Chickasaw Plum Prunus angustifolia

Chickasaw Plum Prunus angustifolia. A thicket forming, twiggy bush which has sharp thorns along the branches, this fruit tree is common on open land along water courses and road sides.  Blooming later than P umbellate, which produces umbels of flowers on the ends of stems, Chickasaw Plum produces white flowers along the full length of stems, making a display of total white “bottle brushes”.  The ½” fruit begins green, turns red, then yellow when it is ripe.  The leaves are soft and serrated along the edges, but longer and thinner than P umbellate.  Like other members of the cherry and plum family, the leaves are toxic to livestock and rabbits.  Each individual, sweetly fragrant flower is composed of 5 oval petals surrounding a central pistol with many filamentous stamen.  Known clumps are most prevalent under the power lines along the DORBA trails. (401) 3/21/19; 20 no obs;

3/21/19

Note: Chickasaw Plum blooming with masses of fragrant, white flowers from nodes along entire stems

Note; thicket forming habit of Chickasaw Plum

Note; dense masses of blooms along entire stems

Note; leaf bearing twigs can form into long, sharp thorns along the small, twiggy trunks.

Willow; Western Black Willow

Willow; Western Black Willow Silax nigra var. vallicola Dudley;. A fast growing, tall, thin tree found along stream beds or ponds, with narrow, strap-like leaves up to 3” long with a finely toothed margin.  S. nigra does not produce the long switches, such as those put out by weeping willow, but brittle twigs.  Trunks are covered in grey, shaggy, papery bark, which give cover for many small critters, so the name ‘black’ is a misnomer, as the wood is white.  It flowers in catkins covered with soft yellow hair, female trees soon producing strings of fluffy cotton pods which carry the tiny seeds on the wind. Normally deciduous, turning bright yellow in the fall, leaves can remain if it does not frost. The wood rots quickly, so even large limbs break easily, and even large dead trunks topple easily.  (95-96) 15 no obs (cotton 5/30/15); 3/28/17- ; 18 no obs (cotton 5/20/18); 5/1/19 (cotton 6/10/19); 4/25/20 (cotton 6/10/19);

Willow; Sand-Bar Willow

Willow; Sand-Bar Willow Silax interior Rowley;.  Untypical of willows, this Silax is a low growing, tough, scraggly bush with narrow, leathery, toothed leaves alternating along straight, brittle stems.  This willow reproduces from roots as well as seeds, forming expanding clumps.  Although it prefers alluvial sand and gravel along stream beds and road-side ditches, it is often found on bare limestone, even where there is no shallow water table.  New shoots can bud from nodes along old stems or trunks, giving it a brushy, bristly appearance.  Plants are either male or female.  Both produce catkins, but female catkins are much larger (2-3”) and are the only ones to convert, in the fall, to masses of white, fibrous achenes that carry seeds on the wind.  (96) 4/22/17- ; 18 no obs (achenes 10/20/18); 19 no obs; 20 no obs;

Sandbar Willow habit; a scraggly, arching bush found along road ditches, alluvial gravel beds or bare limestone, with long, narrow, toothed foliage and tiny catkins, which in female plants, convert to tufted, fibrous achenes.

Note; new shoots grow from old trunks, making them look scraggly and rough

Note; the dark grey bark is rough and thin, but lacks corky ridges

Note; long, strap like leaves with coarsely toothed margins are born alternately along new stems

Note; fall flush of achenes turn female plants white with what look like flowers

Note; panicles of tuft like achenes

 

Viburnum, Rusty Blackhaw

Viburnum; Rusty Blackhaw Viburnum Viburnum rufidulum Raf;.  A small, understory, evergreen tree with cubed, but not ridged, corky bark, V rufidulum yearly produces new sprigs of glossy green, oval leaves with a very finely toothed margin, arranged in opposite pairs along the stems, completely lacking any drip-tip.  New stems, often long arching suckers off of the main trunk and branches, have a slight layer of rusty colored fuzz, giving the plant its descriptive name. Panicles of small, white, tube flowers that are mildly fragrant, bud from the ends of new growth.  The short tube ends in a corolla of 5 petals, with five white stamen, each tipped with a yellow anther, protruding beyond the profile of the flower, giving the bunches a slightly fuzzy look. The fruit are oblong, dark blue drupe with a single seed. Viburnum cultivars are popular in hedges, both for their yearly bloom of large, showy bunches of white flowers, and their glossy, evergreen foliage. (957-958) 3/30 – 4/15/15; 3/15 – 4/5/16; 3/22/17 – 4/7/17; 3/28/18; 19 no obs; 3/25/20;

