Know Your Natives – Hop Hornbeam
Hop Hornbeam (Ostrya virginiana) of the Birch (Betulaceae) family is a woodland to woodland-margin tree with staminate (male) and pistillate (female) catkins on the same tree (a monoecious species). The genus name is based on Latin and Greek words for “scale” in reference to prominent scale-like bracts on early catkins.…
Know Your Natives – Rough Leaf Dogwood
Rough Leaf Dogwood (Cornus drummondii) of the Dogwood (Cornaceae) family is a small, deciduous tree with opposite leaves, open clusters of small white flowers, and striking, decorative white fruit. The genus name derives from the Latin for “horn” in apparent reference to the hardness of the wood. The specific epithet…
Know Your Natives – Winged Sumac
Winged Sumac (Rhus copallinum*) of the Cashew (Anacardiaceae) family is a deciduous shrub or small tree that forms clonal colonies from lateral roots. Rhus is the old Greek and Latin name for sumac. The specific epithet, based on an Aztec word, translates as “resinous,” in reference to its sap, or…
Know Your Natives – Carolina Buckthorn
Carolina Buckthorn (Frangula caroliniana, formerly Rhamnus caroliniana) of the Buckthorn (Rhamnaceae) family is an elegant, thornless (!), deciduous shrub or small tree, with simple shining leaves and red to black berry-like fruits. (The tiny, whitish flowers are easily overlooked.) The genus name originates from the word “frangible” meaning “easily broken.”…
Know Your Natives – Pawpaw
Pawpaw (Asimina triloba) of the Custard Apple (Annonaceae) family is a small deciduous understory tree with edible fruit. It is widespread in the deciduous forests of the eastern U.S., from eastern Texas and southeastern Nebraska, east across southern Michigan to the Atlantic Coast from Pennsylvania to northern Florida. In Arkansas…
Know Your Natives – Red Buckeye
Red buckeye (Aesculus pavia var. pavia*) of the recently expanded Soapberry (Sapindaceae) family–it now includes the maples from the former Aceraceae as well as the buckeyes and horse-chestnuts previously classified in the Hippocastanaceae–has large, showy red inflorescences in early spring. The genus name, a classical name for an oak tree,…
Know Your Natives – Downy Serviceberry
Downy serviceberry (Amelanchier arborea) of the Rose (Rosaceae) family is a small tree or large shrub that produces showy white flowers very early in spring. The genus name likely originates from a common name of the type species of the genus, Amelanchier ovalis, a European species. The specific epithet translates…
Know Your Natives – American Holly
American holly (Ilex opaca var. opaca*) of the Holly (Aquifoliaceae) family is a broad-leaf evergreen tree frequently used for Christmas decorations. In the U.S., it occurs from Texas to Illinois east to Massachusetts and thence south and east to the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts. The genus name comes from scientific…
Know Your Natives – Rusty Blackhaw
Rusty blackhaw (Viburnum rufidulum) of the Arrow-wood (Adoxaceae) family, formerly of the Honeysuckle (Caprifoliaceae) family, is a small deciduous tree or large shrub (referred to as “tree” herein) with a year-round attractive appearance. It occurs in the U.S. from Texas to Kansas to Ohio to Virginia and thence into states…
Know Your Natives – Ohio Buckeye
Ohio Buckeye (Aesculus glabra) of the Soapberry (Sapindaceae) Family, formerly of the Horsechestnut (Hippocastanaceae) family, is a medium to large deciduous tree with opposite, palmately compound leaves. It is native from central Texas to western Pennsylvania and as far north as central Iowa to southern Michigan and south into northern…
Know Your Natives – Alder
Alder (Alnus serrulata) of the Birch (Betulaceae) family is a deciduous shrub found in the U.S. from Texas to Kansas to Maine and thence east and south to the borders. This shrub, the only species in the Alnus genus in Arkansas, is found throughout most of the state except for portions…
Trees of Arkansas Is Now User-Friendly with Full Color Pictures
The tried and true handbook of the Arkansas Forestry Commission, Dwight Moore’s Trees of Arkansas, has been reissued (2014) in a smart, new, user-friendly, and full-color edition. Moore’s book dates back to 1950, when the author revised Lewis M. Turner’s 1937 manual of the same name. For more than 60…
Know Your Natives – Overcup Oak
Overcup Oak Overcup Oak (Quercus lyrata) is a species of oak in the White Oak Group. It favors bottomland forests and is tolerant of wet, clay soils. This oak is identified by the cup, which often completely encloses the acorn. It is found mainly in the southeastern United States, extending…
Know Your Natives – American Hazelnut
American Hazelnut American Hazelnut (Corylus americana) is a medium to large spreading shrub that produces edible nuts in the fall. The nuts ripen in September and October and are a favorite of small game and birds. As fall progresses male catkins are produced. In mid to late winter the catkins…
Ash Tree Threat Invades Arkansas
Arkansas joins the growing list of states affected by the Emerald Ash Borer (Agrilus planipennis), or EAB for short, an invasive Asian beetle devastating North American ash trees. The beetle was first discovered on the continent in Michigan in 2002, although it apparently arrived a few years earlier, possibly introduced…
Field Trip Exploring the Capitol Campus
On a crisp sunny fall morning seven hearty souls gathered on the Capitol steps to begin a most interesting tour, an Arkansas Native Plant Society (ANPS) field trip, of the trees adorning the campus of the State Capitol grounds. Our leader, former ANPS President Eric Sundell, led us in a…
Ouachita Huckleberries in the Rain
A group of die-hard native plant lovers met in Crystal Springs on a rainy May 16 in pursuit of black huckleberry (Gaylussacia baccata), the only true huckleberry in Arkansas. Arkansas Native Plant Society (ANPS) members in attendance were Susan Hooks, National Forest Service botanist and trip leader, Virginia McDaniel, Martha…
Dripping Springs Field Trip a Perfect Ten on the BOP Scale
May 11, 10 a.m., a Saturday morning that couldn’t have been prettier, we gathered for the Ouachita Mountain Boys’ walk to Dripping Springs just north of Hot Springs. The rendezvous place was across the road from Kai Schulz’s house, and he came out to see what the fuss was about,…
Neat Plant Alert: Old Red Buckeye Across From Clinton School
What a welcome sight the red buckeye (Aesculus pavia) is in a spring season of so many colorless, wind-pollinated trees and shrubs. The common, cheerful plants grow nearly statewide, leafing out well before the spring starting gun is fired and bearing panicles of showy red flowers to attract the birds,…
Meet the Tree: Toothache Tree
Toothache tree, Zanthoxylum clava-herculis, is surely one of Arkansas’ most intriguing native plants. If you haven’t been introduced, chew on a twig or a piece of bark for a few minutes and feel your mouth and tongue start to tickle and go numb. (Please be sure that you have correctly…
Ozark Chinquapin a Notable Find at South Fork Nature Center
Arkansas Native Plant Society (ANPS) Charter Member and South Fork volunteer Don Culwell added a few details about the ANPS Field Trip on May 19, 2012, as well as some information about South Fork Nature Center and the Gates Rogers Foundation:
One of the most notable finds on the walk…
Neat Plant Alert – Kentucky Coffee-Tree Near Little Rock Capitol
By Eric Sundell About a dozen Kentucky coffee-trees encircle the Arkansas Supreme Court Building on the south side of the Capitol grounds off 7th Street in Little Rock. Gymnocladus dioicus is an Arkansas native, but not an easy one to find in the wild. The trees are spectacular in every…
