Trees in Your Pocket: A Guide to Trees of the Upper Midwest

by Thomas Rosburg

Overview

Valued for their lumber, their shade, and the beauty of their flowers and foliage as well as the nuts that nourish wildlife and humans alike, trees play important economic, ecological, and aesthetic roles in our lives. From honey and black locusts to white and chinkapin oaks to yellow and river birches, Trees in Your Pocket gives us identification and natural history information for about forty prominent deciduous species found in the Upper Midwest states of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa, and Missouri.   Botanist Tom Rosburg provides diagnostic color photographs of leaves, acorns and other fruits, and bark along with descriptions of leaves, fruits, and measurements of blades. The composition, arrangement, shape, and margin of leaves are most important for tree identification. Fruits can help confirm identification of species with similar leaves. The bark of a tree can be very helpful for identifying some species; as a tree ages, older bark (lower on the tree) can be quite different from younger bark (higher and on branches). In addition to these essential markers, Rosburg gives information about the range, habitat—savannas, moist forests, dry slopes, sandy soils, and so on—life-span, and tolerance of shade, fire, drought, and flood.  

Each state in this region maintains a Big Tree program that honors the largest individual tree of each species. Champion trees are determined by adding together measurements of trunk circumference, height, and canopy spread. Rosburg identifies the trees with the largest diameter and the tallest trees among the champion trees in the Upper Midwest by their county and state. Together his superb photographs and key information make this guide the perfect companion for enjoying the diversity of trees in all kinds of environments. 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781609381400
Publisher:	University of Iowa Press
Publication date:	10/15/2012
Series:	Bur Oak Guide
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	16
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Thomas Rosburg, a professor of biology at Drake University, has received thePrairie Advocate Award from the Iowa Prairie Network, the? Governor’s Iowa Environmental Excellence Award, the ?Loess Hills Preservation Society Special Recognition Award, and the Iowa Chapter of the Sierra Club’s Environmental Educator Award. He is the photographer for the second editions of both Wildflowers of the Tallgrass Prairie: The Upper Midwest (Iowa, 2009) and Wildflowers and Other Plants of Iowa Wetlands (Iowa, forthcoming). 

Table of Contents

Bur oak Downy hawthorn or red haw Red elm or slippery elm Ohio buckeye Black walnut Green ash Silver maple Paper birch Redbud Black locust American basswood Eastern cottonwood Black willow Common buckthorn