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American Basswood

Arbor Walk #153

This tree is a grafted clone of the original Basswood which has been growing in Brookings Quad for more than 100 years.

American Basswood (removed July 2023)

American Basswood (removed July 2023)

Arbor Walk #17, Treekeeper ID #1937

This is one of the oldest and largest trees on campus. It has large green leaves and small, sweetly scented flowers. Recently, efforts have been taken to preserve and continue on the genetic lineage of this tree whose history follows that of WashU's Danforth Campus.

American Beech

American Beech

Arbor Walk #48, Treekeeper ID #1979

This tree has dark green leaves which turn bronze in the fall. Its flowers are yellowish-green, and the female flowers yield edible beechnuts which ripen in the fall.

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American Chestnut

Arbor Walk #111, Treekeeper ID #6353

The American Chestnut is a historically and cuturally important tree that unfortunately has a sad story. This species used to be one of the biggest and most numerous trees in the Eastern United States, but it is now considered functionally extinct.

American Holly

American Holly

Arbor Walk #69, Treekeeper ID #3034

The American Holly is a broad-leaved evergreen tree reaching 40 to 50 feet high, densely pyramidal in youth becoming more open and symmetrically conical with age.

American Hop Hornbeam

American Hop Hornbeam

Arbor Walk #112

Native to much of the continental U.S., the American Hop Hornbeam is a great tree. It has orangish-brown, loose bark and catkins that stay on over winter making it an interesting and beautiful tree year-round.

American Hornbeam

American Hornbeam

Arbor Walk #20, Treekeeper ID #1933

Native to the midwest, the American Hornbeam typically grows as an understory tree, in wetter areas. Its leaf is dark green, ovate, with doubly serrated edges.

American Sycamore

American Sycamore

Arbor Walk #60, Treekeeper ID #5449

The Sycamore is regarded as one of the largest trees native to eastern North America, and was historically prized by Native Americans for the construction of dugout canoes. Ecologically, they are early colonizers to newly available habitat, and support animal shelters as they mature.

American Witchhazel

American Witchhazel

Arbor Walk #119

The American Witchhazel is one of the few deciduous woody plants that flowers after the leaves fall. It typically flowers during October to December.

Bald Cypress

Bald Cypress

Arbor Walk #16, Treekeeper ID #1427

This tree is native to wetlands and swamps in the Midwest but is adaptable to urban conditions. Its needlelike foliage turns russet red and drops in the fall.

Black Walnut

Black Walnut

Arbor Walk #18, Treekeeper ID #1386

This is a large native tree whose wood is used for woodworking in the furniture and cabinet industry.

Black Walnut (Deaccessioned)

Black Walnut (Deaccessioned)

Arbor walk #61, Treekeeper ID #5016

This is a large deciduous tree common to woodlands in the eastern United States from Massachusetts to Texas. It is natively found in rich woods and fertile river valleys across the state of Missouri.

Bur Oak

Bur Oak

Arbor walk #108, Treekeeper ID #1757

This tree is in the Fragaceae family and is native to Missouri. It is a deciduous tree with broad and rounded crown, which is good for shading. The leaves are leathery, dark green and turn to yellow-brown in fall. The oval acorns is large in size with fringed burry cups.

Carolina Buckthorn

Carolina Buckthorn

Arbor Walk #130

Even though it is called a buckthorn, Carolina Buckthorn has no spines. The shrub is well known for its bright red drupes during the summer. The fruit eventually mature to black and attracts many wildlife species, especially birds.

Carolina Silverbell

Carolina Silverbell

Arbor Walk #132

The best place to find this plant in the wild is the Great Smokey Mountains where they thrive. Squirrels love the four-winged, dry fruit, and Tennessee beekeepers describe it as a great honey tree. The wood is also sometimes used for cabinets, veneer, and carvings.

Cherrybark Oak

Cherrybark Oak

Arbor walk #71, TreeKeeper ID #3472

Cherrybark Oak is a medium to large-sized deciduous tree native to the Southern US including the southeast corner of Missouri. The Cherrybark Oak looks very similar to another Missouri native, Southern Red Oak. So much so, that this tree was mislabeled as a Southern Red Oak for many years in the Arboretum.

Chinkapin Oak

Chinkapin Oak

Arbor Walk #26, Treekeeper ID #1345

Native to the Midwest, the Chinkapin Oak can be easily recognized due to its small, toothed leaves. Unlike most oaks, the Chinkapin has unusually flaky and fissured bark.

Chokecherry

Chokecherry

Arbor Walk #123

The wild Chokecherry is usually found in dense thickets due to its vast root system which can sprout runners, but on campus you will find them managed to prevent this. It blooms beautiful white flowers that eventually turn into dark purple fruit.

Common Hackberry

Common Hackberry

Arbor walk #8, Treekeeper ID #1696

This native tree performs well in urban conditions and is easily identified by its distinctive corky bark. But be careful because there are other relatives that are native to Missouri that have very similar bark.

