Part 7

Fruit: Prickly, spherical or nearly so, up to 1½ inch in diameter, pale brown, containing 1 large, smooth and shiny seed.

Wood: Soft, close-grained, light in weight, pale brown to nearly white.

Uses: Paper pulp. The tree is also sometimes grown as an ornamental.

Habitat: Usually rich woods.

Range: Pennsylvania across to Nebraska, south to Oklahoma, east to Alabama.

Distinguishing Features: The Ohio Buckeye differs from the Horse Chestnut {Aesculus hippocastanum} by its non-sticky buds. It differs from the Red Buckeye by the greenish-yellow flowers and prickly fruits.

TREE-OF-HEAVEN Ailanthus altissima (Mill.) Swingle

Growth Form: Medium to large tree to 75 feet tall; trunk diameter up to 2 feet; crown spreading and irregular. The tree readily spreads by underground root-suckers.

Bark: Smooth or slightly roughened, light brown to dark brown.

Twigs: Stout, angular, smooth, gray to light brown, with lenticels; leaf scars alternate, large, broadly heart-shaped, slightly elevated, with usually 9 bundle traces.

Buds: Rounded, up to ⅛ inch in diameter, smooth or a little hairy, brown.

Leaves: Alternate, pinnately compound, with up to 41 leaflets; leaflets lanceolate, tapering to a long point at the tip, rounded at the base, up to 6 inches long, less than half as wide, smooth or somewhat hairy on both surfaces, often with some teeth along the edges. The leaves have an unpleasant odor when crushed.

Flowers: Some flowers with both stamens and pistils, others with one or the other, in large green or yellow clusters, each flower small, with 5 petals. The staminate flowers produce a very unpleasant odor. The flowers appear in June and July.

Fruit: Large clusters of winged seeds, yellow or orange, each fruit up to 2 inches long with one seed about in the middle.

Use: Tree-of-Heaven is grown as an ornamental, principally in urban areas where it is able to withstand considerable smoke and smog.

Habitat: Disturbed woods; readily adapts to urban conditions.

Range: Native of Asia; frequently planted in the United States and readily spreading from cultivation.

Distinguishing Features: The pinnately compound leaves with up to 41 leaflets, unpleasantly scented when crushed, make this a readily recognizable species.

BLACK ALDER Alnus glutinosa (L.) Gaertn.

Growth Form: Small or medium tree to 45 feet tall; trunk diameter up to 12 inches; crown broadly rounded when mature.

Bark: Smooth at first, becoming shallowly fissured with age.

Twigs: Slender, gray or gray-brown, smooth; leaf scars alternate, with 3 bundle traces.

Leaves: Alternate, simple; blades nearly round or obovate, rounded at the tip, rounded or somewhat tapering to the base, up to five inches long, often nearly as broad, irregularly and rather coarsely toothed along the edges, dark green and smooth on the upper surface, green and smooth beneath, or sometimes hairy on the veins; leafstalks stout, up to 1 inch long, usually smooth.

Flowers: Staminate and pistillate flowers borne separately but on the same tree, appearing before the leaves unfold, the staminate in slender, drooping catkins up to 3 inches long, the pistillate in erect, oblong “cones” less than 1 inch long.

Fruit: Cone-shaped, up to ¾ inch long, composed of several nut-like seeds, each subtended by a woody segment of the “cone.”

Wood: Soft, straight-grained.

Uses: The wood is easily carved and used in the making of small wooden objects. It is also used for charcoal and fuel. The bark has reputed medicinal properties.

Habitat: Moist, disturbed areas.