Forest Trees of Illinois (Third Edition)

THIRD EDITION
By Robert H. Mohlenbrock Department of Botany, Southern Illinois University
Photography by John A. Richardson and Robert H. Mohlenbrock Illustrations by Miriam Wysong Meyer and Fredda J. Burton Southern Illinois University
Printed by authority of the State of Illinois Issued by DEPARTMENT OF CONSERVATION Division of Forestry
14 (17943—10M—4-80)
I am grateful to the late Mr. Fred Siemert, State Forester of the Illinois Division of Forestry, for suggesting the need for a new “Forest Trees of Illinois.” The first and second editions of this work have been immensely popular, and the need for a third edition is gratifying.
This third edition is only slightly modified from the second. A few illustrations and bark photographs have been substituted, and the key has been improved in places. New material has been added to the description of the water hickory.
The initial edition of Forest Trees of Illinois was written in 1927 by W. R. Mattoon and R. B. Miller, two prominent foresters in the state at that time. This was revised in 1955 by Dr. George Damon Fuller, then of the Illinois State Museum, and E. E. Nuuttila, State Forester of Illinois.
In 1973, I prepared the first edition of the new Forest Trees of Illinois with new text, keys, photographs, and illustrations. An updated second edition was published in 1978. Because of the heavy demand for this work, this third edition has been prepared.
Woody plants are usually divided into trees and shrubs, but the difference between these growth forms is not always distinct. In this work, we consider a plant to be of tree stature if it has a single erect trunk which branches above the ground to form a crown. It must have a diameter of at least 3 inches 4½ feet above the ground and an overall height of 12 feet. Some of the plants included in this work are borderline between trees and shrubs. The height of a plant may be influenced by its geography. Thus, the Gray Dogwood ( Cornus racemosa ) in extreme southern Illinois may reach the dimensions of a small tree, but this same species in northern Illinois is also of a shrubby stature.