New Paltz High School Plant List

Trees- Unique identifying characteristics

White Pine- needles in bundles of five, smooth gray bark, straight trunk used for ship masts!
Eastern Hemlock- evergreen, flatten needles, white underneath, foliage a deer favorite.
Eastern Red Cedar- evergreen, scale-like needles, pioneer plant, Cedar Apple Rust fungus
White Cedar- scaley leaves in flat fern-like appearance
Sassafras- mitten shaped leaves, lemony scent
Witch-hazel- first and last tree to bloom, yellow flowers
American Elm- leaves double toothed, sand papery texture, leaf base lopsided
Slippery Elm
Northern Red Oak- toothed lobed leaves, brown ridged bark, acorns
Black Oak- leathery or shiney leaves, hairy bud scales, acorns
White Oak- rounded lobed leaves, spring leaves pink!, bark light ash-gray, acrons
Chestnut Oak- large leaves, wavy lobes
Pin Oak- lobed leaf pinches inward, acorns
Scrub oak- acorns
Scarlet oak- acorns
American Chestnut- long, toothed oblate leaves, blight severe, nuts yummy
Red Maple- leaves toothed, 3 to 5 palmate lobes, light leaf bottom, reddish twigs, silver trunk
Sugar Maple- palmately lobed leaves, deep notches, maple sugar source, timber tree, deer food
Striped Maple- striped green and white trunk
Black (sweet) Birch- wintergreen scent
Gray Birch- pioneer species, sapling bark white, leaves narrowly triangular with serrations
Paper (white) Birch- white bark peels into large strips, ovate leaves, catkins
Yellow Birch- yellow tinge to bark
Speckled Alder- near streams
Hop Hornbeam (or Hornbeam)- doublely serrated leaves, bark rough, seeds in closed cluster
American Hornbeam- single toothed leaves, gray bark looks like muscles, tool handles
Flowering Dogwood- showy white bracts, yellow flowers, opposite branches candelabra-like
Striped Maple- green bark with white stripes
White Ash- opposite 7 leaflet arrangement, bud above leaf scar, use- baseball bats
Green Ash- compound leaves, no bud above leaf scar, moist areas
Shagbark Hickory- bark looks like shaggy dog, nuts edible, pinnate leaves
Pignut Hickory- 5 leaflets, alternate, toothless, not shaggy bark
Catalpa- large cordate leaves, long slender seed pod, showy white flowers
Black Cherry- oblong leaves, finely serrated, horizontal lenticels, rusty hairs midvien underside.
Choke-cherry
Black Gum (Sour-gum or Black Tupelo)- blue fruit, toothless, waxy top leaf
Weeping Willow- long, lance leaves, drooping branches, bark gray and rough, grows near water
Hawthorne-
American Beech- smooth bark, toothed leaves, tan leaves stay on tree all winter
Quaking Aspen- leaves quiver in light wind, petiole is twisted, use as fiber source
Ailanthus- tree of heaven, invasive
Downy Serviceberry (Shadbush or Juneberry)- white flowers, used for jams
Common Apple- cultivated plant, apples!
American Basswood- large leaves, distinct viens
Black Walnut- compound leaves, alternatie, 15-23 leaflets, 2 " nuts, use for fine furniture, dyes
White Cedar- scaly leaves in flat fern-like appearance
Cottonwood

Test yourself!

Shrubs/Vines

Silky Dogwood- flower/ fruit cluster flat or slightly rounded, fruit blue, moist areas
Gray Dogwood- leaves pale underneath, fruit white with red stalks, gray bark
Staghorn Sumac- compound, pioneer species, fruit lemony, used to be used for tanning leather
Red Raspberry
Maple-leaf Viburnum
Nannyberry Viburnum- shrub, finely serrated leaves, dark blue fruit
Multi-flora rose
Highbush Blueberry
Winterberry Holly
Virginia Creeper- vine, five leaflets
Poison Ivy- leaves of three, caustic to skin
Wild Grapes- vine
Virgin's Bower-vine

Herbaceous Plants

Goldenrod- silverrod, grass-leaved, wrinkle leaved, giant goldenrod
New England Aster
Queen Anne's Lace
Christmas Fern
New York Fern
Marsh Fern
Crested fern
Lady fern
Hay scented fern
Bracken fern
Skunk Cabbage
Little bluestem grass
Dogbane
Poor man's pepper
Daisy Fleabane
White Wood Aster
Cananda thistle
Bedstraw- Cleavers: Sticky stem
Haircap Moss
Tick trefoil
Sedge
Agrimony
Wood sorrel
Hawkweed
Ragweed
Veronica Speedwell
Japanese Siltgrass
Common Horsetail
Princess Pine
Garlic Grass
Purple Loosestrife
Chickory
Wild Strawberry
Trillium
Common Plantain
Dandelion
Common Mullein
Orange Jewelweed
Sensitive Fern
Cleavers
Horsetail
Yarrow
Mugwort
Spotted Knapweed
Smartweed
Duckweed
Watermeal
Arrow-leaved tear thumb- narrow leaved
Halbert leaved tear thumb- wide leaved
Cinquefoil
Red Clover
Canada Mayflower