Part 3

The LEAVES are simple, alternate, broadly ovate or triangular, pointed, square at the base, and coarsely toothed on the edges, 3 to 5 inches across each way, covered with soft white hairs on the under side, supported by flattened slender petioles, 2 to 3 inches long. The winter buds are covered with chestnut-brown, resinous scales. The male and female FLOWERS are in catkins on separate trees and appear before the leaves. The FRUIT, a capsule, contains a number of seed with white silky hairs which permit the winds to carry the seed for long distances.

The WOOD is soft, light-weight, warps easily upon drying, but is used for many purposes, sometimes as a substitute for yellow poplar and linden.

Three other species of Southern cottonwood occur in western Texas. One species, P. sargentii Dode, which has long pointed leaves, is found in the Panhandle.

BLACK WILLOW Salix nigra Marsh.

Black willow is found along streams throughout the state. It rarely grows taller than 50 feet and is frequently found growing singly or in clumps along the water courses. In winter the easily separable bright reddish-brown or golden, naked twigs are quite conspicuous.

The BARK is deeply divided into broad, flat ridges which separate into thick plate-like scales. On old trees it becomes shaggy. In color it varies from light brown tinged with orange, to nearly black.

The LEAVES are from 3 to 6 inches long, and less than ½ inch wide; the tips are greatly tapered and the entire margin finely toothed. The leaves are bright green on both sides, turning pale yellow in the early autumn.

The FLOWERS are in catkins, the male and female on separate trees.

The FRUIT is a capsule containing numerous minute seeds with long silky hairs which enable them to be blown long distances.

The WOOD is soft, light, and not strong. A high grade of charcoal, used in the manufacture of gunpowder, is obtained from willow wood, and it is the chief wood used in manufacture of artificial limbs.

AMERICAN HORNBEAM (Blue Beech) Carpinus caroliniana Walt.

American hornbeam or blue beech, also known as ironwood and water beech, is a small slow-growing, bushy tree with a spreading top of slender, crooked or drooping branches. It is found along streams and in low ground, usually in the shade of other trees. Its height is usually from 20 to 30 feet and its diameter 4 to 8 inches, although it sometimes grows larger.

The TRUNK is fluted with irregular ridges or “muscles” extending up and down the tree. The BARK is smooth, light brownish-gray to dark bluish-gray in color, sometimes marked with dark bands extending horizontally on the trunk.

The LEAVES are simple, alternate, oval, long-pointed, doubly toothed along the margin, and 1 to 3 inches long. They resemble those of the black or sweet birch, but are smaller.

The FLOWERS are borne in catkins separately on the same tree; the male catkin about 1½ inches long, the female, about ¾ of an inch, with small, leaf-like, three-lobed green scales. The FRUIT is a nutlet about ⅓ inch long. It falls, attached to the leaf-like scale which acts as a wing aiding its distribution by the wind.

The WOOD is tough, close-grained, heavy, and strong. It is sometimes selected for use for levers, tool handles, wooden cogs, mallets, wedges, etc. The tree is of little commercial importance and often occupies space in the woods that should be utilized by more valuable species.

EASTERN HOPHORNBEAM (Ironwood) Ostrya virginiana (Mill.) K. Koch

The tree gets its common names from the qualities of its wood and the hop-like fruit. It is a small, slender, generally round-topped tree, from 20 to 30 feet high and 7 to 10 inches in diameter. The top consists of long slender branches, commonly drooping toward the ends. It is found mostly on rather dry soils throughout the uplands of the eastern part of the state.

The BARK is mostly light, gray-brown, or reddish-brown, and finely divided into thin scales.

The LEAVES are simple, alternate, generally oblong with narrow tips, sharply doubly toothed along the margin, and from 2 to 3 inches long.

The FLOWERS are of two kinds on the same tree; the male, in drooping catkins which form the previous summer, the female, in erect catkins on the newly formed twigs. The FRUIT, which resembles that of the common hop vines, consists of a branch of leafy bracts 1 to 2 inches long containing a number of flattened ribbed nutlets.