Note; terminal bunches of white tube flowers that unfold into a corolla with 5 petals, the white stamen tipped with yellow anthers protrude beyond the profile of the flowers, giving the bunches a fuzzy look

Rusty Blackhaw habit; an evergreen, understory shrub with dark, corky bark, glossy foliage, and showy bunches of white flowers that convert to oblong blue drupes

Note; the dark bark is corky and divided into cubes, not furrowed ridges.

Note; bright, evergreen, glossy, oval leaves with very fine serration along the margins, are arranged in opposite pairs along stems, completely lacking any drip-tip

Poison Ivy

Poison Ivy; Poison Ivy Toxicodendron radicans L;.  A variable, noxious plant that grows as a clinging vine on tree trunks, or free-standing as a low, weak, or sprawling plant with reddish stems which sports coarsely toothed trifoliate leaves, and occasionally white berries.  Clusters of tiny (3/16”) green and yellow flowers, composed of 5 fleshy petals arranged around a yellowish disk of stamens and a white pistol, bud from old leaf scars, turning into smooth white berries, which some birds can eat without ill effects.  The glossy, compound leaves come in sets of three leaflets, each of which is deeply indented into three or five pointed lobes.  The leaves are generally small (2-3”) in upright plants, but much larger (4-6”) in the vine form.  Some vine forms have an extra set of leaves, arranged as a compound leaf of 5 leaflets. Vines attach to tree trunks with dense mats of roots, much like Virginia Creeper, but can be easily stripped off.  Rhizomes burrow through leaf litter, spreading underground.  The general rule, “Leaves of three, leave them be” was coined to warn people of the bad rash touching Poison Ivy leaves can induce.  Although there are other plants which bear leaves in sets of three (Ash, Hops, Skunk Berry), they are shaped differently.  Poison Ivy prefers acid soils around Juniper trees, reaching larger sizes near water.  Goats can graze the leaves with no ill effects.  Poison Ivy rash generally lasts two weeks, but lathering the rash with Burt’s Bees poison ivy soap can cut down on the itch and shorten the duration to days.  If exposed to leaves, wash with soap and cold water, as hot water may drive the poison into pores.  Do not attempt homeopathic remedies that involve drinking tea made from the leaves, for this has led to horrible reactions.  A few lucky individuals seem not to react to poison ivy.  Poison ivy cannot tolerate full sun, and is easy to eradicate by pulling runners out of the ground (guarding the skin with rubber gloves).  Do not burn dried plants, as the smoke can carry the toxic resin into the lungs. Leaves turn a dark red in the Fall.  (638-641) 4/13/15 – 5/15/15; 4/5/16; 3/10/17 – 4/10/17; 18 no obs; 4/1/19; 4/9/20;

Poison Ivy habit; a variable plant that may be a free standing, weak reddish stem, or a vine that climbs trees with short clinging roots, like Virginia creeper, or an Ivy, with trifoliate leaves and small greenish-yellow flowers that convert to white berries.

Note; glossy green leaves come in sets of three pointed, egg-shaped leaflets with coarsely toothed margins.  Some leaves have 5 leaflets.

Note; small spikes of greenish, fleshy flowers with five petals arranged around a ring of yellowish stamen, with a central, white pistol, are born from old leaf axils.

Note; flowers convert to greenish berries, which turn white when mature.

Note: leaves turn bright red in the fall

Pecan

Pecan; Pecan Carya illinoensis Koch. Better known for the commercially grown Paper-Shell Pecan, which have larger nuts with thin shells, native Pecan (known as Nueces in Mexico) tend to be a smaller tree, which have smaller nuts with hard shells.  Pecans are a tall, deciduous tree with lanky, brittle branches, lined with flaking rather than corky bark.  The compound pinnate leaves have an odd number of elliptical leaflets with smooth margins, the leaflets arranged in opposite pairs along a central rib, with a single leaflet at the tip.  The wood is soft and brown, and has a strong odor.  Catkins appear in spring, budding from the leaf axils of new growth.  The fruit begin as oblong, green ovals with four ridges, nuts ripen in October-November as the fibrous casques ripen, turn black and split along the seams, allowing the nut to fall out, or be shaken out.  Nuts with the husks still attached are usually spoiled.  Though no wild Pecans grow in the ILC, they are plentiful in other forested areas, constituting an important winter food source for rodents and wild boar.  Many domesticated trees, grafted from Paper-Shell cultivars, have been planted on the ILC.  (127-128 Vines) 5/1/20

