Oak Hickory Forest

Oak Hickory Forest Species List

White Avens

Order: Rosales

Family: Rose (Rosaceae)

Genus: Geum

Species: Gem canadense
Leaves: alternate, entire leaves
Flowers: 1/2 wide, radially symmetrical; five petals as long as or longer than the five sepals with pointed tips. Spherical seed heads, round balls with hooked spines that cling to clothing and animal fur.
Stem: smooth to slightly hairy.

Special Adaptations:
Forb/herb (a non-woody plant that is not a grass) found in thickets and open woods. Spring & summer, sometimes fall. The roots of this plant were harvested and used to add an agreeable taste to beer and ale. Native Americans also made the roots into a tasty beverage to treat problems of the stomach and bowels.

May Apple

Order: Ranunculales

Family: Berberidaceae (Barberry Family)

Genus: Podophyllum

Species: Podophyllum peltatum
Leaves: Opposite, 2 large lobed, deeply cleft leaves.
Flower: Solitary, white flower growing beneath leaves. The flower is 1 1/2-2'' wide, with 6-9 waxy petals. Plants without flowers have a single, umbrellalike leaf.
It is the flower that appears in early May, not the "apple".
Fruit: or "apple" is produced early summer and ripens later in summer. Yellowish, lemon-shaped, 2" long, edible - turtles love 'em, used for jelly.
Special Adaptation:
Native to wooded areas of eastern N. America.
anti-cancer compound

Enchanter's Nightshade

Order: Myrtales

Family: Evening Primrose (Onagraceae)

Genus: Circaea

Species: Circaea lutetiana

Leaves: opposite, thin, dark green, egg-shaped and long-stalked,

Flower: small, 1/8" white flowers in short racemes. Petals deeply 2-lobed, though they appear to have four. This plant spreads its seeds by producing burrs.

Special adaptations:
With a creeping rhizome which branches here and there until compact colonies are produced.
In woods where there is a little wind, parachute seeds would be of little use, so the plant has forced animals and humans to distribute its seeds.

Hackberry Tree
Order: Rosales
Family:Ulmaceae
Genus: Celtis
Species name: C.occidentalis




Leaves: Alternate along the stem, medium to dark green, and about 4" long, ovate, serrated, with an acute to acuminate apex, and with the leaf base asymmetrical (skewed or lop-sided, like the foliage of most Elm Family members)
Fruits: are drupes, which start out dark green and ripen to a deep reddish-purplish.

Special Adaptations: Hackberry forms a rounded vase reaching a height of 40 to 80 feet, is a rapid grower, and transplants easily. The mature bark is light gray, rough and corky and its small berry like fruit turns from orange red to purple and is relished by birds. The fruit temporarily stains walks. Has an elm-like form and is, in fact, related to the elm. The wood of hackberry has never been used to any large extent due to its softness and an almost immediate propensity to rot when in contact with the elements. However, Celtis occidentalis is a forgiving urban tree and is considered tolerant of most soil and moisture conditions.

American Elm
Order: Urticales
Family: Ulmaceae
Genus: Ulmus
Species: U. americana

Characteristics: It is an extremely hardy tree that can withstand winter temperatures as low as −42 °C (−44 °F). Trees in areas unaffected by Dutch elm disease can live for several hundred years. The crown forms a high, spreading canopy with open air space beneath.
Leaves: alternate, 7–20 cm long, with double-serrate margins and an oblique base. The tree is hermaphroditic, having perfect flowers, (i.e. with both male and female parts) and is therefore capable of self-pollination.
Flowers: small, purple-brown, and, being wind-pollinated, are apetalous; they emerge in early spring before the leaves. The fruit is a flat samara 2 cm long and 1.5 cm broad, with a circular wing surrounding the single 4–5 mm seed

Chinquapin Oak
Order: Fagales
Family: Fagaceae
Genus: Quercus
Species Name: Q. muehlenbergii

Leaves: are alternate, glossy, oblong to slightly obovate, with margins that may be deeply crenate or shallowly crenate.

Flowers: having pollen-bearing catkins in mid-spring that fertilize the inconspicuous female flowers on the same tree. Since it is a member of the White Oak group, the fruits only take a single season to develop.

Special Adaptations:
The Chinkapin Oak is especially known for its sweet acorns. The acorns are sweet and palatable. Indeed, the nuts contained inside of the thin shell are among the sweetest of any oak; they taste excellent even when eaten raw. These acorns provide an excellent source of food for both wildlife and people. The acorns are eaten by squirrels, mice, voles, chipmunks, deer, turkey, and other birds. Like the other members of the white oak family, the wood of the Chinkapin oak is a durable hardwood prized for many types of construction.

Shagbark Hickory
Order: Fagales
Family: Juglandaceae
Genus: Carya
Species: C. ovata

Characteristics:
It is a large deciduous tree, growing up to 27 m tall, and will live up to 200 years. Mature Shagbarks are easy to recognize because, as their name implies, they have shaggy bark. This characteristic is however only found on mature trees; young specimens have smooth bark. The Shagbark Hickory's nut is edible and has a very sweet taste.

Leaves: are 30–60 cm long, pinnate, with five (rarely three or seven) leaflets, the terminal three leaflets much larger than the basal pair. The Shagbark hickory is monoecious.
Flowers: are borne on long-stalked catkins at the tip of old wood or in the axils of the previous season's leaves. Pistillate flowers occur in short terminal spikes. The fruit is a drupe, an edible nut, 2.5–4 cm long contained in a thick, green four-sectioned husk which turns dark and splits off at maturity in the fall and a hard, bony shell. The terminal buds on the Shagbark Hickory are large and covered with loose scales.


Spicebush
Order: Laurales
Family: Lauraceae
Species:Lindera benzoin

Leaves: can be either deciduous or evergreen depending on species,[2] and are alternate, entire or three-lobed, and strongly spicy-aromatic. The flowers are small, yellowish, with six tepals

Fruits: are shiny red berries called drupes. Birds, including American Robin, Northern Bobwhite, Gray Catbird, Eastern Kingbird, and Great Crested Flycatcher, eat the drupes. Raccoons and Virginia Opossums eat them too.