A Field Guide to Eastern Trees: Eastern United States and Canada, Including the Midwest

by Roger Tory Peterson (Editor), Janet Wehr (Illustrator), George A. Petrides

Overview

Find what you're looking for with Peterson Field Guides—their field-tested visual identification system is designed to help you differentiate thousands of unique species accurately every time.
 
This field guide features detailed descriptions of 455 species of trees native to eastern North America, including the Midwest and the South. The 48 color plates, 11 black-and-white plates, and 26 text drawings show distinctive details needed for identification. Color photographs and 266 color range maps accompany the species descriptions.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780395904558
Publisher:	Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Publication date:	07/28/1998
Series:	Peterson Field Guides Series
Edition description:	Second Edition
Pages:	448
Sales rank:	57,642
Product dimensions:	7.22(w) x 4.70(h) x 0.83(d)

About the Author

Roger Tory Peterson, one of the world's greatest naturalists, received every major award for ornithology, natural science, and conservation as well as numerous honorary degrees, medals, and citations, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom. The Peterson Identification System has been called the greatest invention since binoculars. These editions include updated material by Michael O'Brien, Paul Lehman, Bill Thompson III, Michael DiGiorgio, Larry Rosche, and Jeffrey A. Gordon.

Read an Excerpt

Feather-leaved Palms, Tree-cacti, and Yuccas (Plate 48) These feather-leaved palms are native in s. Florida and have ring- scarred trunks free of old leafstalk bases. Their leafstalks are not thorny. The only tree cacti in the eastern U.S. occur in s. Florida. The yuccas range more widely.

FLORIDA ROYALPALM Roystonea elata (Bartr.) F. Harper Pl. 48 The smooth, cement-colored and bulging lower trunk topped by a smooth bright-green crownshaft cylinder is distinctive. Ring scars faint. Fronds 15' or longer. Frond segments do not lie flat but grow all around the midrib. Height to 125'. Flowers greenish white, developing from a spearlike green spathe at the base of the 5'–6' long crownshaft. Fruits blue to purple, 1-2" in diameter, leathery. Rich soils, hammocks (swamp islands).

Table of Contents

Editor’s Note vii Preface ix Illustrated Plan of the Six Main Sections xvi–xvii How to Use This Book 1 Tree Silhouettes 19 PLATES 33 SPECIES ACCOUNTS 153 I. Trees with Needlelike or Scalelike Leaves Mostly Evergreen (Plates 1–5) 155 Conifers with Needles in Clusters: Larches and Pines I (Plate 1) 156 Conifers with Needles in Clusters: Pines II (Plate 2) 163 Conifers with Needles Short on Woody Pegs: Spruces (Plate 3) 173 Conifers with Flat Needles (Plate 4) 175 Conifers with Scalelike or Three-sided Hollow Leaves (Plate 5) 180 Needle-bearing Non-Conifers 185

II. Broad-leaved Trees with Opposite Compound Leaves (Plates 6–9) 187 Trees with Opposite Fan-compound Leaves: Buckeyes and Chastetree (Plate 6) 188 Small Trees with Opposite Compound Leaves: Bladdernut and Elderberry (Plate 7) 192 Trees with Opposite Feather-compound Leaves: Ashes I (Plate 8) 194 Trees with Opposite Feather-compound Leaves: Ashes II and Ashleaf Maple (Plate 9) 196

III. Broad-leaved Trees with Opposite Simple Leaves (Plates 10–14) 199 Trees with Opposite or Whorled Heart-shaped Leaves: Princess-tree and Catalpas (Plate 10) 200 Trees with Opposite Lobed Leaves: Maples (Plate 11) 202 Trees with Opposite Simple Fine-toothed Leaves (Plate 12) 208 Trees with Opposite Simple Leaves, Not Toothed and Mostly Leathery (Plate 13) 213 Trees with Opposite Simple Leaves Neither Toothed nor Leathery (Plate 14) 218

IV. Broad-leaved Trees with Alternate Compound Leaves (Plates 15–22) 224 Thorny Trees with Alternate Feather-compound Leaves (Plate 15) 225 Walnuts and Similar Trees (Plate 16) 233 Hickories I: Pecans (Plate 17) 239 Hickories II: Shagbarks (Plate 18) 241 Hickories III: Pignuts (Plate 19) 243 Sumacs and Relatives (Plate 20) 245 Trees with Alternate Once-compound Leaves Not Toothed (Plate 21) 248 Thornless Trees with Twice-compound Leaves (Plate 22) 252

V. Broad-leaved Trees with Alternate Simple Leaves (Plates 23–46) 255 Thorny Trees with Alternate Toothed Leaves (Plate 23) 256 Thorny Trees with Alternate Leaves Not Toothed (Plate 24) 261 Trees with Alternate Fan-lobed Leaves (Plate 25) 264 Trees with Alternate Fan-veined and Triangular or Heart-shaped Leaves (Plate 26) 270 Poplars and Tallowtree (Plate 27) 275 Oaks I: Leaves Feather-lobed with Bristle Tips (Plate 28) 284 Oaks II: Leaves Feather-lobed without Bristle Tips (Plate 29) 292 Oaks III: Leaves Wavy-edged or Toothed (Plate 30) 295 Oaks IV: Leaves Typically Smooth-edged (Plate 31) 298 Trees with Alternate Coarse-edged Leaves (Plate 32) 303 Elms and Water-elm (Plate 33) 307 Birches (Plate 34) 312 Other Trees with Mostly Double-toothed Leaves and/or Small Woody Cones (Plate 35) 318 Cherries and Peach (Plate 36) 322 Thornless Plums (Plate 37) 326 Willows I: Leaves Very Narrow to Medium in Width 331 (Plate 38) Willows II: Leaves Relatively Wide (Plate 39) 335 Deciduous Hollies (Plate 40) 339 Evergreen Hollies (Plate 41) 342 Miscellaneous Trees with Alternate Toothed Leaves (Plate 42) 344 Miscellaneous Trees with Alternate Leaves Sometimes Toothed (Plate 43) 351 Trees with Leaves Neither Toothed nor Evergreen (Plate 44) 357 Magnolias (Plate 45) 362 Trees with Leathery Evergreen Leaves Mostly Not Toothed (Plate 46) 366

VI. Palms, Cacti, and Yuccas (Plates 47–48) 372 Fan-leaved Palms (Plate 47) 373 Feather-leaved Palms, Tree-cacti, and Yuccas (Plate 48) 376

VII. Trees Found Only in Florida 379

Appendix A. Key to Leafless Trees 387 Appendix B. Plant Relationships 393 Glossary 398 References 404 Photo Credits 407 Index 409