Acer saccharinum - Silver Maple

Acer saccharinum: Acer is the Latin name for maples; saccharinum refers to the tree's sweet sap. This species yields about half the amount of sugar as A. saccharum.

Native to wet floodplain forests in the Eastern United States.
Deeply 5-lobed leaves with sharply serrate margins are dark green on top, but silvery grey underneath, giving the tree its common name.
Yellow to orange to red fall color, often seen all together.
Tiny corymbs of red polygamous, apetalous flowers in late winter (~March) before the tree leafs out.
Samaras with twin seeds are joined at almost 180º. Fruit matures in late spring and persists through the summer.
Bark is light silver-grey, turning darker grey with maturity with narrow fissures and scaly plates.

Quercus palustris - Pin Oak

Moderately fast growing tree with a pyramidal form, often with upper branches reaching up, middle branches reaching horizontally, and lower branches swooping downward.
Simple leaves up to 10" long are 5-7 lobed with rounded sinuses and pointed pin-like protrusions at the tips.
Wide acorns with a shallow cup mature in the fall of the second season.
Smooth grayish brown bark with shallow vertical furrows.

Prunus caroliniana - Carolina Laurel Cherry

Fast growing, round headed, evergreen tree.
Simple shiny lanceolate leaves with red petioles. Flowers held in 2" racemes.
Terminal white, slightly fragrant flowers in spring.
Fruits are juicy black-skinned drupes.
Smooth medium gray trunk.

Robinia pseudoacacia - Black Locust

Robinia pseudoacacia: Robinia, named for Jean Robin, gardener for Henri IV and Louis XIII. He received new plants from Canada; pseudoacacia, meaning "false acacia."

Tall, narrow, fast-growing tree with a round head.
Pinnately compound leaves 12" long with oval leaflets.
White pea-like flowers. Not all cultivars have a scent.
Flowers held in 4"-8" long racemes.
Prolific production of seed pods / legumes in summer and fall.
Twigs are reddish brown with 1/2" spines.
Grey to tan bark tends to furrow in diamond patterns. Wood is brittle.

Taxodium distichum - Bald Cypress

Taxodium distichum: Taxodium, from Greek meaning “resembling a yew,” because the yew has a similar leaf shape; distichum, referring to its two-ranked needles.

Fine textured deciduous conifer, similar to Metasequoia glyptostroboides, but T. distichum tends to be somewhat shorter and leafs out later. T. distichum is much less common than M. glyptostroboides in the Bay Area landscape.
Needles are pointed. Compare to M. glyptostroboides' rounded needles.
Round golf ball-sized cones in fall.
Found near New Orleans in swamps, where it puts up 'knees' (seen in the foreground), which provide oxygen to the roots.
Reddish brown fibrous and shallowly fissured bark peeling in thin strips.

Liriodendron tulipifera - Tulip Tree

Liriodendron tulipifera: Liriodendron, from the Greek leirion meaning lily and dendron meaning tree; tulipifera, meaning 'tulip-bearing'.

Not to be confused with Magnolia x soulangeana, which is also sometimes referred to as Tulip Tree.

Coarse-textured tree with a pyramidal, excurrent growth habit.
Simple 4-lobed leaves 5-6" long with a notched truncate tip.

Greenish-yellow and orange tulip-shaped flowers in May and June. However, trees often don't bloom until 10-15 years old when the blossoms themselves are typically high in the tree's canopy.
Good yellow fall color.
Bark is smooth and dark green, becoming gray-brown and furrowed with age.

Cornus florida - Flowering Dogwood

Cornus florida: Cornus is the Latin name for the Cornelian Cherry (Cornus mas); florida, producing abundant flowers.

Also known as Eastern Dogwood

Showy flower display before leaf out.
Buds open like a little balloon.
Showy 'petals' on flowers are actually bracts, or modified leaves.
True flowers.
Simple green leaves with arcuate veination, simple to undulate margins.
Showy yellow to red fall color, depending on climate.
Fruits are bright red bitter-tasting drupes, sometimes remaining after fall leaf drop.
Reddish-grey bark becomes darker and fissured or checkered with age.

Liquidambar styraciflua - Sweet Gum

Liquidambar styraciflua: Liquidambar, from the Latin 'liquidus' for 'liquid' and 'ambar' for 'amber', referring to the fragrant resin found in this species; styraciflua, flowing with gum.

Vertical excurrent habit.
Yellow variegated leaves on cv. 'Aurea'.
Red to purple to orange to yellow fall color, dependent on cv.
Fruits are round, burr-like seed pods.

Bark smooth gray to grayish brown, becoming furrowed with age.

Nyssa sylvatica - Sour Gum

also known as Tupelo or Black Gum

Nyssa sylvatica - Nyssa, named for Nyssa, a Greek water nymph; sylvatica, growing in forest or woods.







Horizontal branching habit is common and apparent in winter silhouette.