Index
Oaks
01. Live Oak
02. Southern Red Oak or Spanish Oak
03. Water Oak
04. White Oak
05. Willow Oak
06. Sawtooth Oak
Others
01. Bald Cypress
02. Chinese Tallow
03. Crepe Myrtle
04. Dogwood (Flowering)
05. Loblolly Pine
06. Magnolia
07. Pecan
08. Red Bud
09. Red Mulberry
10. River Birch
11. Sycamore
12. Sweet Gum
13. Texas Persimmon
14. Yaupon
15. Wax Myrtle
16. Winged Elm
17. Seep Willow
The photo here represents a very common tree, the Live Oak. It is green all year. and develops into a very nice tree when exposed to the sun. Great for blocking light, shade and providing privacy all year long.
Some people regard this tree as a nuisance. It's fruit is a thorny little ball that if you go barefoot outside, will create an "ouch" or two. It is known as the Sweetgum and its fruit the "Gumball". It is a natural part of our local forest and does well surrounded by other tall trees. It's top tends to die back when not protected by the other forest trees and without the swampy nature of our forest, but I have not yet resolved the exact nature of it's problem in that respect. The gumballs contain a chemical Shikimic acid that may be useful for fighting Bird Flu in humans. It is one ingredient of Tamiflu®. The pods are also useful for Christmas decorations and bottom fill for potted plants.
Chinese Tallow
is an invasive species and not a natural inhabitant of our forest. It's roots stretch out on the surface and deprives the other forest trees of precious water and soil space. It has pretty fall foliage as exemplified by this early fall color change. It's dried pods can be annoying when walking outside barefooted. The Woodlands Association suggests the removal of these trees from our yards to encourage the natural reforestation processes of our area. The trees will grow quite tall in competition with the other trees of the forest.
Our East Texas forests have two varieties of Persimmon trees, the American and this one which is the Texas Persimmon. The fruit looks tempting to eat and it can be used for food if timed correctly. The birds and squirrels will eat the fruit voraciously. It is what I call a pucker fruit. Taste it prematurely, and it will suck every last drop of water from your mouth or that is, it feels that way! Typically, one will find this tree in forested areas but where it can have sufficient sunlight to prosper.
One of the most beautiful and grand of our native oaks is the White Oak. It produces acorns in abundance and grows to tremendous stature, providing excellent shade in the summer. Our squirrels love this tree! They bury the acorns in the fall and proliferate the tree in abundance.
Winged Elm blooms early in the Spring and soon afterward throws its seeds all over the place. Therefore, it is a rather messy member of our forest when growing in our yard. It proliferates and some people will end up with this tree dominating their yard. It has to be controlled or it will be the entire forest in your yard. It loves to propagate in flower beds. Its large branches are difficult to cut because the bark is tough and and normal long tree limb shears will not cut them easily.
Wax Myrtle
is more of a bush than a tree but it grows very fast is quite useful to build barriers for noise and lights. It does not shed its leaves in the winter. If trimmed to be a tree, it will grow to be a small tree. It can be manicured and shaped and thus the many area flower beds with this native bush.
Yaupon
is a native small tree or bush that fills the forest with underbrush. The Robin migrates through here in the Spring just because we have its berry to help them move further north. It's red berry is considered a Christmas token, giving us a natural clustered native red berry on our doorsteps each year. This bush can be manicured and shaped to produce interesting configurations of green clumps in our yards. There are poodle shapes, ball shapes and even animal shapes produced with this plant. Some people consider this plant invasive. It is not an invasive plant. It does propagate by its roots as well as its fruit, but it is natural here. I encourage residents to use it as nature intended, as a living quarters and protection for small birds and animals, and food for various creatures and birds of the forest. An ancient Indian black tea can be made from its leaves.
Crepe Myrtle
is well known for its ornamental blooms during our hot summer here. It is a native plant and grows profusely in our climate. To keep the blooms concentrated and within easy view, many gardeners cut them way back in the late fall or winter. This encourages new growth at people's height. Otherwise the blooms can be 20 feet high.
Bald Cypress
is not a native tree, but was brought here about 1620 by early settlers. Since then it has taken hold and seems to be a natural member of the forest. It resides on creeks, rivers, lakes and ponds. We see them in yards and on ponds here. Their root structure at the base of their trunk is a means to balance themselves in the swamp. Those roots help protect baby fish. It is a coniferous tree and grows enormous but slowly. Native Indians used to prefer them for dugout canoes. Today its wood is a popular construction material.