The WOOD, strong, hard, durable, light brown to white, with thick, pale sapwood, is often used for handles of tools, mallets, and other small articles.

RIVER BIRCH (Red Birch) Betula nigra L.

This is the only native birch found at low elevations in the South. It occurs in East Texas and, as the name implies, in the deep, rich soils along the borders of streams, ponds, lakes, and swamps.

The BARK provides a ready means of identifying this tree. It varies from reddish-brown to cinnamon-red in color, and peels back in tough papery layers. These layers persist on the trunk, presenting a very ragged and quite distinctive appearance. Unlike the bark of other birches the thin paper layers are usually covered with a gray powder. On older trees, the bark on the main trunk becomes thick, deeply furrowed, and a reddish-brown color.

The LEAVES are simple, alternate, 2 to 3 inches long, more or less oval in shape, with double-toothed edge. The upper surface is dark green and the lower a pale yellowish green.

The FLOWERS are in catkins, the two kinds growing on the same tree. The FRUIT is cone-shaped about one inch long, and densely crowded with little winged nutlets that ripen from May to June.

The WOOD is strong and fairly close-grained. It has been used to some extent in the manufacture of wooden-ware, in turnery, and for wagon hubs. However, this tree is scattered in its distribution and is not of commercial importance.

AMERICAN BEECH Fagus grandifolia Ehrh.

Beech is found in East Texas to the Trinity River on the bottomland of streams and the margins of swamps. It is one of the most beautiful of all trees, in summer or winter.

The simple, alternate, oblong-ovate LEAVES are 3 to 4 inches long, pointed at the tip, and coarsely toothed and hairy along the margin. When mature, they are almost leathery in texture. The beech produces a dense shade. The light brown winter buds are long, slender, and pointed.

The BARK is, perhaps, the most distinctive characteristic, as it maintains an unbroken, light gray surface throughout its life.

The little, brown, three-sided FRUITS or beechnuts are almost as well known as chestnuts. The nuts are in pairs in a prickly involucre. The kernel is sweet and edible. The fallen fruit, known as mast, is a favorite food of wildlife.

The WOOD of the beech is hard, strong, and tough, though it will not last long on exposure to weather or in the soil. The tree is of economic importance as a lumber tree, the wood being used for furniture, flooring, carpenters’ tools, and novelty wares.

ALLEGHENY CHINKAPIN Castanea pumila Mill.

Chinkapins may grow as trees or form shrubby thickets; consequently their identification is at times confusing.

Some taxonomists credit East Texas with one species and a variety. Others list four species. Further study is needed.

C. pumila grows in dry woods, sandy ridges, and on borders of swamps from Florida to East Texas north to Ark., Tenn., Pa., and N. J. It may grow into a small tree 10 to 30 feet high and may reach 50 feet. If burned back by fires, it may send out stolons or sprouts and form dense shrubby growths. BRANCHLETS pubescent, gradually changing to a lustrous olive-green or orange-brown, then darker. The LEAVES are 4 to 6 inches long, 1½ to 2 inches wide, oblong to ovate and acute, the margin coarsely toothed with slender, rigid, spreading or incurved teeth. Base of leaf unequal, either rounded or wedge-shaped. Leaf at first tomentose above and below, later yellow-green above and whitish-downy below. Petiole short, stout, and flattened on the upper side. FRUIT a single brown, ovoid, pointed, plump, sweet, edible nut, ¾ to 1 inch long, encased in a bur covered with erect, crowded spines approximately ¾ inch long. WOOD light, hard, strong, coarse-grained; used for fence posts and railway ties. Of little economic importance because of its relative scarcity. C. pumila is a nut-producing tree of potential commercial importance.

ASHE CHINKAPIN (C. pumila var. ashei Sudw.) is a small tree of dry sandy soils. Leaves are felt-like below. This variety is distinguished by its bur which has scattered, forked, and horizontally divergent bristles. The surface of the bur has smooth areas free of bristles.

A variation of chinkapin with leaves 3 to 4 inches long and lustrous below is frequently described as FLORIDA CHINKAPIN (C. alnifolia var. floridana Sarg.)

