2 
PENNSYLVANIA-GERMAN NAMES OF TREES 
Aside from the weeping willow, which is an introduced species, the Penn- 
sylvania-Germans recognize only one kind. There are about eight or ten 
species native to eastern Pennsylvania, but they are not distinguished and 
are simply called Weide, or occasionally wasser Weide or Bruch- Weide. 
The latter is the high German name for crack willow, Salix fragilis Linn., 
and should not be used as a general term. 
Salicacea (Continued) 
Bopple 
Weiser Bopple 
Aspen 
Grosse Bopple 
Suess Birch 
Lombardy 
European white poplar 
Quaking aspen 
Large-toothed aspen 
Betulaceae 
Sweet birch 
Populus nigra italica Du Roi. 
Populus alba Linn. 
Populus tremuloides Mich. 
Populus grandidentata Mich. 
Betula lenta Linn. 
The German and English names for this tree are so nearly alike that it did 
not take long for the Pennsylvania-German to drop the hard sound of k in 
the German name Birke in favor of the soft sound, ch in the English 
name birch. The Teutonic name for this tree was Berka, whence it is easy 
to sec how Birke and Birch came to be used later. The kind generally found 
along streams or in wet locations is called wasser Birch (Betula nigra Linn.) 
Othere species are seldom distinguished. 
Airle European alder Ainus glutlnosa (Linn.) Gaertn, 
Buche 
Kesten 
Weiss Oeche 
Swartz Oeche 
Roth Oeche 
Rest Oeche 
Fagaceae 
Beech 
Chestnut 
White oak 
Yellow oak 
Red oak 
Chestnut oak 
Fagus atropunicea (Marsh.) Sudworth. 
Castanea dentata (Marsh.) Borkh. 
Quercus alba Linn. 
Quercue velutina Lam. 
Quercus rubra Linn. 
Quercus prinus Linn. 
Ulmaceae 
American elm Ulmus americana Linn. 
1 he word Ulm is the high German name for the European elm (Ulmus 
campestris Linn.), and is now generally applied to the American elm (Ul¬ 
mus americana Linn.). Roosche is a name occasionally given to this tree 
in sections of Pennsylvania where the English speaking element has not yet 
replaced a great many of the German names formerly in use. It is derived 
from the middle high German Ruester.(not Ruestar), and is used as a gen¬ 
eral term for all species of elms. 
Schluepfrige A1 Slippery elm Ulmus pubescens Walt. 
I he name A1 is derived from European base meaning to grow or to nour¬ 
ish. The inner bark of this species has a very agreeable taste and aromatic 
odor when dry. Children frequently gather the bark and chew it, and it also 
has long played an important part in medicine, and among the Pennsyl¬ 
vania German people at the present day old apothecaries still attribute to it 
Moraceae 
White mulberry Morus rubra Linn. 
Red mulberry Toxylon pomiferum Raf. 
Osage orange Morus alba Linn. 
Magnolioceae 
Yellow poplar Liriodendron tulipfera Linn. 
Lauraceae 
Sassafras Sassafras sassafras (Linn.) Karst. 
On account of the aromatic odor of this tree it was supposed by the early 
German settlers to possess a great many medicinal virtues. It is said that the 
its ancient repute. 
Weise Maul Beeren 
Swartze Maul Beeren 
Hedge Baum or 
Wilde orange Baum 
Tulpen or Popple 
Sassafras 
LIBRARY 
THE NEW YORK BOTANICAL GA — 
BRONX, NEW YORK 10458 
