5 PA Native Trees You May Not Have Known About

When you think of PA native trees, oaks, maples, and hemlocks usually take the spotlight. Here's 5 native trees you may not have known about!

1. Oxydendrum arboreum - Sourwood

Oxydendrum arboreum, or Sourwood, is deer resistant and grows to be 20-50 feet tall at maturity. Did you know that they call this tree "Sourwood", because the leaves and branches contain oxalic acid which makes them actually sour!

In mid to late summer when most other trees have finished blooming, sourwood puts on a beautiful show. It produces cascading clusters of tiny white, urn shaped flowers that look almost identical to Lily-of-the-Valley flowers! We're not the only ones who love these flowers, this tree is also a bee and pollinator hotspot. (The honey from sourwood is highly sought after!)

Not only does this tree put on a spectacular summer show, it really stands out in the fall too with brilliant red, crimson, or burgundy leaves.

Sourwood does best in the same type of planting spot as azaleas or rhododendrons, preferring moist, acidic, well-draining soil. Yet, Sourwood can tolerate heavy clay and drought.

2. Liquidambar styraciflua - Sweetgum

Liquidambar styraciflua, or Sweetgum, loves rich, moist soil along streams, riverbanks, and bottomlands. It's a fast growing shade tree that can reach heights of 60 to 80 feet or more! The Sweetgum leaves are very distinct, they look like mini five-point stars. When you crush a leaf between your fingers, it gives off a fresh, pleasant scent.

While many trees turn just yellow, orange, or red in autumn, a single Sweetgum tree can produce yellow, orange, bright red, and deep purple leaves all at the same time! Do you know why they call it a Sweetgum? If you slice into the bark, the tree secretes a sweet, aromic resin called storax. Native Americans and early settlers scraped this hardened sap to use as a natural chewing gum, medicine, and perfume!

Sweetgum trees produce hard, spiny, round fruit capsules that drop in the late fall and winter. While barefoot walkers might not appreciate them, our local wildlife sure do! Finches, Juncos, Squirrels, and Chipmunks love to feed on the seeds inside!

3. Carpinus carolinana - American Hornbeam

Carpinus carolinana, or American Hornbeam is an understory tree which thrives beneath the tall forest canopy along damp hillsides, riverbanks, and shaded woods. This tree usually tops out at around 20 to 35 feet tall, making it the perfect size for smaller landscapes!

Don't let it's shade-loving nature fool you! In Autumn, American Hornbeams light up the forest floor with vibrant leaves ranging in color from warm apricot to deep scarlet red. In the late summer and fall, Hornbeams produce drooping clusters of small nuts enclosed in leafy three-lobed bracts. They look like tiny green lantern paper chains, and birds like finches, bobwhites, and grouse love eating them!

American Hornbeam's bark is smooth and blueish gray, but the trunk has distinct ridges that look just like flexed muscles under skin. This is why locals and Arborists constantly call them Musclewood! Hardy, shade tolerant, and packed with year-round visual interest, the American Hornbeam is one of PA's coolest, underused native tree!

4. Magnolia virginiana - Sweetbay Magnolia

When you usually think of Magnolias, usually you would picture a giant southern tree. But, PA has it's very own native Magnolia that brings incredible beauty, fragrance, and elegance to northern landscapes. Magnolia virginiana, or Sweetbay Magnolia, usually grows as a multi-stemmed large shrub or small tree reaching 15 to 25 feet tall, making it the perfect fit for home landscapes.

Unlike some flowering trees that bloom for just a week in spring, Sweetbay blooms appear in early to mid-summer. The creamy white flowers emit a sweet, lemony vanilla fragrance that can fill an entire garden! In late summer, the flowers give way to cone-like fruit that split open to reveal bright, glossy red seeds hanging by delicate threads. Birds like Song Sparrows, Towhees, and Vireos love to feast on them!

Sweetbay Magnolia leaves are dark, glossy green on top. But, the undersides are a striking, frosty, silvery-white. Whenever the wind blows, the leaves shimmer in the sunlight like silver coins! Depending on how mild our winters are, Sweetbay Magnolias can hold onto it's foliage well into winter or even remain semi-evergreen, keeping a touch of lush green in your yard while other trees are completely bare!

5. Tilia americana - American Sentry Linden

If you're looking for a noble native shade tree that feeds thousands of pollinators and smells incredible in summer, look no further than the Tilia americana, or The American Sentry Linden!

In early summer, Linden trees produce hundreds of tiny, sweet smelling, pale yellow flowers. Honeybees go so wild for the rich nectar, that arborists and beekeepers often refer to it as the "Bee Tree"! The result is a prized, high quality, light colored honey. When the tree's seeds ripen in autumn, they stay attached to a pale green, leaf-like wing. When the wind catches them, they spin down through the air like mini helicopters or parachutes.

The American Sentry Linden loves rich, well draining soils found along river valleys, moist slopes, and hardwood forests. This tree grows big and fast, easily reaching 60 to 80 feet tall with a beautiful, symmetrical canopy. The leaves are instantly recognizable with their large, heart shaped, dark green leaves with saw toothed edges. Lindens cast deep, cool shade, making it a classic American park shade tree.