Kelleys Island - Craig's Tree List

Craig's Tree List
	Craig Morton is our State Park Manager and has been for 8 years. Amongst his varied interests he is especially partial to trees, that being his field of study while attending Hocking College. We are happy to share his observations about the tree life on Kelleys Island with you.
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	Dogwood Cornus drummondii Roughleaf dogwood is a thicket-forming shrub or small tree found all over the island. It is recognized by the rough, upper leaf surfaces and white fruit. It spreads from root sprouts and provides cover for birds and wildlife.
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	Silver Maple Acer saccharinum The silver maple occurs rarely except on moist land and along streams. It attains heights of 100 feet or more and diameters of 3 feet or over.
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	Red Mulberry Morus rubra The red mulberry is a small tree, rarely 50 feet high and 2 feet in diameter, often growing in the shade of larger trees. The fruit is dark red or black and resembels a blackberry. The fruit is sweet and edible and greatly relished by birds and animals.
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	Waferash (Common Hoptree) Ptelea trifoliata The waferash has a straight, slender trunk, 6 to 8 inches in diameter and seldom reaches a height of more than 20 feet. The bark and leaves of this small tree are bitter, strong scented, and posses tonic qualities.
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	Yellow Buckeye Aesculus octandra The yellow buckeye, also called sweet buckeye reaches a height of 110 feet and a diameter of 4 feet. The leaves are opposite, compound, with 5 and sometimes 7 leaflets. Rich bottomlands and lower slopes are its favorite home.
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	White Ash Fraxinus americana White ash reaches a height of 50 to 80 feet and a diameter of 2 to 3 feet, though much larger trees are found in virgin forests. The bark varies in color from a light gray to a gray-brown. The leaves are from 8 to 12 inches long and have from 5 to 9 plainly stalked, sharp-pointed leaflets, dark green and smooth above, pale green beneath.
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	Green Ash Fraximus pennsylvanica Green Ash is found along streams. This tree attains a height of 50 feet, has spreading branches and a trunk ranging up to 2 feet in diameter. The twigs are smooth, round, and ashy gray marked by pale lenticels and rusty bud scales. The flowers are small, the male and female occurring on different trees. The leaves are bright or yellowish green on both sides. The fruit is flat and winged, with the winged portion extending well down past the middle of the seed bearing part, and with the wing sometimes square or slightly notched at the outer end.
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	Black Walnut Juglans nigra This valuable forest tree occurs on rich bottomlands and moist fertile hillsides. It frequently attains a height of 100 feet with a straight stem, clear of branches for half of its height. The leaves are alternate compound, 1 to 2 feet long, consisting of from 15 to 23 leaflets of a yellowish-green olor. The leaflets are about 3 inches long, extremely tapering at the end, and toothed along the margin. The bark is thick, dark brown in color and divided by rather deep fissures into rounded ridges.
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	Honeylocust Gleditsia, triacanthos The Honeylocust tree is a member of the Pea family, native to the eastern United States. It is medium sized, with a short, thorny, trunk and dark brown bark that breaks into long, flat ridges. Its oval seeds are contained in twelve inch, twisted, straplike pods. The alternate leaves are singly or doubly compound, with elliptical leaflets. Their delicacy creates a uniquely irregular, open, and lacy crown.
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	American Basswood Tilia, americana This tree reaches a height of 70 to 80 feet and sprouts freely. It transplants easily, grows rapidly, and produces useful wood. The leaves are simple, alternate, roundish, 4 to 7 inches long, firm in texture and toothed along the margin.
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	Slippery Elm Ulmus rubra Although well distributed throughout Ohio, the slippery, or red, elm is nowhere abundant. It does best on rich, moist, but well-drained soils along stream banks, bottomlands, and wooded slopes. Its leaves, unlike those of American elm, are sandpaper rough on both sides. Its name refers to the slippery, fragrant inner bark.
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	Osage-orange Maclura pomifera It was introduced into rural Ohio during the 1800s, when it was planted extensively for fencerows. Its stiff, thorny, interlacing branches made Osage-orange a living form of barbed wire. The wood, which is very durable in contact with the soil, was also used for fence posts.
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	Shagbark Hickory Carya ovata The shagbark hickory grows in southern Ontario and Quebec, as well as in the central United States. This majestic tree grows 30 feet high and can live about 200 years. Its oval leaf consists of 5 to 7 very pointed leaflets.
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	Sugar Maple Acer saccharum This tree attains a height of more than 100 feet and a diameter of 3 feet or more. The sap yields maple sugar and maple syrup. The leaves are 3 to 5 inches across, simple, opposite with 3 to 5 pointed and sparsely toothed lobes, the divisions between the lobes being rounded. the leaves are dark green on the upper surface and lighter green beneath, turning in autumn to brilliant shades of dark red, scarlet, orange and yellow. The fruit which ripens in the fall, consists of a two-winged samara, the two wings nearly parallel and about 1 inch in length.
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	Northern Red Oak Quercus borealis maxima It usually attains a height of 70 feet and a diameter ranging from 2 to 3 feet, but is sometimes much larger. The bark on young trees is smooth, gray to brown, on older trees thick and broken by shallow fissures into regular, flat, smooth surfaced plants. The leaves are simple, alternate, 5 to 9 inches long and 4 to 6 inches wide, broader toward the tip, divided into 7 to 9 lobes, each lobe being somewhat coarsely toothed.
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	Eastern Hophornbeam Ostrya virginiana This tree gets its name from the qualities of its wood and the hop like fruit. It is a small, slender, generally rounded topped tree, from 20 to 30 feet high and 7 to 10 inches in diameter. The bark is mostly light brown or reddish brown, and finely divided into thin scales. The leaves are simple, alternate, generally oblong with narrowed tips, sharply toothed along the margin and are from 2 to 3 inches long.
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	Quaking Aspen Populus tremuloides The aspen is a small to medium sized tree, reaching heights of 80 feet and diameters of 20 inches. The young branchlets are reddish-brown and shiny, after the first year turning to gray and becoming roughened. The leaves are alternate along the stem, broadly oval, short pointed at the end, and toothed along the margin, with small swellings or glands on the teeth. The fruit ripens in late spring or early summer before the full expansion of the leaves and contains tiny rounded seeds.
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	Ohio Buckeye Aeculus glubra It reaches a height of 60 to 70 feet and a diameter of 18 to 24 inches. The trunk is usually short, limby, and knotty. The bark is light gray. The leaves are compound, or star shaped, opposite on the stem with 5 or more leaflets. The leaves usually turn yellow in the summer, and then fall off.
Last updated on July 31, 2006