North American Hardwood Trees

North american hardwoods are among the most plentiful and well managed natural resources in the world.

North american hardwood trees. Hardwood trees hardwoods are also known as angiosperms broadleaf or deciduous trees. The most common north american hardwood list. Forests where a majority of their trees drop leaves at the end of the typical growing season are called deciduous forests. This guide features 20 of the most abundant and most often used hardwood species.

The most common species in north america are oaks maple hickory birch beech and cherry. North america s forests grow hundreds of varieties that thrive in temperate climates including oak ash cherry maple and poplar species. Most taxa listed are temperate species native to north america north of mexico but some e g mesquite could be considered tropical and have distributions that extend into mexico. Sugar maple is a maple native to the hardwood forests of northeastern north america from nova scotia west to southern ontario and south to georgia and texas.

This wood is almost always labeled as white oak in the market. American chestnut male pollen catkins. As a resource american hardwoods are abundant renewing and sustainable and an excellent choice for eco effective design and building. Unlike the conifers or softwood firs spruce and pines hardwood trees have evolved into a broad array of common species.

They are abundant in the eastern forests of north america though they can be found throughout the continent. It s virtually insect and fungal resistant and is often used in construction frames and flooring. The bur oak is the most common oak in america and it can grow to a height of 160 feet tall and 8 feet wide. The preferred method of harvesting is single tree selection.

More than 52 of all hardwoods in north america are oak trees. Castanea dentata is a rapidly growing deciduous hardwood tree historically reaching up to 30 metres 98 ft in height and 3 metres 9 8 ft in diameter. Sugar maple is an immensely important species to the ecology of many forests in north america. In addition to the basics where they grow general description and abundance each hardwood profile includes working and physical properties availability strength and mechanical properties and main uses.

Broadleaf trees as the name suggests bear leaves that vary in size shape and thickness. To that end hardwoods of north america is the first installment of these compilations covering both commercial and noncommercial hardwoods. Hardwoods are deciduous trees that have broad leaves produce a fruit or nut and generally go dormant in the winter. The guide to american hardwood species.