SHUMARD OAK (Spotted Oak) Quercus shumardii Buckl.

This species, one of the largest Southern red oaks, was named for Benjamin F. Shumard, an early state geologist of Texas. SHUMARD OAK is found in the eastern part of the state on well-drained alluvial soils and on fertile slopes. It forms a tall, wide-spreading, rather open head. The BARK is dark, rough, divided into ridges, and usually from 1 to 1½ inches thick. It seldom comprises the principal species of any forest stands, but more often occurs as individual trees. It attains a diameter of more than 3 feet and a height of more than 100 feet, but is usually smaller.

Winter BUDS covered with gray, smooth scales, while the buds of Texas oak (page 44) are covered with red, densely pubescent scales.

The LEAVES are deciduous, simple, alternate 6 to 8 inches long by 4 to 5 inches wide; 7-lobed, rarely 5, and each lobe 2 or 3-lobed or deeply toothed. The lobes are frequently thicker than is shown in the drawing. The leaves are smaller and more deeply lobed than those of the black oak. Leaves smooth except for dense tufts of pale hairs at the axils of the veins below.

The FRUIT is a small acorn, about ⅔ inch in diameter and ¾ to 1¼ inches long, set in a shallow saucer-like cup.

The WOOD is heavy, hard, strong, close-grained, and light reddish-brown in color, and commercially important for lumber and cross ties.

The variety shumardii has leaves with narrow lobes, a rougher, dark grayish bark, and deeper cups to the acorns. It is the more common form in Texas.

TEXAS OAK Quercus shumardii var. texana (Buckl.) Ashe

Texas oak is found on the dry limestone hills and ridges, and in the more fertile soils at their base, in Central and western Texas to the Edwards Plateau. It is rarely over 30 feet tall or 10 inches in diameter.

The BARK is light brown, red-tinged, deeply ridged, and broken into plate-like scales.

The LEAVES are deciduous 2½ to 3 inches wide, 3 to 3½ inches long; widest above the middle; divided into 5 to 7 lobes, with the terminal lobe 3-lobed; dark green and shiny above, pale-shiny below; petiole slender, about 1 inch long.

The FRUIT is short-stemmed, usually single, ¼ to ¾ inch long and broad, varying to nearly 1 inch long and ⅓ inch broad, set in a cup that covers one-third or less of the fruit, reddish-brown and often streaked with dark lines.

The WOOD is most useful for fuel.

GRAVES OAK (Q. gravesii Sudw.) is found in the Davis and Chisos Mountains of southwestern Texas.

BLACK OAK Quercus velutina Lam.

Black oak, also called yellow oak, reaches 80 feet in height and 1 to 3 feet in diameter. It grows in East Texas, and in the hills and canyons near the mouth of the Pecos River. The crown is irregularly shaped and wide, with a clear trunk for 20 feet or more on large trees. The BARK on the very young trunks is smooth and dark brown, but soon becomes thick and black with deep furrows and rough broken edges. The bright yellow color and bitter taste of the inner bark are distinguishing characteristics.

The LEAVES are deciduous, alternate, simple, 5 to 10 inches long and 3 to 8 inches wide, shallow or deeply lobed, the shape varying greatly. When mature, the leaves are dark green and shiny on the upper surface, pale on the lower, more or less covered with a scurfy yellow or orange down, and with conspicuous rusty brown hairs in the forks of the veins.

The FRUIT matures the second season. The light brown nut is from ½ to 1 inch long, more or less hemispherical in shape, and from one-half to three-fourths enclosed in the thin, dark brown, scaly cup. The yellow kernel is bitter.

The WOOD, used and marketed as red oak, is hard, heavy, strong, coarse-grained, and checks easily. It is a bright red-brown with a thin outer edge of paler sapwood.

SOUTHERN RED OAK Quercus falcata Michx.

