Part 6

95. With terminal leaflet 96 95. Without terminal leaflet mesquite 240

96. Twice-pinnately compound (alternate) chinaberry 248 96. Once-pinnate 97

97. Leaflets 5 to 11, usually 7, twigs not bright green 98 97. Leaflets 3 to 5 (rarely 7 or 9), twigs bright green box elder 255

98. Twigs brownish gray, lenticels obscure, flowers and fruits in cymes, shrubs elderberry 286 98. Twigs greenish gray or gray, whitish lenticels noticeable, flowers and fruits in panicles, trees 99

99. Leaves bright or yellowish green on both sides, leaf-scar of twig straight or nearly so on upper edge green ash 275 99. Leaves dark green above, paler below, leaf-scar of twig concave or notched on upper edge white ash 274

260 New Jersey tea; fruit 276 spring herald 261 rattan vine 268 St. Andrew’s cross 252 aromatic sumac 264 cow-itch vine 284 Indian current 253 swamp holly

254 waahoo 265 Cissus ampelopsis 285 black haw 278 French mulberry 271 dwarf dogwood 283 bush honeysuckle 282 coral honeysuckle 277 swamp privet

280 trumpet creeper 244 Eve’s necklace 246 prickly ash 245 river locust 249 smooth sumac 256 Texas buckeye

248 chinaberry 262 Virginia creeper 250 winged sumac 263 pepper vine 257 soapberry 258 Ohio buckeye

247 wafer ash 251 poison ivy 230 Canada moonseed 259 Indian cherry 286 elderberry 255 box elder 229 Carolina moonseed 228 wooly pipevine

GUIDE TO NATIVE WOODY PLANTS OF DALLAS COUNTY

Capital letters and page numbers following the descriptions of a few of these plants refer to the bibliography at the end of this guide.

PINE FAMILY

201. RED CEDAR (Juniperus virginiana L.) abundant tree of medium height. Habitat: all soils, especially limestone hills in southwestern part of county. Leaves: small, thick, scale-like or like short needles. Bark: thin, reddish brown, shreddy, inner layers yellowish brown. Twigs: of young shoots bear the sharper-pointed leaves. Flowers: dioecious, in February or March; staminate minute, numerous, rusty; pistillate purplish, inconspicuous. Fruit: light blue, spherical, ¼ inch diameter. Wood: reddish at heart, sapwood light, used for cedar chests, rustic work, and fence posts; for the last inferior only to bois d’arc as it is very lasting in contact with the soil.

202. MOUNTAIN CEDAR (Juniperus mexicana Spreng.) rare tree except at Camp Wisdom and vicinity. Habitat: dry uplands, this about its eastern limit but abundant westward. Leaves: similar to red cedar. Inner bark: darker brown than on red cedar. Fruit: larger and darker than red cedar, purplish. Wood: light brown, hard and close-grained but weak, used for fuel, fence posts, poles and landscape planting.

PALM FAMILY

203. DWARF PALMETTO (Sabal minor Pers.) low shrub of the river bottom, rare. Leaves: 15 to 20 inches long, spreading, fan-shaped, from an underground stem; browsed by cattle and mostly destroyed when Bois d’Arc Island was cleared for cultivation. Flowers: whitish, small, from a slightly branched central stalk. Fruit: black, spherical, smooth, dry, about ¼ inch across. L (p. 223) (S. glabra). M (p. 240.)

LILY FAMILY

204. GREENBRIER (Smilax bona nox L.) abundant vine; locally called stretchberry, saw-brier, cat-brier. Habitat: woodlands and thickets, becoming especially obnoxious in heavily pastured woodlands. Leaves: 1½ to 4½ inches long, ½ to 3 wide, alternate, oval or somewhat heart-shaped, margins entire; smooth, thick, shining, many remaining green and some mottled with brown in winter; all primary veins running lengthwise of leaf. Stems: long, evergreen, often very prickly, climbing by tendrils. Flowers: small, inconspicuous, yellowish or greenish, dioecious, in umbels, six “petals”. Fruit: black, shining or covered with a bloom, round or nearly so, size of small peas. This vine’s greatest virtue seems to be that it offers food and shelter to the birds.

