Box Elder (Acer negundo)

Distinguishing characters: The terminal twigs are green, and the buds are round and small. 

Leaf: Has three to seven leaflets.

Form and size: A medium-sized tree with a short trunk and wide-spreading top.

Range: Eastern United States to the Rocky Mountains.

Soil and location: Grows rapidly in deep, moist soil and river valleys, but accommodates itself to the dry and poor soil conditions of the city.

Enemies: Few.

Value for planting: Used as a shade tree in the Middle West, but the tree is so ill formed and so short-lived that it is not to be recommended.

Commercial value: None. The wood is soft.

Other characters: The bark of the trunk is smooth and yellowish-green in young trees and grayish brown in older specimens. The flowers appear in the early part of April. The fruit takes the form of yellowish-green keys which hang on the tree till late fall.

Other common names: The box elder is also commonly known as the ash-leaf maple.

Norway Maple (Acer platanoides)

Distinguishing characters: The bud,  is oval and reddish-brown in color; when taken off, a milky juice exudes. The bark is close.

Leaf: Like the leaf of the sugar maple but thicker in texture and darker in color.

Form and size: A tall tree with a broad, round head.

Range: Europe and the United States.

Soil and location: Will grow in poor soil.

Enemies: Very few.

Value for planting: One of the best shade trees.

Commercial value: None.

Other characters: The bark is close like that of the mockernut hickory.

Comparisons: The Norway maple is apt to be confused with the sycamore maple (Acer pseudoplatanus), but differs from the latter in having a reddish bud instead of a green bud, and a close bark instead of a scaly bark.

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Red Maple (Acer rubrum)

Distinguishing characters: The bark is smooth and light gray, like that of the beech, on the upper branches in older trees, and in young trees over the whole trunk.  The buds are in clusters, and the terminal twigs,  are quite red.

Leaf: Whitish underneath with three-pointed lobes. 

Form and size: A medium-sized tree with a narrow, round head.

Range: Eastern North America.

Soil and location: Prefers moist places.

Enemies: Leaf blotches (Rhytisma acerinum) which, however, are not very injurious.

Value for planting: Suitable as a shade tree for suburban streets. Its rich red leaves in the fall make it attractive for the lawn.

Commercial value: Its wood is heavy, close-grained, and takes a good polish. Used for furniture and fuel.

Other characters: The bud is small, round, and red. The flowers appear before the leaves are out in the early part of April.

Fig. 31.—Twig of the Red Maple.

Other common names: The red maple is sometimes known as swamp maple.

Comparisons: The red maple is apt to be confused with the silver maple, but the latter can be distinguished by its turned-up twigs and scaly bark over the whole trunk of the tree, which presents a sharp contrast to the straight twig and smooth bark of the red maple. The latter has a bark similar to the beech, but its branches are opposite, while those of the beech are alternate.

Silver Maple (Acer saccharinum)

Distinguishing characters: The tips of the twigs curve upwards (Fig. 28), the bark is scaly, and the leaves are very deeply cleft and are silvery on the under side.

Leaf: Deeply cleft and silvery under side.

Form and size: A large tree with the main branches separating from the trunk a few feet from the ground. The terminal twigs are long, slender, and drooping.

Range: Eastern United States.

Soil and location: Moist places.

Enemies: The leopard moth, a wood-boring insect, and the cottony-maple scale, a sucking insect.

Value for planting: Grows too rapidly and is too short-lived to be durable.

Commercial value: Its wood is soft, weak, and little used.

Other characters: The bark is light gray, smooth at first and scaly later on. The scales are free at each end and attached in the center. The flowers appear before the leaves in the latter part of March or early April.

Other common names: The silver maple is sometimes known as soft maple or white maple.

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Sugar Maple (Acer saccharum)

Distinguishing characters: The bud is sharp-pointed, scaly, and reddish brown. 

Leaf: Has sharp points and round sinus. 

Form and size: The crown is oval when the tree is young and round in old age.

Range: Eastern United States.

Soil and location: Moist and deep soil, and cool, shady positions.

Enemies: Subject to drouth, especially in cities. Is attacked by the sugar maple borer and the maple phenacoccus, a sucking insect.

Value for planting: Its rich and yellow color in the fall, and the fine spread of its crown make it a desirable tree for the lawn, especially in the country.

Commercial value: Its wood is hard and takes a good polish; used for interior finish and furniture. The tree is also the source of maple sugar. 

Other characters: The bark is smooth in young trees and in old trees it shags in large plates. The flowers appear in the early part of April.

Other common names: The sugar maple is sometimes called rock maple or hard maple.

The Horsechestnut (Æsculus hippocastanum)

Distinguishing characters: The sticky nature of the terminal bud and its large size (about an inch long). The bud is dark brown in color.

Leaf: Five to seven leaflets, usually seven. 

Form and size: Medium-sized tree, pyramidal head and coarse twigs.

Range: Europe and eastern United States.

Soil and location: Prefers a deep, rich soil.

Enemies: The leaves are the favorite food of caterpillars and are subject to a blight which turns them brown prematurely. The trunk is often attacked by a disease which causes the flow of a slimy substance.

Value for planting: On account of its showy flowers, the horsechestnut is a favorite for the park and lawn.

Commercial value: The wood is not durable and is not used commercially.