Loblolly Pine
is usually the big guy in the forest. Our area was once a timberland, cultivated and harvested for its pine and hardwoods. Grogans Mill was a place for cutting the timber into usable wood for construction. Green Pine Tea from its leaves is known as a survivor tea, for mariners and outdoorsmen. Pine tar has been used for hundreds of years. Check the link for landowners page and see its many uses.
Water Oak is a magnificent fast growing tree when it has plenty of sun, good soil and space. This one is amongst other forest inhabitants and is therefore a slow grower and competes for every ray of sunlight with its neighbors.
Southern Red Oak or Spanish Oak
is an interesting tree to identify by leaf which is not necessarily the same for all parts of the tree. The leaf structure varies and will look somewhat different in the same tree, especially between high places and low places.
Southern Magnolia is such a grand and ornamental tree. The squirrels and birds love to eat the seed pods off this tree. It's very dark leaves makes it a unique resident in our yard.
Willow Oak grows to 80 feet tall with small acorns
Sawtooth Oak
Seeping Willow (Eastern Baccharis), a bush more than a tree but part of the forest
Very common with little white flowers in early summer.
Pecan (species not yet identified)
Single Pecan leaf
Red Mulberry
Redbud - beautiful early Spring tree flowers and full bodied tree
River Birch is easily identified by its unique peeling bark
The rapid growing Sycamore tree has a reputation to hold. It has about the largest leaf in the forest and it tries really hard to be the largest tree! If you have one in your back yard, you know what leaves are! You have mountains of leaves at this time of the year. You also have lots of shade in the summer and the tree may only be 6-7 years old. The balls among the leaves of the tree make it easy to identify.
The Flowering Dogwood is the princess of the East Texas forests. She reigns in the very early Spring and in the height of color in the Fall. In the Spring she is decked out with white flowers. In the fall, she turns a deep red and is a standout in any crowd, especially among evergreens.
8 comments:
Thanks for undertaking this project. I live in Windsor LaKes and there are trees here that puzzle me. Keep up the good work and I'll check your page for any tree identification sites that help you. S.
Much appreciated. Bought wooded acre in Magnolia and need all the help I can get for tree ID.
Thanks,
Ed
So are all of the pine trees around here Loblolly pines? Sometimes I see younger trees that look like they have longer needles than the older trees, so I was wondering if there was another kind of pine.
Good observation. Loblolly's are dominant because that is the variety that has been planted in reforestation projects. It is a hardy and fast growing species, very useful for logging. The true native pines are the Long Leaf Pine which you observed. I have not tried to differentiate between them here in this blog yet. The difference is fairly subtle. I do plan to put the long Leaf into the inventory soon. Residents have been planting them here for at least two years if not more. Years ago we were planting the Loblolly's on Arbor Day. Lately we changed. I now have several Long Leaf Pines in my yard that are 2-3 years old, planted as seedlings on Arbor Day. Thanks for the question.
the tree leaf you id as a willow oak looks more like a sawtooth oak instead. the leaf just above it and identified as unknown is actually the willow oak i believe. please feel free to correct me if i am wrong.
What a good start you have made! Your river birch photo is a grape (probably muscadine.) Your dogwood photos look more like callery pear ( which has alternate rather than leaves.) You may want to check your wax myrtle--leaves should have many tiny yellow dots and be very aromatic. This looks a lot like _Baccharis_ (which is also what one of your unknowns is--the shrub with the white flowers.) You can also double check your water oak--looks more like blackjack.
Best of luck with this project!
Monique Reed, Texas A&M
Crepe Myrtle and Poision Sumac look alot alike.
I moved into my home in Creekside in January. I have two dead sweetgum trees, three gardeners told me that the reason they died was due to root damage during construction. I spoke with the constructor and he is claiming that the pre-existing threes do not have warranty, but they were open to discuss an probably negotiate something. They sent their tree expert to quote the removal of them, and he told me the reason they died was due to a disease.... I asked him about how long it would take for a three like that to die from a disease and he claims that it can die in one month. I find that hard to believe, I think he is telling me that to protect the builder.
Can a sweetgum die in a month? or in less than 6 months?
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