205. YUCCA, bear-grass, Spanish dagger (Yucca species) more than one species in the county; abundant in meadows and along roadsides. Leaves: grasslike but large, thick and tough, in rosettes, often with white threads on margins; sharp-pointed. Woody stem: very short in our species. Flowers: greenish white or creamy, many along a central stalk two or three feet tall; each cupped flower about an inch or two long, fertilized by a small white moth which lays its egg inside. Fruit: a short, thick, cylindrical pod containing layers of flat, black seeds.

WILLOW FAMILY

206. WILLOW (Salix nigra Marsh.) the black willow is probably the only native species growing in the county. The weeping willow (Salix babylonica) has not been observed growing in the county except where planted. Willows grow close to water or in low ground, are very common and grow very rapidly where they have an abundant supply of water; very valuable in checking soil erosion as their roots help to hold the soil in place. Leaves: simple, alternate, 3 to 6 inches long, ⅛ to ¾ wide, acuminate, with fine, incurved serrations. Bark: rough, shaggy on old trees, usually light brown. Twigs: conspicuously yellowish orange in winter, smooth or glossy, very slender. Flowers: in catkins, yellowish, dioecious. Fruit: cottony-covered seeds. Wood: soft, light, weak, used for a special charcoal in manufacturing gunpowder, some species for artificial limbs.

207. COTTONWOOD (Populus deltoides var. virginiana Sudw.) common, large tree, also called Carolina poplar. Habitat: prefers lowlands and stream banks although will grow in dry soil. Leaves: simple, alternate, 3 to 5 inches each way, commonly glossy on both sides, broad and straight across at the base, coarsely toothed or crenate, stems flattened. Bark: thick, light gray, deeply furrowed on trunks to smooth and yellowish green on branches. Twigs: stout, greenish yellow to pale gray, smooth; lenticels large, pale, lengthwise; buds large, scales very sticky-resinous. Flowers: staminate are red catkins, pistillate greenish yellow, dioecious. Fruit: cottony-covered seeds. Wood: soft, light weight, warps easily but cheap because of rapid growth of tree; new methods of rapid kiln-drying have lessened warping.

WALNUT FAMILY

208. BLACK WALNUT (Juglans nigra L.) tree, common in rich bottomlands. Leaves: alternate, pinnately compound, one to two feet long, 15 to 23 leaflets, each about 3 inches long, tapering and toothed; with a characteristic odor when crushed. Bark: thick, dark, rough. Twigs: have dark, chambered pith shown by splitting lengthwise through center. Flowers: greenish, male in catkins, female inconspicuous, both kinds on the same tree. Fruit: green to black husk does not split, round; shell rough, very hard, dark; nut rich and sweet. Wood: hard, strong, rich brown color, very valuable for gunstocks, furniture, etc.

209. PECAN (Carya pecan Engl. & Graebn.) abundant, the state tree. Habitat: rich bottomlands preferred. Leaves: similar to black walnut but average fewer leaflets, 9 to 17. Twigs: do not have dark, chambered pith. Bark: somewhat variable in appearance but generally lighter in color than walnut and not as flaky as soapberry both of which it resembles. Fruit: very valuable crop in Texas, many cultivated varieties tending toward larger size of nuts and thinner shell. Wood: not valuable, hard but brittle and not strong.

210. BITTER PECAN (Carya texana Schn.) rare tree of low woodlands. The nuts are 4-angled and the seeds bitter. Wood tough and strong.

211. HICKORY (Carya buckleyi Durand) uncommon in this county. Observed in sandy woods. Leaves: pinnately compound, of 5 to 9 leaflets, the terminal 4 to 6 inches long, 2 to 2¼ wide, twice as large as the lowest, obovate and tapering at each end. Bark: dark, rough, close. Fruit: resembles pecan but broader; shell thick, somewhat wrinkled, light in color; seed sweet. Wood: hard, brittle, little used except for fuel.