Content tagged with "Trees, Shrubs and Woody Vines"

Of the several hickories in Missouri, bitternut hickory is the only one with long, bright yellow buds. Its common name refers to the bitter taste of the nut—but the flavor doesn't put off squirrels, mice and deer!

A close relative of water tupelo, black gum is growing in popularity as a landscaping tree. In the wild, it’s usually found in the Ozarks and Bootheel, but with people planting it in their yards, you might find it anywhere in the state.

This tree is also called the Ozark pignut hickory. Its nut, like that of the pignut hickory (Carya glabra), has a tough husk that is doggone hard to crack. Because rural Ozarkers noticed their rooting hogs had no trouble extracting the sweet kernels, both species came to be called "pignut hickories."

Famed botanical author Donald Culross Peattie admitted that, when judged by ornamental and lumbering value, black oak lacks "benign grace" and "seems to have few civic or domestic associations." But, he pointed out, "as a forest tree, as part of the hard, untamed, original sylva, it has a rough, unbending grandeur of its own."