Platanus occidentalis
The American sycamore is a wide-canopied, deciduous tree, usually 75-100 ft. tall, with a massive trunk and open crown of huge, crooked branches. The bark of large, old trunks sloughs off in scales or plates leaving a smooth, whitish inner bark. Leaves broadly ovate or broader, blade often wider than long, long pointed. Globular fruits […]
Tripsacum dactyloides
Usually 2-3 ft. in height, can grow 12 ft. tall. It is interesting primarily for its terminal inflorescences which have separate male and female flowers. Stigmas are purple; stamens orange. The plant is a perennial.Deer eat the hard, yellow seeds of this plant.
Morella cerifera
A wispy, 6-12 ft., multi-trunked, evergreen shrub, southern bayberry or wax myrtle can reach 20 ft. in height. The light olive-green foliage has a spicy fragrance. Pale blue fruits occur on female plants in the winter. Handsome gray bark is almost white on some plants.Native from New Jersey west to eastern Oklahoma and east Texas, […]
Juglans nigra
Black walnut is a large, rugged, deciduous tree, 50-75 ft. in height and width, sometimes reaching 150 ft. tall. Dark, furrowed bark on the trunk. Wide-spreading branches form an upright, umbrella-like crown in the woods or a round-topped crown in the open. The well-formed trunk is usually devoid of branches a considerable distance from the […]
Magnolia grandiflora
One of the most beautiful native trees, evergreen with straight trunk, conical crown, and very fragrant, very large, white flowers. The pyramidal southern magnolia does not get extremely large in most of its range. It is usually 50 ft. tall, rarely growing to 100 ft. They have a dense growth of smooth, leathery evergreen leaves […]
Dracopis amplexicaulis
This is a smooth-stemmed, annual coneflower, usually 2-3 ft. tall, with terminal, solitary flower heads. The leaves are oblong with heart-shaped, clasping bases. The yellow petals, with reddish-purple bases, are numerous and droop away from the dark, elongated, cone-shaped center. This species’ clasping leaves differentiate it from Black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta) and Mexican Hat (Ratibida […]
Andropogon glomeratus
Flowers in sessile spikelets are aggregated toward the upper part of the 2-5 ft. stems and are striking in fall and winter when the fine hairs of the bold, feathery racemes catch the sunlight. The sheaths surrounding the racemes take on a salmon-orange color in fall.Found in moist or semi-moist soils in full sun, Bushy […]
Carya illinoinensis
The largest of the hickories, pecan typically grows 70-100 ft. and can reach 160 ft. It is massive-trunked, with stout branches supporting a symmetrical, oval crown. Slate gray bark remains smooth for years. Pinnately-compound, deciduous leaves are 12-20 in. long with 11-17 leaflets. Midrib of the leaflet off center with the wider part of the […]