Common Horse Chestnut

Common Horse Chestnut

Arbor walk #64, Treekeeper ID #5490

Despite being widely planted as an easy-to-grow shade tree for streets and landscapes throughout the Midwest, the Common Horse Chestnut is originally native to the Balkan region of Europe. The tree features showy white flowers in spring which in summer transition into fruit, consisting of one or two seeds encased in a spiny husk.

Common Thornless Honeylocust

Common Thornless Honeylocust

Arbor walk #28, Treekeeper ID #1610

This is a native plant, but if found in nature, its bark would likely be covered in long, sharp thorns. Arborists tend to plant this natural, thornless variant of the tree to allow people to see its beauty without obtaining injuries.

Cucumber Tree Magnolia

Cucumber Tree Magnolia

Arbor walk #107, Treekeeper ID #5717

This tree is in the Magnoliaceae family and is native to Missouri. The cucumber tree is named by its cucumber-like fruit. The fruit is 2" to 3" long, slightly curved, and cylindrical, and to add to the cucumber appearance, the immature fruit is also green.

Devil’s Walking Stick

Devil’s Walking Stick

Arbor Walk #121

This tree has many interesting features including late summer flowers, juicy black drupes, gigantic compound leaves, and sharp prickles covering many parts of the plant.

Downy Hawthorn

Downy Hawthorn

Arbor walk #67, Treekeeper ID #1716

The Downy Hawthorn is a deciduous tree in the rose family, and is native to the Midwest. Despite the unpleasant scent and the presence of long thorns, the tree is much loved for the beauty of its flowers in the spring and fruits in the summer.

Downy Serviceberry

Downy Serviceberry

Arbor walk #40, Treekeeper ID #4578

This Missouri native tree offers edible, berry-like fruit that changes color throughout the seasons. The competition for the fruit is stiff because they are a favorite of many bird species.

Eastern Red Cedar

Eastern Red Cedar

Arbor walk #51, Treekeeper ID #1648

This tree is native to Eastern North America. In Missouri it grows in a variety of habitats across the state and is tolerant of a wide range of soil conditions.

Eastern Wahoo

Eastern Wahoo

Arbor walk #47, Treekeeper ID #6770

This small tree is a Missouri and Chicago-region native offering attractive bright red fruit and beautiful color in the fall.

Flowering Dogwood

Flowering Dogwood

Arbor walk #81, Treekeeper ID #3692

This is a small, beautiful, adaptive, flowering tree, blooming in early spring. It has white flowers and oval dark green leaves which turn into shades of red in the fall and it grows bitter, inedible bright red fruits.

Fringe Tree

Fringe Tree

Arbor walk #33, Treekeeper ID #5592

This tree is a Missouri native which grows easily in fertile, moist soil. In the wild, it typically grows at forest transition boundaries, along stream banks, or in the margins of limestone glades.

Green Ash

Green Ash

Arbor walk #23, Treekeeper ID #2384

This native tree species is threatened by the Emerald Ash Borer. Since its discovery in 2002, the Borer, a native of Asia, has killed hundreds of millions of ash trees in North America.

Hazel Alder

Hazel Alder

Arbor walk #97, Treekeeper ID #6102

Hazel Alder is a multi-stemmed small tree and can grow to 20′ high and up to 15′ wide forming thickets by suckering. It is native from Nova Scotia to Illinois and Missouri south to eastern Texas and northern Florida. It is an ideal selection for naturalizing or rain gardens.

Katsuratree

Katsuratree

Arbor Walk #106, Treekeeper ID #5947

The Katsuratree's native range in Japan and China. The 'Rotfuchs' cultivar is most commonly cultivated in the United States. In cultivation, it can grow to 60' tall and is noted for its beautiful shape and attractive foliage.

Northern Catalpa

Northern Catalpa

Arbor walk #10, TreeKeeper ID #1794

LEARNING THE TREES
Before you can learn the trees, you have to learn
The language of the trees. That’s done indoors,
Out of a book, which now you think of it
Is one of the transformations of a tree.
The words themselves are a delight to learn,
You might be in a foreign land of terms
Like samara, capsule, drupe, legume and pome,
Where bark is papery, plated, warty or smooth.
But best of all are the words that shape the leaves—
Orbicular, cordate, cleft and reniform—
And their venation—palmate and parallel—
And tips—acute, truncate, auriculate.
Sufficiently provided, you may now
Go forth to the forests and the shady streets
To see how the chaos of experience
Answers to catalogue and category.
Confusedly. The leaves of a single tree
May differ among themselves more than they do
From other species, so you have to find,
All blandly says the book, “an average leaf.”
Example, the catalpa in the book
Sprays out its leaves in whorls of three
Around the stem; the one in front of you
But rarely does, or somewhat, or almost;
Maybe it’s not catalpa? Dreadful doubt.
It may be weeks before you see an elm
Fanlike in form, a spruce that pyramids,
A sweetgum spiring up in steeple shape.
Still, pedetemtim as Lucretius says,
Little by little, you do start to learn;
And learn as well, maybe, what language does
And how it does it, cutting across the world
Not always at the joints, competing with
Experience while cooperating with
Experience, and keeping an obstinate
Intransigence, uncanny, of its own.
Think finally about the secret will
Pretending obedience to Nature, but
Invidiously distinguishing everywhere,
Dividing up the world to conquer it,
And think also how funny knowledge is:
You may succeed in learning many trees
And calling off their names as you go by,
But their comprehensive silence stays the same.
Northern Red Oak

