Ohio Buckeye- Aesculus glabra

   The Ohio Buckeye- Aesculus glabra - is a medium sized rounded crown Deciduous tree. Growing to only 20-40 feet tall at maturity, it has a moderate growth rate.  It is the most widespread of all of the Buckeyes in North America. Its range is on mostly mesophotic sites through Western Pennsylvania, Ohio, Southern Michigan on West to Illinois and Central Iowa, extending South to Kansas, Oklahoma, and Central Texas, East into portions of Arkansas, Tennessee, and Alabama. This tree thrives best in moist locations and is most frequently found along river bottoms and in streambank soils.  It has been planted frequently outside of its native range in Europe and the Eastern United States.  Different from the other Buckeyes because of two main features, first the leaflets have barely any visible stalk and second the husk of the fruit has short spines.  The Ohio Buckeye is sometimes referred to as the American Buckeye, Fetid buckeye, and Stinking Buckeye, the last because of the foul odor emitted when the leaves are crushed.

Image Citations (Photos 1, 2, & 3): T. Davis Sydnor, The Ohio State University, Bugwood.org 

Ohio Buckeye is polygama-monoecious, meaning it bears both bisexual and male flowers. The leaves are made up of unevenly toothed leaflets that all grow from the same point on the stem, they are green during the growing season and turn an almost grey when shifting finally to yellow in the Fall.  The flowers are a yellow green with prominent stamens growing as upright spikes. The bark is dark grey with shallow but coarse fissures leading into square scaly plates. It flowers in the Spring and fruits from summer to fall.  This tree also produces small, shiny, dark brown nuts with a lighter tan patch

"Buckeyes" has been the official Ohio State nickname since 1950, but it had been in common use for many years before.  According to folklore, the Buckeye resembles the eye of a deer and carrying one brings good luck.

Recommended for Hardiness Zones 3-7, Buckeyes are found in larger nurseries within their growth range. 

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Seven Sisters Oak - Mandeville, Louisiana

   At somewhere around 1500 years old, The Seven Sisters Oak is not only a Louisiana state champion but a National Champion Live Oak as well.  This tree is the largest Live Oak in the Country, with a circumference of 467 inches, a height of 68 feet and a very large crown spread spanning over 139 feet.  This tree is the only recorded champion with a crown spread that is nearly double the height of the tree itself.  It has held the title of National Live Oak Champion for over 30 years.

Image Citation: Chuck Cook, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune archive

Contrary to many beliefs the tree was not named for the Seven main trunk sections of the trees but by a former owner, who was one of Seven Sisters.  This tree is registered with The Live Oak Society, who's members are only Live Oak Trees.  Since 1968, The Historic Seven Sisters Oak has remained the President of this unique society, becoming president when the Society's first President The Locke Breaux Live Oak died.

Image Citation: www.AmericanForests.org

Located in Mandeville, Louisiana, the tree resides in the front yard of a private residence, but still draws many visitors.  It is located in the quiet historic neighborhood of Lewisburg, just North of Lake Pontchartrain.  Because of it's sheer size it is said to be not well represented in photographs as the sheer size is hard to judge from one single angle.  This one surely calls for an in person visit next time you are in Louisiana!

Learn More About this and Other "Big Tree Champions" at:

https://www.americanforests.org/our-programs/bigtree/

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Araucaria (Monkey Puzzle, Cook Pine, Norfolk Island Pine and Bunya Pine)

 The Araucaria (Araucarias) is a genus of trees mostly native to the Southern Hemisphere and including only 19 species. Four of these species have become popular ornamental plantings here in the United States (mostly in warm Southern portions of the Eastern Seaboard, and along the Atlantic and Gulf coastal plains). The four species that are found here in the US are Monkey Puzzle - Araucaria araucana (Molina), Cook Pine - Araucaria columnaris, Norfolk Island Pine - Araucaria heterophylla and Bunya Pine - Araucaria bidwillii. The Araucaria is one of three genera that make up the larger Araucariaceae family.

Bunya Pine  -  Image Citation: Dennis Haugen, Bugwood.org

Norfolk Island Pine - Thomas Smiley, Bartlett Tree Experts, Bugwood.org

All of the trees making up the Araucaria genus are tall evergreens with single straight trunks covered in rough dark gray-brown bark that is horizontally ridged. The trunks are generally covered in uniform whorls of branches that emerge at almost perfect right angles. The branches are covered in very dense or tight triangular or needle shaped evergreen leaves. The evergreen leaves are multi-veined and arranged spirally on each twig, branch and sometimes even on the trunk itself. Pollen Cones are large, one of the largest of any conifer. Seed Cones are dense and heavy, quickly disintegrating before or soon after falling. The inner seeds from the seed cone are considered a tasty treat to many varieties of native wildlife.

