Habitat: Moist woods.
Range: Nova Scotia across to central Minnesota, south to eastern Oklahoma and eastern Texas, east to central Florida.
Distinguishing Features: Several other trees may be confused with the Blue Beech. Beech, which has smooth gray bark, has leaves with fewer teeth and twigs with pointed buds. Hop Hornbeam, with very similar leaves, has a flaky bark. The elms, which also have somewhat similar leaves, usually have the leaves asymmetrical at the base.
WATER HICKORY
Carya aquatica (Michx. f.) Nutt.
Growth Form: Medium tree to 75 feet tall; trunk diameter up to 2 feet; crown narrow.
Bark: Reddish-brown, furrowed, becoming somewhat scaly at maturity.
Twigs: Slender, reddish-brown or gray, smooth or occasionally slightly hairy; leaf scars alternate, 3-lobed, scarcely elevated, with several bundle traces.
Buds: Pointed, reddish-brown with yellow scales, usually hairy, up to ¼ inch long.
Leaves: Alternate, pinnately compound, with 7-17 leaflets; leaflets lance-shaped, curved, pointed at the tip, tapering to the asymmetrical base, up to 5 inches long, up to 2 inches wide, finely toothed along the edges, dark green and smooth or nearly so on the upper surface, brownish and smooth or somewhat hairy on the lower surface.