A Look Into The Deciduous Tree Family

Trees are known to have a variety of attributes and uses. Not only are they beautiful and grand but trees are the biggest and most striking of all plants that cover our planet. Without trees, we’d fail to survive. Trees are truly of the highest importance to our continued existence and welfare. Not only do trees supply us with oxygen, they have many other uses. They need a family name.

In fact, many deciduous trees hold the status of glamour, awe-inspiring at times. They can take our breath away. Maybe that is why they soak in sunlight and release oxygen for life forms to ingest. Deciduous trees deserve a family name. They are far too important to our survival to go about living under the guise of anonymous namelessness.

Forests of the northeastern United States, for example, include areas that are known as the Eastern Deciduous Forest. Here co-habitation occurs among various trees in the deciduous forest. Evergreens share the land with other varied trees. These evergreens thrive in northern New England as well as the higher elevations of the Appalachian mountain ranges.

Deciduous family names are vast. In North America, from the Northeast into the central South, and westward into the Midwest and certain avenues of southeastern Canada is where many deciduous trees thrive and populate the landscape.

The Norway spruce goes by the family name Pinaceae. This spruce was transplanted from northern Europe. Today it is widely grown in the United States. It’s more ornamental. People love the holiday-feel that the Norway spruce offers. Spruce trees, unlike pines, have needles that are attached single-file to the branches, as opposed to clumps of needles.

The Eastern Hemlock also falls under the family category of Pinaceae. The Eastern Hemlock is the only varietal hemlock in the eastern reaches of North America. It extends through the Appalachians. Hemlocks have a flattened-branch look, with short needles and small cones.

The Northern White Cedar, from the family Cupressaceae, has needles that are more scale-like in appearance, as opposed to needle-like leaves. The cones tend to be small and brown when they mature. It thrives in bogs and in limestone soils.

The deciduous family Fagaceae includes the White Oak. This oak grows leaves that have more rounded lobes. The acorns from this tree are harvested by Indians and used in many recipes. Also, many hardwood flooring comes from this deciduous family.

Three other well-known deciduous trees are the Chestnut Oak, the Pin Oak, and the Northern Red Oak, all three fitting into the family name, Fagaceae. The Chestnut Oak has large leaves that appear to have teeth around the edges, a white oak group. The Northern Red Oak, on the other hand, has pointy leaf lobes. The acorns are very bitter. The Pin Oak has lateral branches that tend to angle down toward the ground. The leaves and acorns of the Pin Oak are much smaller in comparison to the previous two species.

The family lineage of deciduous trees is extensive. These are but a few of the trees categorized with family names. To learn about more deciduous trees, visit your local nursery or horticultural center. The Internet is another useful medium to gain more, in depth information on deciduous trees.