Southern red oak, commonly known as red oak and formerly as Spanish oak, usually reaches a height of 80 feet and diameter of 3 feet, although larger trees are found. It grows on dry hills in the eastern part of the state to the Brazos River, while three varieties are found in richer, more moist locations. Its large spreading branches form a broad, round, open top. The BARK is rough, not deeply furrowed, and varies from light gray on younger trees to dark gray or almost black on older ones.

The LEAVES are deciduous, with pear-shaped or irregular, rounded or narrow bristle-tipped lobes, the central lobe often longest. Variety pagodaefolia Ell., (Cherrybark Oak) has more numerous lobes. All leaves have brown or gray down beneath.

The staminate FLOWERS appear as catkins 3-5 inches long in April while the leaves unfold. The FRUIT ripens the second year. The small, rounded, ½ inch long acorn is set in a thin saucer-shaped cup that tapers to a short stalk.

The WOOD is heavy, hard, strong, coarse-grained, and valuable for lumber. The bark is rich in tannin. The tree is also desirable for shade and ornamental use.

BLACKJACK OAK Quercus marilandica Muenchh.

The occurrence of blackjack oak is said to indicate poor soil since it often occurs on dry or poorly drained, gravelly, clay, or sandy upland soils where few other forest trees thrive. This perhaps accounts chiefly for its slow rate of growth. It is found in those parts of the state that support a natural tree growth, as far west as Callahan County. The tree sometimes reaches a height of 50 or 60 feet and a diameter of 16 inches, but it is usually much smaller. Its hard, stiff, drooping branches form a dense crown which usually contains many persistent dead twigs.

The BARK is rough, very dark, often nearly black, and “blocky”; inner bark bright orange or yellow.

The LEAVES are deciduous, tawny-pubescent, of leathery texture, dark green on the upper surface, lighter underneath, broadly wedge-shaped, and variable in shape, 4 to 10 inches long and about the same in width. The FRUIT is an acorn about ¾ inch long, yellow-brown and often striped, enclosed for half its length or more in a thick, light-brown cup. The acorns mature at the end of the second season; flesh of cotyledons yellow.

The WOOD is heavy, hard and strong. It is used for firewood and is made into charcoal.

WATER OAK Quercus nigra L.

Water oak is native along the borders of swamps and streams and on rich bottomlands in Texas as far west as the Colorado River. It has been widely planted along streets and in parks as a shade tree. When fully grown this tree reaches a height of about 80 feet and a diameter exceeding 1 to 3 feet. The BARK is smooth, light brown tinged with red, and has many smooth, thin scales over the surface. Water oak can be best distinguished from the willow oak—a close associate, but longer-lived—by the differences in the general shape and size of leaves.

The LEAVES are simple, quite variable in shape, mostly oblong, broader near the point, and more narrow at the base, giving a wedge-shaped effect, often slightly three-lobed at the outer end, thin, and of a dull bluish-green color, paler below than above; mostly smooth, and usually 2 or 3 inches long and 1 to 2 inches wide; remain green for some time, then turn yellow and gradually fall from the tree during the winter.

The FLOWERS appear in April when the leaves begin to unfold. The FRUIT, an acorn, matures at the end of the second season. The acorn is from ½ to ⅔ inch long and nearly as broad, light brown or yellowish-brown and often striped, enclosed at the base only in a thin saucer-shaped cup.

The WOOD is heavy, hard, and strong, light brown in color, with lighter-colored sapwood. The wood is utilized chiefly for crossties and fuel.

WILLOW OAK (Pin Oak) Quercus phellos L.

Willow oak, also called water oak, and pin oak, occurs in the eastern part of the state to the Brazos River. It is frequently found in lowlands and along the borders of rivers and swamps, but often also on rich sandy uplands. It is a beautiful and long-lived tree, and desirable for roadsides, lawns and parks.

The BARK is generally smooth and of a reddish-brown color; with age, the bark becomes slightly roughened and divided by narrow ridges.

The slender willow-like LEAVES on a tree whose habit of growth is manifestly that of an oak, make the tree easy to identify in the forest. The deciduous leaves are 2 to 5 inches long and ½ to 1 inch wide, smooth, light green and shiny above, but dull and usually smooth below; alternate in arrangement on the twig and borne on a short stout petiole.

