Abundant in the lower Ohio valley and middle of Mississippi valley. Bark: Light brown, scaly; on young stems light brown, smooth. Branchlets slender, dark green and shining at first, later become light brown, finally dark brown. Wood: Pale reddish brown, sapwood lighter; heavy, hard coarse-grained; used for shingles and sometimes in construction.

The wood is used for furniture, interior finish, paper pulp, veneers and baskets of all kinds.

It grows throughout much of North America and all U.S. states except Alaska, Hawai‘i, and California, and is normally found in wooded areas, especially along edge areas. It also grows in exposed rocky areas and in open fields and disturbed areas. It causes a very irritating rash.

Gets it's name from its pagoda shaped leaves and because the bark of older trees tend to have scaly bark which resembles that of black cherry trees. Cherrybark oak also closely resembles southern red oak but has a better formed trunk.

A medium-sized tree abundant throughout the South Central U.S. where it forms pure stands in the prairie transition area. This slow-growing oak typically occupies rocky or sandy ridges and dry woodlands with a variety of soils and is considered drought resistant.

Pin Oak is one of the most utilized in the midwest and eastern U.S. Popular due to the attractive pyramidal shape and straight trunk. Green, glossy leaves give way to brilliant red to bronze fall color attracting attention in the landscape.

Mockernuts are preferred mast for wildlife, particularly squirrels, which eat green nuts. Black bears, foxes, rabbits, beavers, and white-footed mice feed on the nuts, and sometimes the bark. The white-tailed deer browse on foliage and twigs and also feed on nuts. Nuts are a minor source of food for ducks, quail, and turkey.

The tough resilient properties of the wood make it suitable for products subject to impact and stress. The sweet nuts, once a staple food for American Indians, provide food for wildlife. The most distinctive of all the hickories because of its loose-plated bark.

A very hardy, small-to medium-sized tree in a wide range of habitats throughout much of the southern Midwest and Southeastern U.S. Used principally for furniture, hardwood dimension and flooring, boxes, and crates. Elm's excellent resistance to splitting has made it a choice wood for the manufacture of high quality hockey sticks. The manufacture of furniture continues to increase the demand for elm for bent parts of chairs such as rockers and arms.

The highest use of red mulberry is for its large, sweet fruits. These are a favored food of most birds and a number of mammals including opossum, raccoon, fox squirrels, and gray squirrels. The fruits also are used in jellies, jams, pies, and drinks. Red mulberry is used locally for fenceposts because the heartwood is relatively durable. Other uses of the wood include farm implements, cooperage, furniture, interior finish, and caskets (7).

An excellent tree where fast growth is desired. Striking flowers that appear in early summer. Catalpas can withstand city conditions while adding interest to landscapes. Should not be planted where fruit and flowers can drop on sidewalks as they are slippery after they fall for a short period of time. Catalpa trees are traditional sources of fish bait. Catalpa worms, the larvae of Catalpa Sphinx Moths, are eagerly sought in early summer by anglers.

Blackberries are excellent sources of iron and vitamin C. Can be eaten fresh or baked into pies, cobblers, and other desserts. Also provides food for wildlife and birds.

The northern red oak is one of the most important oaks for timber production in North America. The wood is of high value. Northern red oak has been extensively planted as an ornamental because of its symmetrical shape and brilliant fall foliage. The acorns are an important food for squirrels deer, turkey, mice, voles, and other mammals and birds.

The wild grape vine climbs with the aid of tendrils. Most grape vines produce deeply lobed leaves similar to the cultivated grape. Wild grapes grow in pyramidal, hanging bunches and are black-blue to amber, or white when ripe. The best place to look for wild grapes is on the edges of forested areas.

Medium to tall tree for farmstead and field windbreaks, riparian
plantings, and highway beautification. Seeds are eaten by birds and mammals. Trees provide cover and nesting sites for birds.

Can grow up to 1-2 m tall in the summer and dying down to the ground in winter. It has very distinctively yellow, widely spreading roots.

The cinnamon-colored, exfoliating bark of the River Birch is spectacular in the winter. Lustrous, medium-green leaves. Most borer resistant birch. Tolerant of both wet soils and dry summers. The catkins of the River Birch are used by redpolls and pine siskins. The foliage is eaten by deer and other browsers.

