ATLAS OF UNITED STATES TREES 
VOLUME 4. MINOR EASTERN HARDWOODS 
INTRODUCTION 
This volume is the fourth of a five-volume Atlas with large maps 
showing the natural distribution or range of the native tree species of 
continental United States. “Atlas of United States Trees, Volume |, 
Conifers and Important Hardwoods” (Little, 197La') has an 
introduction to the series, which may be condensed and adapted 
here. 
Maps demonstrate clearly, graphically, and better than written 
summaries where the trees grow wild and have many obvious uses. 
Assembled in atlas form for ready reference, these distribution maps 
are available to foresters, botanists, and all others interested in trees 
for use without restriction, since U.S. Government publications are 
not copyrighted. 
The native tree species are not distributed across the United States 
at random, nor are they dispersed equally by States. Some tend to 
occur, however, in similar patterns related to climate and other 
factors. A brief summary of the contents follows. Ali volumes 
except the first are limited and arranged geographically. 
Volume | contains maps of 200 native tree species, all the native 
conifers or softwoods, including the needleleaf and cone-bearing 
evergreens (94 species, also 2 shrub species) and the important 
hardwoods (106 species). Coverage is partly botanical and partly 
practical. Nearly all trees now important commercially for lumber 
are represented. Occurrence in Alaska is shown on maps of North 
America. 
Volume 2, “Alaska ‘Trees and Common Shrubs” (Viereck and 
Little 1975), has maps of Alaska for 82 native species, including 32 
of trees, 6 of shrubs rarely reaching tree size, and 44 more of 
common shrubs. This special volume was needed because the 
northernmost and largest State is geographically separated from the 
others. It follows and also supplements “Alaska Trees and Shrubs” 
(Viereck and Little 1972). That handbook primarily for identifica- 
tion has descriptions, drawings, small maps, and additional informa- 
tion for 128 species, including the remaining shrubs. Occurrence 
outside Alaska is shown on North American maps in Volumes | 
and 3. 
Volume 3, “Minor Western Hardwoods” (Little 1976a), contains 
maps of 210 tree species native in western contiguous (or conter- 
minous) United States but not in Volume 1. The area covered 
includes all 11 far western contiguous States—Washington, Idaho, 
Montana, Oregon, California, Nevada, Utah, Wyoming, Colorado, 
Arizona, and New Mexico—and also Trans-Pecos ‘Texas (the south- 
western part west of the Pecos River). 
Coverage extends eastward for those western species also in the 
row of 6 Midwestern States—North Dakota, South Dakota, 
Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas. Thus, ranges are charted in 
" Names and dates in parentheses refer to Selected References, p. 15. 
17 States. Also, occurrence in Alaska of 15 species is shown on maps 
of North America. 
Volume 4, “Minor Eastern Hardwoods,” contains maps of 166 tree 
species native in eastern contiguous United States not in previous 
volumes. The area covered extends west to include the row of 6 
Midwestern States—North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, 
Oklahoma, and Texas. ‘Thus, ranges are charted in 5] Eastern States 
and also in part the 6 just mentioned. However, the tropical trees 
confined to southern Florida are omitted. Also, the genus of 
hawthorns (Crataegus) has been left out because of taxonomic 
difficulties. 
Volume 5, “Florida,” will have maps of nearly 100 species of 
tropical trees confined mostly to the southern part of that State. 
Also to be included are maps of the remaining tree species native in 
Florida, adapted from those in Volumes | and 4. 
The native tropical trees of Hawaii and the Commonwealth of 
Puerto Rico are best treated separately. Maps of 100 species in 
Puerto Rico based on a forest survey were published in “Common 
Trees of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands” (Little and Wadsworth 
1964). 
HISTORY OF TREE DISTRIBUTION 
MAPS 
The history of tree distribution maps in the United States has been 
reported in Volume |, while early work by the Forest Service has 
been reviewed by Little (1951). George B. Sudworth, first dendrolo- 
gist of the Forest Service, began work with the Division of Forestry 
in 1886. Tree ranges were summarized in the two editions of his 
“Check List of Forest Trees of the United States, Their Names and 
Ranges” (Sudworth 1898, 1927). 
Soon after establishment of the Forest Service in the United States 
Department of Agriculture in 1905, Sudworth undertook a project 
of preparing a distribution map for each native tree species of North 
America, exclusive of those occurring wholly in Mexico and minor 
tropical trees of southern Florida. Many thousand locality records 
for individual species were filed on separate cards from publications 
such as botanical lists and forest surveys, unpublished field notes, 
and. herbarium specimens. For each species these localities were 
plotted by number on one or more large cloth-backed maps of 
contiguous United States, North America, or Alaska. These maps 
and card file are preserved in the dendrology project, Timber 
Management Research, Forest Service, Washington, D.C. 
Publication of these maps was begun by Sudworth (1913) under 
the title, “Forest Atlas—Geographic Distribution of North American 
Trees.” Only “Part |—Pines” ever appeared. However, five bulletins 
on Rocky Mountain trees by Sudworth contain small species maps 
prepared for the larger reference. 
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