UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



MISCELLANEOUS PUBLICATION No. 303 



Washington, D. C. 



Issued June 1938 

 Slightly revised May 1939 



NATIVE WOODY PLANTS OF THE UNITED 



STATES, THEIR EROSION -CONTROL 



AND WILDLIFE VALUES 



By WILLIAM R. VAN DERSAL, biologist, Division of Conservation Operations, Soil 



Conservation Service 



CONTENTS 



Page 



Introduction 1 



The relation of vegetation to soil conservation. 2 



Evaluation of plants for erosion control and 



wildlife 4 



Planting for soil and wildlife conservation 5 



Planting for wildlife 6 



Highway planting 7 



Plants of objectionable characteristics 8 



Poisonous plants 9 



Aggressive plants 9 



Plants harboring fungi or insect pests 10 



Selection of species for planting 11 



Primary succession 11 



Secondary succession and pioneer species. .. 12 



Native versus introduced species 13 



Fruit production 14 



The correlation of soils and plant growth 16 



Development of the plant-growth region map. 16 



Plant-growth regions 17 



Factors in plant distribution 17 



Thornthwaite's climatic provinces 19 



Page 

 Plant-growth regions Continued. 



Length of the growing season 



Snow cover 



Climates of growth regions 



Nitrogen-fixing bacteria 



Explanation of the list 



Scope 



Latin names and synonyms 



Vernacular names of plants 



Range 



Site designations 



Growth habits 



Fruiting 



Propagation 



Utilization by wildlife 



List of woody plants 



Bibliography 293 



Mimeographed and unpublished refer- 

 ences 321 



List of common names of woody plants 322 



INTRODUCTION 



At no time has the need for conservation of our natural resources 

 been as apparent as it is at present. We have seen the wasteful de- 

 struction of our most basic resource, the soil, take place at an ever- 

 increasing rate within a comparatively short span of years. The 

 original vegetation of the country ha,s in large part been removed, 

 and as a consequence of this ? not only has soil become increasingly 

 subject to erosion, but wildlife, being dependent on vegetation for 

 existence, has also become severely depleted. 



The same forces that cause soil losses have destroyed wildlife habi- 

 tats. The removal of the vegetative cover has permitted washing 

 away of topsoil, and this in turn has prevented the return of vegeta- 

 tion and the consequent restoration of wildlife. It is only natural, 

 therefore, that revegetation should be relied upon to conserve soil, 

 and since the same vegetation can be made to provide more wildlife 

 habitats, it is possible to conserve two resources with one operation. 

 It becomes apparent that soil conservation, if properly managed, 

 can mean wildlife conservation. 



