BULLETIN 285, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



COMPOSITION. 



THE FOREST AS A WHOLE. 



The species commonly found in the northern hardwood forest are 

 separated in Table 2 according to their abundance and distribution; 

 only approximately, however, because there are many subordinate 

 variations which can not be shown. The list does not include several 

 dwarf maples, thorn apples, mountain ash, etc., which are of little 

 or no economic importance. 



Table 2. — Hardwoods and conifers grouped according to their prevalence in the northern 



hardwood forests. 1 



Region. 



Characteristic. 



Locally characteristic. 



Occasional. 



Northeastern States 



Yellow birch. 

 Sugar maple. 



Paper birch. 

 Aspen. 



Black ash. 





Slippery elm. 





Beech. 



Large tooth aspen. 



Gray birch. 





Red maple. 



Fire cherry. 



Black cherry. 





Iron wood. 



Black birch. 



Balm of Gilead. 





Hemlock. 



Basswood. 



Norway pine. 





White pine. 



White elm. 



Black spruce. 





Red spruce. 



White ash. 



Tamarack. 





Balsam fir. 



Silver maple. 

 Red oak. 

 White spruce. 



Arborvita?. 



Lake States 



Sugar maple. 

 Yellow birch. 



Paper birch. 

 Aspen. 



Black ash. 





Slippery elm. 

 Balm of Gilead. 





Basswood. 



Large tooth aspen. 





White elm. 



Fire cherry. 



Black cherry. 





Beech. 2 



Cork eim. 



Black birch". 





Iron wood. 



White ash. 



Silver maple. 





Hemlock. 



Red maple. 



Wh^ spruce. 





White pine. 



Red oak. 



Black'spruce. 

 Balsam fir. 

 Tamarack. 

 Arborvitn?. 

 Norway pine. 

 Jack pine. 



1 In the transition zone between the northern and southern hardwood forest — especially in Pennsylvania 

 and the southern Appalachians — yellow poplar, magnolia, sycamore, black and red" gums, and other 

 southern hardwoods not shown in the above list often appear in some abundance among the northern 

 hardwoods. 



2 Beech is not found in Minnesota and only in extreme eastern Wisconsin. 



Under the heading "Occasional" are included a number of species 

 which are characteristic either of swamp or of dry-soil types, but 

 are often found among the northern hardwoods as strays. Besides 

 these there are a number of oaks, hickories, walnuts, pines, and birches 

 which occasionally intrude, but being characteristic of other site 

 conditions, can not be considered regular members of the northern 

 hardwood forest. The great bulk of the forest consists of the species 

 listed as "characteristic." The proportions of the species, as will 

 be brought out more fully, vary greatly in different parts of the region. 

 The "locally characteristic" species are found here and there, some 

 rare or of small value, others abundant locally and of considerable 

 importance. Some of these species, especially paper birch and the 

 aspens, form distinct but transitory types on burned-over lands 

 (PI. VIII), but occur only as widely scattered individuals in old 