Almost identical to hackberry. Fruit is popular with winter birds, especially the cedar waxwing, mockingbird, and robin. Little value for deer. Is a small to medium-sized tree with alternate, simple, leaves 2 to 5 inches long.

Although called the white oak it is very unusual to find an individual with white bark; the usual color is an ashen gray. In the forest it reaches a magnificent height. In the open it develops into a massive broad-topped tree with great limbs striking out at wide angles. The acorns are small relative to most oaks, but are a valuable wildlife food, notably for turkeys, wood ducks, pheasants, grackles, jays, nuthatches, thrushes, woodpeckers, rabbits, squirrels and deer.

The Redbud tree is a relatively small tree with spreading branches and a small short trunk. The Redbud is a poplar ornamental tree, which can be found in many gardens and streetscapes. The tree is one of the earliest flowering trees.

Produces a high quality, durable wood that polishes well. Also used for posts and rails since it works with soil so well and takes a long time to rot. Thornless honeylocust seed pods and seeds are consumed by livestock and wildlife such as rabbits, deer, squirrels and bobwhite. The flowers provide a good source for bee food.

Boxelder grows commonly along the banks of streams and rivers Boxelder has a soft wood that has no commercial value, but is important for wildlife and the stabilization of stream banks where it grows.

The flowers are very attractive to hummingbirds, and many types of birds like to nest in the dense foliage. It's blooms are beautiful in shades of red, orange and yellow and attract hummingbirds, wasps and bees plus birds in the winter attracted by the pods.

Browsed by deer and rabbits, seeds eaten by squirrels, fair cover for songbirds. Useful in parks and large landscape areas with moist soils. The silver maple is a relatively fast-growing deciduous tree, commonly reaching a height of 20-30 m. It is often found along waterways and in wetlands.

Quail will roost and rabbits will hide in it. Annual weeds provide good roost cover, and blackberry brambles provide escape cover without invading as aggressively. In addition, sericea deters other plant species from developing, which reduces the diversity of plant foods and additional cover needed to support wildlife.

The cinnamon-colored, exfoliating bark of the River Birch is spectacular in the winter. Lustrous, medium-green leaves. Most borer resistant birch. Tolerant of both wet soils and dry summers. The catkins of the River Birch are used by redpolls and pine siskins. The foliage is eaten by deer and other browsers.

Common persimmon has distinctive thick, dark gray to black bark that is broken into scaly, square blocks. Has a messy fruit and is an interesting native tree that is suited for use in parks, golf courses and naturalized areas. form; usually has a symmetrical outline. Fruit presents a litter problem, and attracts flies and opossums as well as raccoons, skunks, foxes, deer and songbirds.

Sumac serves primarily as a winter emergency food for wildlife. Ring-necked pheasant, bobwhite quail, wild turkey, and about 300 species of songbirds include sumac fruit in their diet. It is also known to be important only in the winter diets of ruffed grouse and the sharp-tailed grouse. Fox squirrels and cottontail rabbits eat the sumac bark. White-tail deer like the fruit and stems.

They are best suited for soils which are moist and do not dry out. Trees in the Sycamore family are valued for their wood for everything from musical instruments to cutting boards. Songbirds eat the seeds. Large, old, hollow trees serve as roosting and den sites for wildlife

Milkweeds are an important nectar source for bees and other nectar seeking insects, and a larval food source for monarch butterflies and their relatives, as well as a variety of other herbivorous insects (including numerous beetles, moths, and true bugs) specialized to feed on the plants despite their chemical defenses.

Deciduous shrub which typically occurs in open woods, fields, pastures and thickets. Binds the soil and prevents erosion. Attractive to birds and songbirds.

Best known for its brilliant deep scarlet foliage in autumn. red maple is adaptable to a very wide range of site conditions, perhaps more so than any other tree in eastern North America. It can be found growing in swamps, on poor dry soils, and most anywhere in between. Red maple is a highly desirable wildlife browse food. Elk and white-tailed deer esp. use the current season's growth of red maple and aspen as an important source of winter food. Red maple, sugar maple, and paper birch trees cut any time after leaf fall provide browse as nutritious than trees cut immediately before leaf fall.

The bark of the mature trunk is thick, red-brown, and deeply furrowed. The wood is light, soft, weak, and brittle. All parts of the plants are very fragrant.

Black Walnut is highly prized for its dark-colored true heartwood. It is heavy and strong, yet easily split and worked.