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Black Oak - Quercus velutina

   The Black Oak - Quercus velutina - is also known as the Eastern Black Oak. It was sometime/ formerly called the Yellow Oak, because of the yellow pigment in it's inner bark. It is native to the Eastern and Central United States and is found in every East Coast state from Southern Maine to the Northern panhandle of Florida. It is found as far inland as Ontario, Minnesota, Nebraska, Oklahoma and even Eastern Texas. It is similar in appearance and often confused with the Northern Red Oak, Scarlet Oak and Southern Red Oak. Black Oak is known to hybridize with other members of the Red Oak group, and is a known parent in at least a dozen different named hybrids found today.

The leaves are simple, alternate, ovate and 4-10 inches long with 5-7 bristle tipped lobes on each one. They are a shiny green in color on the top during the growing season which shifts to a Yellow-Copper color in the Fall.

The Black Oak is monecious, the male flowers are borne on slender yellow to green catkins, while the females are reddish green and borne on short spikes in leaf axils that appear in spring with the leaves.

Image Citation: Rob Routledge, Sault College, Bugwood.org

The fruit, in the form of acorns that are 1/2 to 3/4 inch long, 1/3 to 1/2 of the Acorn is enclosed in a bowl-shaped cap. The cap scales on each Acorn are light brown and fuzzy. The Acorns mature every two years and appear in late summer into early fall. These Acorns are eaten by Wild Turkey, Whitetail Deer, Grouse and other small woodland mammals.

The bark is gray and smooth when young, becoming thick, very rough, almost black in sections and deeply furrowed. The inner bark is yellow-orange and very bitter tasting.

The Black Oak is not very common in the nursery trade because it can be difficult to transplant. When full grown the Black Oak can reach heights of 135 feet in ideal locations, however the average height is only 60-80 feet tall in most areas. The current Co-National Champion trees are found in Michigan (131 feet) and Connecticut (84 feet). Black Oaks have very prominent tap roots that ensures this species' survival under even poor growth conditions. It is recommended for hardiness zones 6-9. The Black Oak can be harmed by quite a few outside agents including Gypsy Moths, Oak Leaf Caterpillar, Oak Wilt, and Shoestring Root Rot to name a few.

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China Fir - Cunninghamia lanceolata

   China Fir - Cunninghamia lanceolata, is most easily identified by the long, stiff, sharply pointed leaves and oval cones of leather like sharply pointed bracts near twig tips.  The China Fir was introduced to the United States and is considered a distinct ornamental.  Native to Southeast Asia.  In China the China Fir is considered to be an important timber tree and is referred to as the China Fir, even though it is a member of the cypress family.  It is fast growing and highly resistant to pests and diseases. It is widely used for landscaping and has medicinal uses.

The China Fir is a Monoecious evergreen tree that can reach heights of 90 ft tall with and irregular cylindrical crown. The leaves are needle like deep green, stiff, straight or slightly curved 3-6 cm and spirally inserted on each twig.  It is in leaf all year, in flower from January to May, and the seeds ripen from August to September annually.  The twigs are covered by dead leaves behind 2 or 3 years of living leaf growth. The cones are ovoid, reddish brown at maturity, 1 1/2 - 4 1/2 cm and made up of glossy, leathery, sharply pointed bracts, occurring at twig tips in groups of 1-4.  The bark is dark gray to reddish brown in color and fissured to expose the aromatic inner bark.  Plant has spines or sharp edges; use extreme caution when handling.

 

Image Citations (Photos 1, 2, & 3) : John Ruter, University of Georgia, Bugwood.org

China Fir has many uses outside of just being planted as an ornamental specimen.  The bark is a source of tannins and the branches produce an essential oil that is used in the perfume industry. The creamy yellow to white, fragrant wood is uniform in textured, straight-grained, lightweight and durable, though it will rot if it is continually wet. It is easily worked, sometimes turned and resistant to insect and termite damage. It is also used in construction such as ship building (mainly throughout Asia where it is harvested for lumber) where great strength is required. A good quality fuel and a charcoal can also be made from the wood.

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White Mulberry - Morus alba

   The White Mulberry - Morus alba - is a small to medium size tree native to China.  It is recorded to have been widely cultivated in China for over four thousand years to provide feed stock for silkworms. It has been cultivated for Silkworm raising and fruit so much so, that it is hard to determine where the original natural range lines begin/end.  Its leaves are also used as feedstock for livestock in areas where the climate does not allow for adequate ground covers.  It has been naturalized throughout most of the warmer temperate regions of the world including North America, India, and Southern Europe.  In some areas of the United States, it is included on the invasive species list as its ability to hybridize with the native Red Mulberry causes concern for the future of the Red Mulberry species.  If not properly managed this plant has a habit of becoming weedy and invasive, even displacing more desirable vegetation. It is found in hardiness zones 4-9 in North America.  

