The Hickory tree comes from the walnut family; it is a medium to large sized tree with a tall straight trunk topped with a slender, often irregularly shaped crown that is usually widest towards the top of the tree. The Hickory tree grows good in both dry and wet soil but does best in soil that is well drained.

Fisher Cat (in a black cherry tree) Author:roddh

The neighbor’s dog surprised a fisher, who climbed up a cherry tree. After we got the dogs inside, he wasted no time climbing back down and running back into the woods. (notice the distinctive bark on the black cherry tree)

The Black Cherry Tree: Valuable Wood

The Black Cherry tree is widely sought in logging because of its commercially valuable wood. The Black Cherry Tree is a small to large tree that grows form 30’ – 100’ with a tall straight stout trunk; the crown is narrow when grown in a forest. Older trees develop a buttressed trunk base with large burls.

The Black Cherry Tree is the tallest North American member of the rose family. Few old trees remain today because most have been harvested for its beautiful wood qualities.

Black Cherry trees do not grow well when shaded by other trees, it if does grow with other trees there must be a good opening so that it can get enough sunshine. Drainage that is poor will not serve the Black Cherry tree well, it enjoys moisture but standing in water will kill it. Compact soil is not good for a Black Cherry tree either they like well drained soil.

Black Cherry Tree Leaves

The leaves on the Black Cherry tree are 2”-5” long, they are narrow and pointed at the tip and base with finely toothed margins. Teeth are often incurved or blunt with 12 to 16 pairs of side veins. The leaves are shiny and dark green above and paler in color yellowish to reddish-yellow underneath. The fall color on Black Cherry tree leaves is yellow to reddish-yellow.

Black Cherry Tree Flowers and Fruit

The Black Cherry Tree flower is ⅜” to ½ wide and is white with 5 round petals. Clusters of the flower are in 4”-6” long and drooping at the end of leafy twigs. The cherry tree blooms in late spring.

The fruit is ⅜” to ½ wide and is round, red to dark purple to nearly black. It hangs in 4”-6” long clusters and comes in the late summer. The Black Cherry tree has great tasting fruit in the summer months after the tree blossoms with beautiful aroma flowers. Birds love the fruit and ensure that the Black Cherry Tree will continue to be widely disbursed through their droppings.

The fruit of the Black Cherry Tree has been used in the making of wine and jellies. Pioneers used cherries to flavor their rum and brandy.

Black Cherry Tree Bark

The bark for the Black Cherry tree is easy to identify when the tree is mature, the bark is cracked and scaly in appearance(see picture above), when the tree is young it looks more like its branches does. The color if the bark is a silvery grey.

The Black Cherry tree is very versatile in its uses, the bark is used for herbal cough medicine by different commercial companies it is also used as a decongestant and has sedative properties in it. Years past the Indian tribes used the bark of the Black Cherry Tree to relieve pain during child birthing.  The wood of  black cherry trees are used in the manufacturing of fine furniture.

Our Logging Company pays timber landowners very well for their Black Cherry trees. If you are a timber landowner in Michigan with cherry mixed in with other tree species contact us.

Black cherry Trees Elsewhere:

Black cherry: tree of affliction

Publish Date: 08/27/2010

I always think of the wild black cherry tree (Prunus serotina) as a tree of affliction. Even its fruiting can be a burden to it on years like this, when branches bend low under the weight of the crop and black bears break them in their …(more)

A New Way How to Identify Black Cherry Trees ( or any other type of tree )

Questions about the black cherry tree, leave a comment below.

Beech Trees in Autumn Author:Picture post.

The Beach Tree In Michigan

The Beech tree is logged in Michigan for its use for flooring, veneer and in the making of furniture. Beech is good for turning and it also steam bends well.

American Beech Tree

The beech tree is called the American Beech Tree; it is mainly confined to the Eastern Part of the United States including Michigan. The Beech tree is a medium sized tree with simple leaves and a tall trunk, stout when growing in the open.

The Beech Trees is a common forest tree and it produces large crops of fruit every 2 to 8 years. The beech tree is susceptible to early frost that may retard its development which can explain poor fruit production in some years. In the years that it produces a good fruit crop, beech trees are a major source of food for birds and small mammals.

The Beech tree likes to grow in moist slopes, ravines and moist hammocks, mostly in loamy or clay soils.

Beach Trees: Flowering and Fruit

The flowers on the Beech tree emerge in either late April or the early part of May. The flowers on the Beech tree are damaged easily by frosts. The female flower is 1/4” long with hairy and reddish green and has clusters of 3 to 4 while the male is 3/4” – 1” long rounded hanging clusters on a 1 1/2” – 2” long stalk.

The nuts on the Beech Tree ripen between the months of September to November two and sometimes three nuts can be on a single bur, this occurs after a heavy frost. The nut color is yellowish to reddish brown.

Beech Tree Leaves

The Beach Tree leaf is 3”-6” long elliptic to broadly elliptic with a pointed tip. Beech Tree leaves are course and widely spaced with pointed teeth along margins and has 9-14 pairs of veins. The color is glossy with dark green above the leaf and paler below with silky tuffs of hairs on the veins beneath. Fall color is gold to brown.

Beech Tree Bark

Beech tree bark is very handsome looking; it has smooth bark that is light gray. The bark on the beech tree is so different that it is easy to identify and it also has large muscular looking roots that can look like arms and legs. Beech is so alluring of a tree that people have carved in them through the years.

Other items that are manufactured from logging Beech Trees are plywood, baskets, charcoal, rough lumber and railroad ties. Beech Tree wood is used for firewood because of it has superior burning qualities.

More Information on Beech Trees:

Catkins in Spring: Many trees bear these elegant, hanging …

Publish Date: 04/20/2008  Trees with catkins include those of the Beech Tree family (oaks, chestnuts), the Willow family (willows, aspens, poplars, cottonwoods), the Birch family (birches, alders, hornbeams), the Mulberry family, and the Walnut family (walnuts, …

The birth of a beech tree

Timelapse film of the germination of a beech seed/nut, into a small plant with the 2 first leaves and the 2 first real leaves.

Questions about Beech or any other tree? Leave a comment below we’ll be glad to reply, especially about Beech Trees.

Basswood is a medium sized tree that is tall with a straight trunk and often with 2 or more trunks. Basswood has a dense broad rounded crown and columnar in the forest with drooping branches.

How to identify ash trees that are in your forest. We are publishing a series of articles so that you can better understand your trees.