Northern Red Oak

Arbor Walk #58, TreeKeeper ID #1566

This Midwest native's beautiful dense crown provides good shade, and along with its ability to tolerate air pollution and drought, has made it a landscaping favorite.

Northern Spicebush

Northern Spicebush

Arbor Walk #129

The Northern Spicebush is a shrub which is best known for its aromatic leaves and twigs, which give off a "spicy" smell not unlike in scent to its Lauraceae relatives, sassafras and cinnamon. This bush is widespread throughout the woodlands of the Eastern United States, often occupying shady areas underneath a hardwood canopy.

Nuttall Oak

Nuttall Oak

Arbor Walk #104, TreeKeeper ID #6084

The Nuttall Oak is a deciduous shade tree that is well-suited to urban settings due to its tolerance against wet soils, drought conditions, and most disease and pest problems. This is a fast-growing oak tree that is capable of growing in many different kinds of soils.

Overcup Oak

Overcup Oak

Arbor Walk #56, TreeKeeper ID #2039

Though adaptable to most soils, this Missouri native tree is particularly prevalent in lowlands, floodplains, swamps and bayous in the Southeastern US and in the Mississippi River Valley.

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Ozark Witch Hazel

Arbor Walk #110, TreeKeeper ID #6201

One of the newer additions to the arboretum, this woody plant showcases ribbon-like flower clusters when in full bloom.

Pawpaw

Pawpaw

Arbor walk #50, TreeKeeper ID #1801

This Missouri native has dark purple flowers in the spring, elongated edible fruit in the summer, and a yellow to yellow-green fall color which all add to the appeal of this small understory tree.

Pecan

Pecan

Arbor walk #54, TreeKeeper ID #1424

This Missouri native tree is predominantly found in the Mississippi River Valley, and in the American South where it is cultivated as an important commercial nut crop.

Persimmon

Persimmon

Arbor walk #70, TreeKeeper ID #3345

The Persimmon tree is native to the Southeastern U.S. and is easily recognized in winter by its unusual rugged, blocky bark.

Pin Oak

Pin Oak

Arbor walk #19, TreeKeeper ID #1810

The pin oak is a popular tree that is planted because of its quick growth and the dense shade it provides. It has a distinct form that is pyramidal during early maturity but turns more oval later in life.

Post Oak

Post Oak

Arbor walk #68, TreeKeeper ID #2930

Post Oak is a North American species of oak in the white oak section. It is a slow-growing oak that lives in dry, poor soils, and is resistant to rot, fire, and drought.

Red Horsechestnut

Red Horsechestnut

Arbor Walk #27, TreeKeeper ID #1622

The Red Horsechestnut is a hybrid between the European Aesculus hippocastanum (Horsechestnut) and the North American A. pavia (Red Buckeye). This small deciduous tree grows on average to medium moist well drained soil, in full to part sun.

Red Maple

Red Maple

Arbor Walk #9, TreeKeeper ID #1875

This is a large, native, shade tree and its reddish fall color is one of its most dramatic features. The flowers, seeds, and twigs on the Red Maple also have red color spread throughout.

Sassafras

Sassafras

Arbor Walk #30, TreeKeeper ID #1531

This Missouri native tree is capable of producing clones from its sprawling root system, allowing it to create genetically identical colonies. It has leaves that emit a spicy fragrance when crushed.

Scarlet Oak

Scarlet Oak

Arbor walk #49, TreeKeeper ID #1925

Often used as a shade tree in lawns and along streets because it grows to a large size. It is native to southeastern Missouri.

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Shellbark Hickory

Arbor Walk #114

The Shellbark Hickory is a member of Juglandaceae (Walnut family) that actually produces larger edible nuts than its sister species, the Pecan.

Shingle Oak

Shingle Oak

Arbor Walk #85, TreeKeeper ID #2263

This atypical oak lacks the normal lobed leaf structure seen in other oak species. Its common name derives from the fact that early settlers in the Midwest often used wood from the tree to shingle their roofs.

Shumard Oak

Shumard Oak

Arbor Walk #103, TreeKeeper ID #5795

Also known as the Swamp Red Oak, this large oak species is native to much of the Southeastern U.S. and the Ohio River Valley. The Shumard Oak is planted in urban areas for its tolerance in water availability and air pollution, as well as its preference for alkaline soils.