Image Citation: Stihl Encyclopedia of Trees - R.SPohn

Mulberry fruits are unique because each apparent fruit is actually made up of a cluster of fruits and the fleshy swollen part is the swollen calyx. The fruit is 1–2 1/2 cm long on average.  When found growing wild the fruit is a deep purple, but in many cultivated plants it varies from white to pink. The flavor is sweet but bland, unlike the more intense flavor of the red and black mulberry fruit. The fruit is enjoyed by many wild birds, hogs and poultry.  Seeds are often spread by birds consuming the fruit.  The flowers are single-sex catkins, male and female flowers are usually on separate trees although they may occur on the same tree but usually not connected to one another. The pollen of the White Mulberry has an extremely rapid release, moving at twice the speed of sound.

When young the leaves on the White Mulberry can reach up to 12 inches long, while a more mature tree may only have leaves that are 2-6 inches long.  The leaves are very interestingly shaped and can have as many as five different shaped leaves on one tree.  The leaf shapes vary from a simple ovate to a more intricately lobed version.  During the growing season they are a bright green color changing to a pale to bright yellow in the fall.  In very warm climates the tree may act as an evergreen retaining leaves year-round.  At maturity the White Mulberry reaches an average height of 30-65 feet.

The White Mulberry is said to have some medicinal qualities and has been used throughout history for various ailments.  When taken internally the leaves are said to treat sore throats, eye infections, nose bleeds and the common cold.  The stems have been used in the treatment of rheumatic conditions, high blood pressure and spasms.  The fruit when eaten is said to to help ease dizziness, diabetes and constipation.  The root bark has been used in Asian cultures as a traditional medicine and antibacterial combatant against the micro-organisms that cause food poisoning.

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Asian Longhorned Beetle - Anoplophora glabripennis (ALB)

 The Asian Longhorned Beetle - Anoplophora glabripennis (ALB) is a serious pest from China, it has made it's way to the United States and has been observed attacking our trees. This beetle's larvae tunnels into trees, causes girdling of stems and roots, repeated attacks can lead to die back usually beginning with the crown of the tree and eventually the entire tree. It is thought that the Asian Longhorned Beetle traveled to the United States inside solid wood type packaging material from China, it has been intercepted at various ports through the country. Within the United States it appears that this beetle prefers trees in the Maple species (Acer), such as Red, Norway, Silver and Sugar Maples and Box Elders. They have also been found on Birches, Buckeyes, Horse chestnut, Willows and Elms.

Photo Citation (Infestation/Tree Damage) Dennis Haugen, USDA Forest Service, Bugwood.org

The ALB are unique in appearance and quite easy to spot. Adults have a deep black bodies with white spots on the back. They are 3/4 - 1 1/4 inches long and have very long antennae that are usually 1 1/2 - 2 1/2 times the actual length of their bodies. The antennae are clearly marked by white bands or stripes on each segment. The egg laying sites within a trees bark is generally oval or round and are chewed out by the female beetle before she deposits a single egg into each. Some trees- Maples most notably, will ooze sap from the egg laying sites as the larvae feed inside during the summer months. Around the base of infested trees there will be an accumulation of coarse sawdust usually found at the point where the branches meet the trunk, this sawdust is caused from the larvae boring into the tree, stems and branches. When the adult ALB finally exits the tree it leaves a large round hole that is about 3/8 of an inch in diameter on branches or trunks. ALB only have one generation per year and adult beetles are usually only found from July - October. A female can only lay 35- 90 eggs in her entire lifetime and eggs can hatch in 10-15 days. The larvae will live under the bark and continue to feed within the tissues of the tree, they then bore deep into the tree to pupate. The adults emerge from pupation sites by boring tunnels in the wood and creating round exit holes.

Photo Citation (Adult ALB) Peggy Greb, USDA Agricultural Research Service, Bugwood.org

Currently in the United States the only way to eliminate the pest is to remove infested trees and destroy them by chipping or burning of the material. There are many quarantines in effect around the country to help prevent further spread of the insect (and other insects). As with most pests early detection is the best defense allowing for rapid treatment/removal, this is the only way the pest can be truly eradicated from an area.

If you suspect that the Asian Longhorned Beetle is in your area it is asked that you collect an adult beetle in a jar and immediately notify officials in your area. You can contact your State Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, State Forester, Department of Natural Resources, or State Entomologist. You can also call toll free to 1(866)-702-9938 . To learn more about the ALB you can visit: www.na.fs.fed.us/fhp/alb/  or  www.aphis.usda.gov/plant_health/plant_pest_info/asian_lhb/index.shtml

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