Black maples can tower to eighty-five feet. Artisans craft fine musical instruments from the wood of native red spruces. And in autumn, the leaves of sugar maples turn brilliant orange-gloriously coloring Penn's Woods. The naturalist, forester, or weekend observer will discover all this and more in Trees of Pennsylvania.
Written by botanists at the Morris Arboretum, the official arboretum of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, this is the most comprehensive, authoritative, and accessible field and natural history guide to the state's tree life. Ann Rhoads and Timothy Block cover all of Pennsylvania's 195 trees, both native and naturalized. Each species is described in a concise, tabular format that includes the characteristics of leaves, branches, bark, flowers, and fruits. The authors discuss flowering and fruiting time, autumn leaf color, and the size of the largest specimen recorded within the state. Rhoads and Block further provide valuable historical, ecological, and economic information on each tree species, including how Pennsylvania's trees were used by Native Americans and early European settlers.
This fully illustrated, user-friendly volume contains a combination of line drawings by botanical artist Anna Anisko, color photographs, range maps, and identification keys so readers will be able accurately to identify each tree species. It also offers useful information on the biology of trees, the history of Pennsylvania's many forests, and important lists of the endangered, threatened, and rare trees within the state. This is an indispensable guide for anyone interested in Pennsylvania's natural history and tree life.