The FRUIT, small acorns, closely set along the stem, matures at the end of the second year. The nut is a light yellow-brown hemisphere, about ½ inch in diameter, its base scarcely enclosed in the shallow, pale greenish-red or reddish-brown cup. The nuts are eaten as food by bluejays, grackles (blackbirds), several other species of birds, and by rodents.

The WOOD is not separated commercially from other species in the red oak group. It is heavy, strong, rather coarse-grained, light brown tinged with red, and not durable when exposed to the weather. It is used locally for crossties, bridge planks, barn sills, and general construction.

BLUEJACK OAK (Sandjack Oak) Quercus incana Bartr.

This species, which grows on dry sand hills, is usually no more than 25 feet in height and 5 or 6 inches in diameter; ranging mainly through East Texas extending as far west as the Brazos River and scattering in Central and Northwest Texas.

The BARK is similar to that of blackjack, being divided into thick nearly square blocks 1 to 2 inches in length and covered with small dark brown or nearly black scales slightly tinged with red.

The LEAVES of this tree are oblong-lanceolate, pale blue-green above, almost white beneath; 2 to 5 inches in length and 1 to l½ inches in width with a stout yellow midrib. The tree is most attractive in early spring when it is covered with the light red flowers and young leaves.

ACORNS are produced in great profusion, sessile, or on a short stock. They are rounded at the ends, striate, and about ½ inch in length, and mature at the end of the second year.

The WOOD is hard, strong, close-grained, light brown, tinged with red. It has a dark colored sapwood. The wood is of no value except for fuel.

There are several hybrids of this species reported in Texas.

EMORY OAK Quercus emoryi Torr.

In the canyons and on the southern slopes of the Davis and Chisos Mountains occurs this interesting oak with glossy, spiny, “holly-like” leaves, and sweet, edible acorns. A small round-topped tree up to 30 or 40 feet in height, the emory oak has drooping branches and slender, decidedly reddish branchlets.

The LEAVES are mostly persistent, oblong, pointed, smooth or sharply toothed along the margin, thick, very glossy green, about 2 inches long and less than 1 inch wide.

The acorn, or FRUIT, is borne close to the branchlet and matures in one season. It is oblong in shape, ½ inch or more in length, with a dark brown or nearly black nut enclosed for about one-third its length in a narrow cup. The latter is lined with dense gray fuzz or “tomentum.”

The WOOD is heavy, strong, somewhat brittle, close-grained, dark brown, with light brown sapwood tinged with red. The acorns are an important article of food for Mexicans and Indians.

MEXICAN BLUE OAK (Q. oblongifolia Torr.), closely resembling emory oak, is a smaller tree and does not occur at the higher elevations (over 6,000 ft.) where emory oak may be found.

GRAY OAK (Quercus grisea Liebm.) occurs in the Trans-Pecos area in Texas. This species is a scrub or small tree 20 to 30 feet high, but sometimes reaching a height of 65 feet.

LIVE OAK Quercus virginiana Mill.

Live oak range extends from southeastern Virginia through the lower Coastal Plain of the Atlantic and Gulf States; in Texas, from the mouth of the Rio Grande north to the Red River and west to the Guadalupe Mountains, also in southern Mexico and Cuba. It is a tree of striking character from its wide-spreading habit; sometimes reaching more than 100 feet in spread; with a short stout trunk, 3 to 4 feet in diameter, dividing in several large limbs with nearly horizontal branches, forming a low, dense, round-topped head. Its height is commonly from 40 to 50 feet. The BARK on the trunk and large branches is dark brown tinged with red, and slightly furrowed. It grows to largest size on the rich hammocks and low ridges near the coast and only a few feet above the water level. Slow-growing and long-lived, it is one of the most desirable trees for roadside and ornamental planting throughout most of its range. It is one of the very few trees that is apparently immune to cotton root-rot.

The LEAVES are simple, persistent, thick, leathery, oblong, smooth above, pale and silvery white beneath; from 2 to 4 inches in length and 1 to 2 inches in breadth.