing, gets big.
Persistence: tardily deciduous
Bark: sometimes buttressed
Leaves: simple, alternate, diamond shape (rhombic) with ripple along edge makes it looks like bacon, juvy leaves super ripple. Highly variable leaf shape. Dark green with axil hairs on underside (not as distinct as Q. nigra).
Acorn: saucer shaped cup.
Uses: Used for timber bc it's big and sturdy.
Tol: some flood, low drought low fire low salt low to mod shade

Gelsemium sempervirens

Carolina Jessamine
Loganiaceae
Native range: SE US
Habitat: well drained soils, pinewoods, hammocks
Size: not HUGE but can climb high.
~twining or trailing woody vine with no tendrils.
Persistence: evergreen
Leaf: PAIRED simple, opp, lanceolate-> ovate->elliptic shape, glabrous and dark green. Entire margin.
Flowers: yellow tubular
Uses: mostly toxic but can be used medicinally, attractive to pollinators.
Tol: mod shade, low everything else, maybe mod drought

Rhapidophyllum hystrix

needle palm
Arecaceae
Native range: native to FL, GA, Carolinas, Mississippi
Habitat: river bluffs, flood plains, ravine slopes. Hydric -> mesic sites. Often found in sandy soils.
Persistence: Evergreen
~Slow growing monocot.
Height: typically 1 ft, can grow up to 5ft.
No trunk. Base composed of old leaves and fibers.
Leaves: Simple palmate. 16-20 segments per leaf. 3-4 teeth on apex of each segment, giving it a jagged appearance. Base is truncate. Parallel venation. Upper surface is dark green and glabrous. Lower surface is silvery green and pubescent. Petiole is smooth and unarmed.
Fruit: brown to reddish purple
Used in horticulture.
Tol: low drought, some cold

Parthenocissus quinquefolia

Virginia creeper
Vitaceae
Native range: Most of E NA E of Rockies
Woody, climbing or trailing vine
Persistence: Deciduous, turns red in fall.
Stem: thin bark when young, thicker browner when mature w/ aerial rootlets
Leaves: Palmately compound. 5 leaflets. Vary in size. Alternate. Serrate to dentate margins.
Flower: reddish
Fruit: Berry, purple in color
Key: palmately compound leaves with alternate arrangement maybe trailing maybe climbing. Tendrils!
Tol: high drought tolerance, low flood tolerance, cannot tolerate fires
Uses: No edible fruits (for humans)

Aristida beyrichiana

common: wiregrass

family: Poaceae

Range: NC, FL, MS, Coastal Plain

Habitat: Sandhills, well-drained sites

Persistence: Perennial

Leaves: simple, linear, thin, wire-like

Seeds/fruit: spike-like seed-head with awns (seeds)

Tolerances: low shade and salt, high fire and drought, mod flood

Other: They typically grow tall and flop over which promotes fire.

Andropogon sp.

common: broomsedge, bluestem

family: Poaceae

Range: native throughout SE US

Habitat: Xeric --> hydric

Persistence: perennial

Leaves: (monocot) simple, folded leaves

Seeds/Fruits/Flowers: Flowering raceme, branched, airborne seeds

Other: Low forage value, NOT a sedge (despite misleading common name), carries fire, burns hot, can fall over fire-line, not the greatest fuel. Easily reproduces.

Cnidoscolus urens

Family: Euphorbiaceae

Common: stinging nettle

Range: Native

Habitat: Sandhill

Bark: Herbaceous

Persistence:
Perennial

Leaves: Simple & alternate, lobed, upper is dark green with stiff hairs

Other: If touched can cause a stinging sensation

Chamaecrista fasciculata

common: partridge pea

family: Fabaceae

Range: Great Plains --> East

Habitat: Upland, drier sites, disturbed areas, well-drained

Bark: Herbaceous

Persistence: Annual

Leaves: Pinnately compound with 10-16 leaflets. Alternate, entire margin (of leaflets).

Flowers/fruit: yellow, showy flowers that produce legumes (flattened seedpods)

Tolerances: mod shade and salt, low flood, high drought

Other: pollinator plant, nitrogen fixer, browsed, used as a native ornamental and as erosion control. Doesn't sprout after fire, but seeds often remain in seedbank.

Eupatorium sp.

Family: Asteraceae

Common: Dog-fennel

Range: Native

Habitat: Sandhill

Bark: Herbaceous stem

Persistence: Perennial

Leaves: Simple & alternate

Other: When crushed strong fennel herb smell can be smelled, also is sticky after being crushed

Elephantopus sp.

Family: Asteraceae

Common: elephant foot

Range: Native

Habitat: Sandhill

Bark: Herbaceous


Leaves: Simple & basal rosettes, often have pubescence

Hypericum sp.

Common: St. John's Wort

Angiosperm & Dicot

Family: Clusiaceae

Range: Throughout NA

Habitat: Xeric to mesic, well-drained, flatwoods, sandhills, scrubs

Bark: Can be woody or herbaceous.

Persistence: Perennial (mostly), some annuals. Some evergreen and some deciduous.

Leaves: Simple, opposite leaves. Sometimes leafy stipules at each node. Small, elliptic, entire.

Flowers: 4-5 petaled yellow flowers.

Fruits: Capsules.

Other: Don't want around livestock because it increases photosensitivity. Sunburned sheep. Used as an ornamental. Medicinal.

Tolerances: mod shade, prefers well-drained soils, mod fire tolerance.

Licania michauxii

Family: Chrysobalanaceae

Common: gopher apple

Range:

Habitat:

Bark:

Persistence:

Leaves:

Other:

Morella cerifera

Common: wax myrtle

Family: Myricaceae

Paspalum notatum

Family: Poaceae

Common: beahiagrass

Range: Non-native

Habitat: Variety of places

Bark: Grass stem

Leaves: Simple & alternate at nodes

Other: purple color at base of plant

Pityopsis graminifolia

Common: silkgrass

Family: Asteraceae

Quercus incana

Family: Fagaceae

Common: bluejack oak

Range: Native

Habitat: Mesic sites

Bark: Blocky

Persistence: Deciduous

Leaves: Simple & alternate, glabrous upper, glaucous (blueish grey) under, entire margins, elliptical-lanceolet shaped

Other: May or may not have mucronate tips

Rubus sp.

Family: Rosaceae

Common: blackberry

Range: Native

Habitat: Hydric to mesic sites

Bark: Herbaceous with thorns

Persistence: Perennial

Leaves: Palmately compound & alternate, serrated margins

Solidago sp.

Common: goldenrod

Family: Asteraceae