Harris Lake County Park Local Tree Loop
00. Introduction
Welcome to the Local Tree Loop. This tour was created to introduce some of the special trees we have in North Carolina and help you identify them in the future. Trees provide food and homes for many different animals around the world. They also help us breathe by making oxygen and absorbing carbon dioxide. When you are done with this tour, we hope you will have a new appreciation for trees!
1. Sweetgum (Liquidambar styraciflua)
Sweetgum is a very common deciduous tree in North Carolina. The word deciduous means its leaves fall off each year. It has star-shaped leaves and spiky, ball-shaped fruit called “gumballs” that you have probably seen before! Try to find one on the ground around this tree. You might also notice rows of holes around the tree. These holes were made by Yellow-Bellied Sapsuckers, which is a type of woodpecker that drills for sap and insects. These sap wells provide food for other birds, too.
2. River Birch (Betula nigra)
River Birch is often found along riverbanks and other wet areas, like this ditch. It is a deciduous tree with unique orange, tan, and gray bark that peels off like paper throughout the year. Its leaves have serrated edges and turn a beautiful golden yellow in the fall. It is the only kind of birch found in the southeast U.S. Other types of birch grow in more northern places.
3. Willow Oak (Quercus phellos)
Willow Oak is a type of red oak that has thin, oval-like leaves with tiny bristle-tips at the ends. Willow oaks and other oaks grow acorns, which are a very important and nutrient-rich food source for wildlife. Acorns drop in the fall and are stored by chipmunks, squirrels, and other animals to eat over the winter. White-tailed deer also depend on acorns in the fall and winter when other food is not around.
4. Flowering Dogwood (Cornus florida)
Flowering Dogwood blooms are North Carolina’s state flower, and for good reason! The actual flowers are small and yellow, with big white or pink specialized leaves (bracts) which look like petals surrounding the flowers. Butterflies, bees, and other pollinators feed on nectar from the flowers. The bark is dark gray or brown and grows into a blocky pattern as the tree gets older.
5. White Oak (Quercus alba)
Oak trees are separated into 2 main types: white and red. You can tell the types apart by their leaf shape. White oaks have rounded lobes, and red oaks have pointed lobes. This tree is a type of white oak, and is also named White Oak. The White Oak tree (scientific name Quercus alba) often grows far-reaching branches so that it ends up being more wide than it is tall. Its’ bark is light gray with ridges that can be flaky farther up the tree.
6. Longleaf Pine (Pinus palustris)
Longleaf Pine is a very special tree. Named for its long needles (6-18 inches long), this fire-resistant pine used to cover the southeast, and is now only found in small patches like the 60 acres we have here at Harris Lake. Since it needs lots of space and sunlight to grow tall, Longleaf Pine likes the area around it to be burned every so often to get rid of any competition. The conditions it needs to grow in create environments where many unique plants and animals like to live, including the endangered Red-Cockaded Woodpecker.
7. Cherrybark Oak (Quercus pagoda)
Cherrybark oak has pinkish inner wood, and bark that is shiny and dark, like cherry trees. As a red oak, they also have pointed leaf lobes. If you look closely, you may be able to see tiny bristles at each point. In addition to leaf shape, red and white oaks also have different acorns. White oak acorns mature in one season, while red oak acorns mature in two seasons. Red oak acorns have more protein and fat than white oak acorns, and also more tannins, which oaks produce as a defense mechanism to make them taste bad to animals.
8. Red Maple (Acer rubrum)
Red Maple gets its name from the buds, flowers, seeds, and petioles (leaf stems) all being beautiful variations of red. Red maple seeds grow in V-shaped pairs with wings which help the wind carry them. This tree is deciduous and has serrated-edged leaves which turn red, orange, or yellow in the fall.
9. Bald Cypress (Taxodium distichum)
Bald Cypress is one of the most unique trees on our walk. It is one of the few deciduous conifers in the world. Conifers have cones like pine cones, and needles for leaves. Most deciduous trees have broad leaves instead of needles, but this tree decided to be different! It has small, round cones, and short green needles which turn brown and fall off in autumn. This Bald Cypress is small, but if you look ahead, you can see another much bigger one. That huge tree is around 77 years old.
10. American Holly (Ilex opaca)
American Holly is an evergreen tree, which means it has leaves year round. Their leaves are thick, dark green and shiny with sharp points around the edges. They also have bright red berries which are eaten by many different animals, including birds, white-tailed deer, and small mammals. This tree is small and young, but they can get up to 60 feet tall!
11. Loblolly Pine (Pinus taeda)
Loblolly Pine is the most common pine tree in North Carolina. It is an evergreen conifer, with pine cones that are 3-6 inches long and very prickly. Their needles are 5-8 inches long and grow in fascicles, or bunches, of 3. Their bark is dark brown and grows in big scales, like other pine trees. Loblolly pines can grow up to 90 feet tall, which is as big as about 9 elephants stacked on top of each other!
12. Wax Myrtle (Myrica cerifera)
Wax Myrtle, unlike the other plants on our walk, is a shrub. Some shrubs can look like trees if they grow tall enough. Shrubs grow from many stems in the ground, while trees have one main stem in the middle, called a trunk, that other branches grow out from. Wax Myrtle berries were used by indigenous peoples and colonists in candle-making because of their distinctive smell. Many southeastern tribes, including the Lumbee, have used the shrub for medicinal purposes.
13. Summary
We have a lot of cool trees in North Carolina! Next time you are out walking, try to identify some of the trees you see. If you look on the ground around the tree, you may find leaves or seeds that can help. Trees are an important part of our ecosystems, both in far away places and in our own backyard.
Additional Resources:
Visit Wake County Parks, Recreation and Open Space website to learn about other opportunities to explore our parks and nature preserves.
Visit Wake County's Mobile Park Tours page to view additional tours.
Visit the Park Locator to find parks and amenities near you. This locator app includes state, county, and municipal parks and preserves!
Photos taken by Wake County Park Staff