Other characters: The flowers appear in large white clusters in May and June. The fruit is large, round, and prickly.

Comparisons: The red horsechestnut differs from this tree in having red flowers. The buckeye is similar to the horsechestnut, but its bud is not sticky and is of a lighter gray color, while the leaf generally has only five leaflets.

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The Horsechestnut, Ash and Maple

How to tell them from other trees: The horsechestnut, ash, and maple have their branches and buds arranged on their stems opposite each other as shown. In other trees, this arrangement is alternate, as shown in.

How to tell these three from each other. If the bud is large—an inch to an inch and a half long—dark brown, and sticky, it is a horsechestnut.

If the bud is not sticky, much smaller, and rusty brown to black in color, and the ultimate twigs, of an olive green color, are flattened at points below the buds, it is an ash.

If it is not a horsechestnut nor an ash and its small buds have many scales covering them, the specimen with branches and buds opposite must then be a maple. Each of the maples has one character which distinguishes it from all the other maples. For the sugar maple, this distinguishing character is the sharp point of the bud. For the silver maple it is the bend in the terminal twig. For the red maple it is the smooth gray-colored bark. For the Norway maple it is the reddish brown color of the full, round bud, and for the box elder it is the greenish color of its terminal twig.

The form of the tree and the leaves are also characteristic in each of the maples, but for the beginner who does not wish to be burdened with too many of these facts at one time, those just enumerated will be found most certain and most easily followed.

Bald Cypress (Taxodium distichum)

Distinguishing characters: The feathery character of the twigs, Fig. 16, and the spire-like form of the tree, which is taller and more slender than the larch, will distinguish this species from others.

Leaf: The leaves drop off in October, though the tree is of the cone-bearing kind. In this respect it is like the larch.

Form and size: Tall and pyramidal.

Range: The cypress is a southern tree, but is found under cultivation in parks and on lawns in northern United States.

Soil and location: Grows naturally in swamps, but will also do well in ordinary well-drained, good soil. In its natural habitat it sends out special roots above water. These are known as “cypress knees” and serve to provide air to the submerged roots of the tree.

Enemies: None of importance.

Value for planting: An excellent tree for park and lawn planting.

Commercial value: The wood is light, soft, and easily worked. It is used for general construction, interior finish, railroad ties, posts and cooperage.

Other characters: The bark is thin and scaly. The fruit is a cone about an inch in diameter. The general color of the tree is a dull, deep green which, however, turns orange brown in the fall.

Comparisons: The cypress and the larch are apt to be confused, especially in the winter, when the leaves of both have dropped. The cypress is more slender and is taller in form. The leaves of each are very different, as will be seen from the accompanying illustrations.

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The Larch And Cypress

How to tell them from other trees: In summer the larch and cypress may easily be told from other trees by their leaves. These are needle-shaped and arranged in clusters with numerous leaves to each cluster in the case of the larch, and feathery and flat in the case of the cypress. In winter, when their leaves have dropped off, the trees can be told by their cones, which adhere to the branches.

There are nine recognized species of larch and two of bald cypress. The larch is characteristically a northern tree, growing in the northern and mountainous regions of the northern hemisphere from the Arctic circle to Pennsylvania in the New World, and in Central Europe, Asia, and Japan in the Old World. It forms large forests in the Alps of Switzerland and France.

The European larch and not the American is the principal species considered here, because it is being planted extensively in this country and in most respects is preferable to the American species.

The bald cypress is a southern tree of ancient origin, the well-known cypress of Montezuma in the gardens of Chepultepec having been a species of Taxodium. The tree is now confined to the swamps and river banks of the South Atlantic and Gulf States, where it often forms extensive forests to the exclusion of all other trees. In those regions along the river swamps, the trees are often submerged for several months of the year.

How to tell them from each other: In summer the larch may be told from the cypress by its leaves. In winter the two can be distinguished by their characteristic forms. The larch is a broader tree as compared with the cypress and its form is more conical. The cypress is more slender and it is taller. The two have been grouped together in this study because they are both coniferous trees and, unlike the other Conifers, are both deciduous, their leaves falling in October.

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Hemlock (Tsuga canadensis)

Distinguishing characters: Its leaves are arranged in flat layers, giving a flat, horizontal and graceful appearance to the whole branch. The individual leaves are dark green above, lighter colored below, and are marked by two white lines on the under side .

The leaves are arranged on little stalks, a characteristic that does not appear in the other evergreen trees.

Form and size: A large tree with a broad-based pyramidal head, and a trunk conspicuously tapering toward the apex. The branches extend almost to the ground.

Range: The hemlock is a northern tree, growing in Canada and the United States.

Soil and location: Grows on all sorts of soils, in the deepest woods as well as on high mountain slopes.

Enemies: None of importance.

Value for planting: The hemlock makes an excellent hedge because it retains its lowest branches and will stand shearing. In this respect it is preferable to the spruce. It makes a fair tree for the lawn and is especially desirable for underplanting in woodlands, where the shade from the surrounding trees is heavy. In this respect it is like the beech.

Commercial value: The wood is soft, brittle, and coarse-grained, and is therefore used mainly for coarse lumber. Its bark is so rich in tannin that it forms one of the chief commercial products of the tree.

Other characters: The fruit is a small cone about ¾ of an inch long, which generally hangs on the tree all winter.

Fig. 10.—Twig of the Hemlock.

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