Part 39

Range: Nova Scotia across to Manitoba and northeastern Wyoming, south to eastern Texas and northern Florida.

Distinguishing Features: The Blue Beech, with similar leaves, differs by its scaly bark. Elms, which also have somewhat similar leaves, usually have their leaves asymmetrical at the base.

PRINCESS TREE Paulownia tomentosa (Thunb.) Steud.

Other Name: Paulownia.

Growth Form: Small to medium tree to 45 feet tall; trunk diameter up to 1½ feet; crown rounded.

Bark: Gray, more or less smooth.

Twigs: Stout, grayish, finely hairy; leaf scars opposite, nearly spherical but with a notch at the top, with many bundle traces in a ring.

Buds: Half-round, minutely hairy.

Leaves: Opposite, simple; blades mostly heart-shaped, tapering to a short point at the tip, up to about 10 inches long and nearly as broad, smooth along the edges, minutely hairy on both surfaces.

Flowers: Large, showy, fragrant, several in a large cluster, appearing in late April or early May, the clusters sometimes a foot long, each flower up to 2 inches long, the petals violet with yellow stripes.

Fruit: Ovoid capsules up to 1½ inches long, pointed at the tip, brown, containing numerous winged seeds.

Use: Popular as an ornamental because of its handsome flowers.

Habitat: Along roads, around home sites.

Range: Native of Asia; occasionally escaped in the eastern United States.

Distinguishing Features: The leaves of the Princess Tree resemble those of the Catalpa, but they are always opposite and never in whorls. The violet flowers and the short, ovid capsules further distinguish the Princess Tree.

JACK PINE Pinus banksiana Lamb.

Other Names: Gray Pine; Scrub Pine.

Growth Form: Medium tree to 75 feet tall in some parts of the United States; trunk diameter up to 2½ feet; crown open but often irregular.

Bark: Reddish-brown, rough and scaly.

Twigs: Slender, dark brown, becoming roughened.

Leaves: Needles in clusters of 2, stiff, curved, up to 1½ inches long, dark green.

Flowers: Staminate crowded into several yellow spikes up to ½ inch long; pistillate crowded into few to several purple clusters.

Fruit: Cones oblong, curved, upright, up to 2 inches long, each scale comprising the cone bearing a small curved prickle; seeds triangular, up to ¹/₁₂ inch long, with a wing up to ⅓ inch long.

Wood: Light in weight, soft, reddish-brown.

Uses: Railroad ties, fence posts, fuel, pulpwood.

Habitat: Rocky woods.

Range: Quebec across to Yukon, south to Minnesota, northern Illinois, and New York, Nova Scotia.

Distinguishing Features: The Jack Pine is distinguished by its short, stiff, curved needles in clusters of 2 and by its short, curved cones.