40 



MISC. PUBLICATION 217, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 



NORTHERN FOREST TREES— Continued 



Southern portion (Appalachian region): 



White, northern red, chestnut, 

 black, and scarlet oaks. 



Chestnut. 



Hemlock. 



White, shortleaf, pitch, and Vir- 

 ginia (scrub) pines. 



Black, yellow, and river birches. 



Basswood. 



Sugar and red maples. 



Beech. 



Red spruce. 



Southern portion (Appalachian 

 region) — Continued. 

 Southern balsam fir. 

 Yellow poplar (tulip poplar). 

 Cucumber magnolia. 

 Black walnut and butternut. 

 Black cherry. 



Pignut, mockernut, and red hick- 

 ories. 

 Black locust. 

 Black gum. 

 Buckeye. 



CENTRAL HARDWOOD FOREST REGION 



The hardwood trees as a group reach their maximum number of 

 different species, and for many of them the highest number of individ- 

 ual trees in a given species, in the central hardwood forest region. 

 As shown in figure 7, the region covers a large amount of the central 

 portion of the eastern half of the United States. Its area is approxi- 

 mately 132,376,000 acres, or about 27 percent of the total forest area 

 of the country. Excluding the southern Appalachian Mountain 

 country, it extends from Connecticut westward to southern Min- 

 nesota and south through the piedmont area and the Cumberland 

 Plateau to the northern parts of Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi, 

 and through Arkansas to eastern Oklahoma and central Texas. 



In the northern portion of the range, chestnut was formerly the most 

 abundant tree. The region is strongly characterized by the variety 

 and abundance of different oaks and hickories, and, on the better 

 soils, yellow or tulip poplar and the tree " aristocrat" — the black wal- 

 nut (pi. 5). 



Generally distributed over the region are white and black oaks, 

 mockernut and pignut hickories, American elm, red maple, and 

 sycamore. The northern red and scarlet oaks of the northern division 

 of the region give w 7 ay in the southern division to the southern red, 

 post, and willow oaks. Chestnut (formerly very abundant), shag- 

 bark hickory, sugar maple, and rock elm practically drop out, w^hile 

 shortleaf pine greatly increases in abundance, dogwood and eastern 

 red cedar become commercially important, and Osage-orange and 

 persimmon appear frequently. The Texas extension of the region 

 comprises vast areas of small-sized trees of post, southern red, and 

 blackjack oaks, mesquite, and a number of different junipers or 

 cedars. 



The principal kinds of trees that make up the tw x o divisions Of the 

 central hardw r ood forest region, in the relative order of their impor- 

 tance, are: 



CENTRAL HARDWOOD FOREST TREES 



Northern portion: 



White, black, northern red, scar- 

 let, bur, chestnut, and chin- 

 quapin oaks. 



Shagbark, mockernut, pignut, and 

 bitternut hickories. 



White, blue, green, and red ashes. 



American, rock, and slippery elms. 



Red and silver maples. 



Northern portion — Continued. 

 Beech. 



Pitch, shortleaf, and Virginia pines. 

 Yellow poplar (tulip poplar) . 

 Sycamore. 

 Chestnut. 

 Black walnut. 

 Cottonwood. 

 Black locust. 