Pecan habit; a very tall, leggy tree with scaly rather than corky bark, bearing alternating, compound pinnate leaves and reproducing through catkins which convert to clusters of edible nuts

Note; catkins are produced from new growth after the leaves have budded out

Note; compound pinnate leaves arranged in an alternating pattern around stems have an odd number of lanceolate leaflets with finely serrated margins, arranged as opposite pairs with one terminal leaflet

Note; green, oblong fruit, in clusters of 3-5, are composed of a fibrous casque, split by four seams, surrounding a thin shelled nut.

Note; husks turn black and split along seams, allowing the smooth, brown nuts to fall out

Plum; Flatwoods Plum

Plum; Flatwoods Plum Prunus umbellate Ell;. Southern forests host many variable, similar scraggly, deciduous, understory plums with distinctive, dark scaly bark and twigs that end in a sharp, hard thorn.  Oval shaped leaves with a finely serrated margin and prominent drip-tip, alternate along short stems, which become a sharp thorn when the leaves drop.  Plums are the first fruit trees to flower in the spring (late Feb to early March), umbels of fragrant, white blossoms ½ – ¾” across (no pix) budding from last year’s twigs before new leaves develop. Each flower is composed of 5 oval petals surrounding a central pistol and a dome of filamentous stamen.  Early blooms risk late frosts or ice-storms, in which case the tree may produce a second, smaller bloom. The small ( ½ – ¾ ”), light purple, pulpy fruit, ripening between June and July, are somewhat dry and tart, but are sweet enough to be eaten.  The pit is round and flattened. The wood is a dark brown with slightly darker striations.  It is common on shallow lime-stone soil, but grows well in deeper, moist bottom lands too. Also known locally as Chickasaw Plum. (401) 3/5 – 27/15; 2/22/16 – 3/14/16 (fruit 6/15/16); 2/18/17 – 3/15/17; 3/6/18 – 3/20/18; 2/18/20 – 3/10/20;

Note; umbels of white fragrant flowers with multiple stamen budding from leaf nodes on last year’s twigs

Flatwoods Plum habit; a slightly scraggly understory tree with distinctive, scaly bark and long, woody thorns, bearing soft, alternating, oval leaves with finely serrated margins, producing umbels of fragrant, white flowers composed of 5 petals arranged around a dome of stamen.

Note; the scaly bark is nearly black in color, mottled with dark grey

Note; younger stems have smooth, light grey bark which peels away revealing a mahogany color

Note; the alternating leaves are an elliptical oval with a finely serrated margin and a prominent drip tip.

Note; Flatwood Plum bear flowers in loose clusters

Mulberry; Red Mulberry

Mulberry; Red Mulberry Morus rubra L;. A large, fast growing, soft wood, deciduous tree with a spreading crown, scaly, dark grey bark, and springy branches which was introduced from the Pacific Islands for its shade and fruit.  The large (4-8” long), soft leaves, asymmetrically rounded, sometimes trilobed, with a rough texture, a pointed drip-tip and finely toothed margin, are arranged in an alternating pattern along new stems.  The inconspicuous flowers, born from each leaf node, are fuzzy little catkin like spikes, which rapidly convert to green fruit, which first turns white, then flushes to dark red when ripe.  No pistols emerge from the flesh, as with the Black and Texas varieties, giving the composite berries a smooth outline.  Most of the fruit is eaten by wildlife and birds, but are edible to humans.  Red Mulberry originated in a wet climate, and prefers low forested areas with deep soil. It has escaped cultivation, but only competes with local flora where there is plenty of water.  The bark has a thick, mesh-like under-bark layer that can be pounded, washed, and pressed to make “cloth”, such as Tapia, traditionally prepared in Polynesia.  In fact, a common archaeological item in places where certain trees are used for cloth are heavy, flattened and checked rock “clubs” used for pounding out bark.  (215-216) 4/7/15 (drupe 5/14/15; 3/25/16 (drupe 4/29/16); 3/8/17-3/25/17; 18 no obs; 3/23/19 (drupe 5/25/19); 3/25/20 (drupe 5/10/20;

Red Mulberry habit; a large, spreading tree with scaly (rather than furrowed) bark, large, rough, soft leaves, bearing axillary catkin flowers that convert to juicy red composite fruit

Note; slightly asymmetrical, rounded leaves, occasionally three lobed, with a finely toothed margin and distinct drip-tip, arranged alternately along new stems

Note; inconspicuous, fuzzy catkin like flowers bud from the axils of each leaf on new stems.

