Part 8

The TRUNK is fluted with irregular ridges or “muscles” extending up and down the tree. The BARK is smooth, light brownish-gray to dark bluish-gray in color, sometimes marked with dark bands extending horizontally on the trunk.

The LEAVES are simple, alternate, oval, long-pointed, doubly toothed along the margin, and 1 to 3 inches long. They resemble those of the black or sweet birch, but are smaller.

The FLOWERS are borne in catkins separately on the same tree; the male catkin about 1½ inches long, the female, about ¾ of an inch, with small, leaf-like, three-lobed green scales. The FRUIT is a nutlet about ⅓ inch long. It falls, attached to the leaf-like scale which acts as a wing aiding its distribution by the wind.

The WOOD is tough, close-grained, heavy, and strong. It is sometimes selected for use for levers, tool handles, wooden cogs, mallets, wedges, etc. The tree is of little commercial importance and often occupies space in the woods that should be utilized by more valuable species.

EASTERN HOPHORNBEAM (Ironwood) Ostrya virginiana (Mill.) K. Koch

The tree gets its common names from the qualities of its wood and the hop-like fruit. It is a small, slender, generally round-topped tree, from 20 to 30 feet high and 7 to 10 inches in diameter. The top consists of long slender branches, commonly drooping toward the ends. It is found mostly on rather dry soils throughout the uplands of the eastern part of the state.

The BARK is mostly light, gray-brown, or reddish-brown, and finely divided into thin scales.

The LEAVES are simple, alternate, generally oblong with narrow tips, sharply doubly toothed along the margin, and from 2 to 3 inches long.

The FLOWERS are of two kinds on the same tree; the male, in drooping catkins which form the previous summer, the female, in erect catkins on the newly formed twigs. The FRUIT, which resembles that of the common hop vines, consists of a branch of leafy bracts 1 to 2 inches long containing a number of flattened ribbed nutlets.

The WOOD, strong, hard, durable, light brown to white, with thick, pale sapwood, is often used for handles of tools, mallets, and other small articles.

RIVER BIRCH (Red Birch) Betula nigra L.

This is the only native birch found at low elevations in the South. It occurs in East Texas and, as the name implies, in the deep, rich soils along the borders of streams, ponds, lakes, and swamps.

The BARK provides a ready means of identifying this tree. It varies from reddish-brown to cinnamon-red in color, and peels back in tough papery layers. These layers persist on the trunk, presenting a very ragged and quite distinctive appearance. Unlike the bark of other birches the thin paper layers are usually covered with a gray powder. On older trees, the bark on the main trunk becomes thick, deeply furrowed, and a reddish-brown color.

The LEAVES are simple, alternate, 2 to 3 inches long, more or less oval in shape, with double-toothed edge. The upper surface is dark green and the lower a pale yellowish green.

The FLOWERS are in catkins, the two kinds growing on the same tree. The FRUIT is cone-shaped about one inch long, and densely crowded with little winged nutlets that ripen from May to June.

The WOOD is strong and fairly close-grained. It has been used to some extent in the manufacture of wooden-ware, in turnery, and for wagon hubs. However, this tree is scattered in its distribution and is not of commercial importance.

AMERICAN BEECH Fagus grandifolia Ehrh.

Beech is found in East Texas to the Trinity River on the bottomland of streams and the margins of swamps. It is one of the most beautiful of all trees, in summer or winter.

The simple, alternate, oblong-ovate LEAVES are 3 to 4 inches long, pointed at the tip, and coarsely toothed and hairy along the margin. When mature, they are almost leathery in texture. The beech produces a dense shade. The light brown winter buds are long, slender, and pointed.

The BARK is, perhaps, the most distinctive characteristic, as it maintains an unbroken, light gray surface throughout its life.

The little, brown, three-sided FRUITS or beechnuts are almost as well known as chestnuts. The nuts are in pairs in a prickly involucre. The kernel is sweet and edible. The fallen fruit, known as mast, is a favorite food of wildlife.

The WOOD of the beech is hard, strong, and tough, though it will not last long on exposure to weather or in the soil. The tree is of economic importance as a lumber tree, the wood being used for furniture, flooring, carpenters’ tools, and novelty wares.

ALLEGHENY CHINKAPIN Castanea pumila Mill.

Chinkapins may grow as trees or form shrubby thickets; consequently their identification is at times confusing.

Some taxonomists credit East Texas with one species and a variety. Others list four species. Further study is needed.

C. pumila grows in dry woods, sandy ridges, and on borders of swamps from Florida to East Texas north to Ark., Tenn., Pa., and N. J. It may grow into a small tree 10 to 30 feet high and may reach 50 feet. If burned back by fires, it may send out stolons or sprouts and form dense shrubby growths. BRANCHLETS pubescent, gradually changing to a lustrous olive-green or orange-brown, then darker. The LEAVES are 4 to 6 inches long, 1½ to 2 inches wide, oblong to ovate and acute, the margin coarsely toothed with slender, rigid, spreading or incurved teeth. Base of leaf unequal, either rounded or wedge-shaped. Leaf at first tomentose above and below, later yellow-green above and whitish-downy below. Petiole short, stout, and flattened on the upper side. FRUIT a single brown, ovoid, pointed, plump, sweet, edible nut, ¾ to 1 inch long, encased in a bur covered with erect, crowded spines approximately ¾ inch long. WOOD light, hard, strong, coarse-grained; used for fence posts and railway ties. Of little economic importance because of its relative scarcity. C. pumila is a nut-producing tree of potential commercial importance.

ASHE CHINKAPIN (C. pumila var. ashei Sudw.) is a small tree of dry sandy soils. Leaves are felt-like below. This variety is distinguished by its bur which has scattered, forked, and horizontally divergent bristles. The surface of the bur has smooth areas free of bristles.

A variation of chinkapin with leaves 3 to 4 inches long and lustrous below is frequently described as FLORIDA CHINKAPIN (C. alnifolia var. floridana Sarg.)