Woody Plants · Eastern Forests
Woody Plants of the Eastern Forests
A Maryland-centered field-learning model, with nearby Pennsylvania and West Virginia in view. Because I am still learning these forests, I organize much of this list as recognition groups—oaks, maples, hickories, understory trees, and the big canopy species I most want ready in my head.
These are field-learning lists, not exhaustive floras.
First Group: Oaks
- Quercus alba (White oak / eastern white oak)
- Quercus rubra (Northern red oak / red oak)
- Quercus velutina (Black oak / eastern black oak)
- Quercus palustris (Pin oak / swamp Spanish oak)
- Quercus coccinea (Scarlet oak)
- Quercus montana (Chestnut oak / rock chestnut oak)
- Quercus bicolor (Swamp white oak)
- Quercus phellos (Willow oak)
Second Group: Maples
- Acer rubrum (Red maple / swamp maple)
- Acer saccharinum (Silver maple / white maple)
- Acer saccharum (Sugar maple / hard maple)
- Acer negundo (Boxelder / ash-leaf maple)
- Acer pensylvanicum (Striped maple / moosewood / snakebark maple)
Third Group: Hickories
- Carya ovata (Shagbark hickory / common shagbark hickory)
- Carya tomentosa (Mockernut hickory / white hickory)
- Carya glabra (Pignut hickory / sweet pignut hickory)
- Carya cordiformis (Bitternut hickory / swamp hickory)
Fourth Group: Pines and Evergreens
- Pinus virginiana (Virginia pine / scrub pine / Jersey pine)
- Pinus strobus (Eastern white pine / northern white pine)
- Pinus taeda (Loblolly pine / oldfield pine)
- Juniperus virginiana (Eastern redcedar)
- Tsuga canadensis (Eastern hemlock / Canadian hemlock)
- Ilex opaca (American holly)
Ashes
- Fraxinus americana (White ash / American ash)
- Fraxinus pennsylvanica (Green ash / red ash)
Birches
- Betula nigra (River birch / red birch)
- Betula lenta (Sweet birch / black birch / cherry birch)
Smaller / Understory Trees
- Cornus florida (Flowering dogwood)
- Cercis canadensis (Eastern redbud / American redbud)
- Celtis occidentalis (Common hackberry / northern hackberry)
- Diospyros virginiana (Common persimmon / American persimmon)
- Asimina triloba (Pawpaw / common pawpaw)
- Sassafras albidum (Sassafras / white sassafras)
- Nyssa sylvatica (Black gum / black tupelo / sour gum)
- Robinia pseudoacacia (Black locust / yellow locust / false acacia)
- Ostrya virginiana (American hophornbeam / eastern hophornbeam / ironwood / leverwood)
- Carpinus caroliniana (American hornbeam / musclewood / blue beech / ironwood)
The Big Ten Canopy or Large Trees
- Liriodendron tulipifera (Tulip tree / tulip poplar / yellow-poplar)
- Liquidambar styraciflua (Sweetgum / American sweet gum / redgum)
- Fagus grandifolia (American beech)
- Prunus serotina (Black cherry / eastern wild black cherry)
- Juglans nigra (Black walnut)
- Platanus occidentalis (American sycamore / American plane tree / buttonwood)
- Populus deltoides (Eastern cottonwood / necklace poplar)
- Ulmus americana (American elm / white elm)
- Tilia americana (American basswood / American linden)
- Magnolia acuminata (Cucumber tree / cucumber magnolia)
In Range, but Uncommon in Maryland
- Carya laciniosa (Shellbark hickory / big shellbark hickory / king nut)
- Oxydendrum arboreum (Sourwood / sorrel tree)
- Aesculus flava (Yellow buckeye / sweet buckeye)
Candidates to add — not finalized
- Salix nigra (Black willow)
- Betula alleghaniensis (Yellow birch / golden birch / swamp birch)
- Ulmus rubra (Slippery elm / red elm / soft elm)
- Amelanchier arborea (Common serviceberry / downy serviceberry)
- Morus rubra (Red mulberry)
How I use this list
The goal here is not completeness. It is to maximize the chance that when I meet an unfamiliar tree in the field, I already have a useful set of candidates and characters in mind—while staying open to the possibility that the plant is not on this list at all.