Note; hanging composite fruit, composed of tiny, tightly packed, juicy berries, which begin green, turn white, then dark red when ripe.  The juice stains clothing red.

Note; Red Mulberry fruit are much bigger than Texas Mulberry, and no spike like pistols emerge from the berries

China-berry

China-berry; China-Berry/ Neem/Umbrella Tree Melia azedarch L;.  It is illegal to intentionally plant this invasive, soft, fast growing, deciduous tree, which germinates easily from ½” pulpy, yellow seeds, for it crowds out local vegetation.  The dark blueish-green trunk is smooth with light furrowing when young, becoming somewhat rough when older, but never deeply furrowed.  China-berry loses its leaves in the fall, growing new clusters of long, compound serrate leaflets on the ends of long branches every spring.  Clusters of pleasantly fragrant, lavender and purple flowers, each with 5 narrow petals surrounding a purple central tube, bud from the axils of new leaves in March, making a nice centerpiece while they last.  The leaves have a strong odor, and when crushed and immersed in water are used as insecticide elsewhere.  In some places the fruit is pulped in water to make medicine for round worms, but the fermented fruit itself can be poisonous. Medicinal uses refer to the tree as Neem, or Arobaini (40 in Arbic), for the reputed 40 applications, while those who plant it for shade refer to is Umbrella Tree for its rounded canopy.  Common in disturbed forests, especially where there is ample moisture. (602) 4/16/15-5/10/15; 4/10/16; 3/20/17-4/15/17; 4/15/18-5/10/18; 4/21/19; 4/9/20 – 5/9/20;

China-berry habit; a fast growing, invasive tree with soft wood, relatively smooth, greenish bark, and a rounded, open canopy, bearing fragrant, lavender flowers which convert to oval, yellow berries.

Note; clumps of coarsely toothed, compound pinnate leaves, each leaflet deeply toothed, are arranged in an alternating spiral, budding from the ends of long stems each spring,

Note; panicles of attractive, if small, heavily fragrant, lavender and purple flowers bud from this the axillary nodes of this year’s leaves

Note; five narrow, lavender petals surrounding a frilled, purple central tube that houses pistol and stamen, tipped with cream anthers

Note; round, green fruit surrounding a single seed, which turns yellow when ripe, falling in the spring

Note; fall colors yellow, with yellow berries

Ash; Hercules-Club Prickly-Ash

Ash; Hercules-Club Prickly-Ash (Toothache Tree) Zanthoxylum clava-herculis L;.  A small understory tree with sharp thorns on young stems, which become corky protuberances with age.  The deciduous, pinnate leaves have twin spines between each pair of leaflets.  The odd number of leaflets (one terminal leaflet) each have a finely toothed margin, which produce a strong, lemony smell when crushed, and a stinging or burning sensation when chewed.  Chewing the leaves temporarily numbs the tongue and relieves toothache, earning it the nickname “Toothache Tree”. Small clusters of white flowers form from tips of new growth each year, producing green berries which turn dark when ripe.  The white wood is soft, and rots quickly.  (594-595) 4/28/15-5/15/15, 17 no obs; 4/25/18; 19 not recrd; 20 no obs;

Prickly Ash habit; a deciduous understory tree with compound, with alternating leaves along new stems, each pair of leaflets guarded by a pair of sharp thorns.  Thorns on the trunk reduced to corky knobs, clumps of small green flowers budding from new growth.

Note; sharp spines on young stems, which turn to corky protuberances with age

Note; twin sharp spines between pairs of leaflets of compound leaves

Note; leaflets have a finely serrated margin, and a sharp, spicy smell and taste when crushed or chewed,

Note; chewing the leaves numbs the mouth and tongue, earning it the moniker “toothache” bush

Note; white flowers (April) from leaf nodes