Lake Springfield with Identifying Woody Plants Class

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This past week the field class I am taking through Missouri State University added new woody plants to our list from a walk near the  Lake Springfield boathouse. I tried to take pictures of most of the new woody plants for this week…and a few from previous weeks:

Marshmallow – Hibiscus – Malvaceae (seed pods)

Green ash – Fraxinus pennsylvanica – Oleaceae (leaves and diamond shapes in the bark)

Black willow – Salix nigra – Salicaceae (leaves/twig)

Osage orange - Maclura pomifera – Moraceae (fruit…and I now have a fruit I am attempting to dry)

Honey locust - Gledistia tricanthos – Fabaceae (tree with drying seed pods)

Privet (non-native) - Ligustrum – Oleaceae (leave with blue fruit)

American hophornbeam – Ostrya virginiana – Betulaceae (leaves with thin, strong twigs)

Post oak – Quercus stellata – Fagaceae (rounded lobed leaves)

Bur oak - Quercus macrocarpa – Fagaceae (leaves…in the red oak group…I also picked up an acorn!)

It was an interesting afternoon…but I was tired afterward.

Phelps Grove Park

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Last week the Identifying Woody Plants class walked to Phelps Grove Park to add more trees to our list. I used my point-and-shoot (Canon Powershot SX730 HS) to capture some features of the additional trees (plus some trees already on our list). The temperaature was in the 70s…perfect for the hike…but the leaves are beginning to fall on many of the trees. Identification will get harder.

Serviceberry – Amelanchier arborea – Rosaceae: stripped bark, multiple trunks, small trees, two toned pointy buds, leaves simple and alternate

Crabapple – Malus – Rosaceae: pome without grit, twigs hairy, leaves (lobed, simple, entire)

Hawthorne – Crataegus – Rosaceae: thorns, pome, leaves round, bark pealing and patchy, the one we saw was infested with apple cedar rust (i.e. not a healthy tree)

Fig (just for interest…not added to list)

Flowering dogwood (not new) – Cornus florida - Cornaceae

White oak – Quercus alba – Fagaceae: leaves (rounded lobes, smooth, lighter underneath), acorns dark with bumpy cups and often sprout in fall

Hemlock (not new) – Tsuga canadensis - Pinaceae

Black cherry – Prunus serotina – Rosaceae: observed bark…branches too high to see more

Osage orange – Maclura pomifera – Moraceae: bark shaggy and orange in parts, leaves (tapering tip, entire, alternate, simple, size varies), the one we saw was male so no fruit

Red mulberry  - Morus rubra – Moraceae: milky sap, leaves (toothed, shiny, falling)


Shortleaf pine (note new) – Pinus echinate – Pinaceae

Hackberry – Celtis occidentalis – Cannabaceae: drupe that can taste like a dry raisin, leaves (3 veins, asymmetric, rough), the one we saw had galls, bark rough and gray, large tree

Shingle oak – Quercus imbricaria – Fagaceae: acorn small, leaves (no lobes, long and narrow, soft hair underneath), multiple buds at tend of twigs, bark grayish

Previous posts about my experiences in the Identifying Woody Plants class at Missouri State University

Identifying Woody Plants (Month 1)

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The Identifying Woody Plants field class I am taking at Missouri State University has met 5 times. There have been two off-campus field trips that I’ve posted about previously: Springfield Botanical Gardens and Lovett Pinetum. The other sessions have included walks around the MSU campus identifying trees. Just as in the off-campus field trips, I’ve tried to get good pictures of the trees so that I can include them in my PowerPoint based ‘flashcards’ to help me learn all the woody plants presented in the class (even though I am not taking the class for credit).

In the first class, I tried using my cell phone…juggling it with my small notebook for note taking. It did not work so well; I only got reasonable pictures for three of the trees we encountered.

Black gum – Nyssaceae – Nyssa sylvatica

Buckeye – Sapindaceae – Aesculus

For the next campus walk – I used my small point-and-shoot camera and managed more pictures. I had front pockets for both the small notebook and the camera. It was a very hot/sunny day; I wore my fingerless gloves to keep my small notebook dry. I did not feel well during the later parts of the walk even though I was drinking plenty of water.

American Sycamore – Platanaceae – Platanus occidentalis

Yew – Taxaceae - Taxus

Flowering dogwood – Cornaceae – Cornus florida

Bald cypress – Cupressaceae – Taxodium distichum

Shortleaf pine – Pinaceae – Pinus echinata

American basswood – Malvaceae – Tilia americana

The third walk around campus was easier; I had my system for juggling the notebook and camera…and it wasn’t quite as hot. I also wore my hiking boots, so my feet did not hurt like they did on one previous campus walk. I am still not managing to photograph everything during the walk; for the ones I miss (i.e. not listed in this post) I glean photos from the class charts and/or web searches to populate my study Powerpoint.

Red Maple – Sapindaceae – Acer rubrum

Burning bush – Celastraceae – Euonymous alatus

Northern red oak – Fagaceae – Quercus rubra

Northern catalpa – Bignoniaceae – Catalpa speciosa

Yellow poplar – Magnoliaceae – Liriodendron tulipifera

True cedar – Pinaceae - Cedrus

Siberian elm – Ulmaceae – Ulmus pumila

Sweet gum – Altingaceae – Liquidambar styraciflua

Pin oak – Fagaceae – Quercus palustris

Honeylocust – Fabaceae – Gleditsia triacanthos

There is some memorization involved…but I am beginning to find that I remember the scientific names as well as the common names as I continue to study…adding new woody plants to the list each week. The class is living up to my expectations in helping me expand my identification skill of woody plants of Missouri.

Previous posts about my experiences in the Identifying Woody Plants class at Missouri State University

Lovett Pinetum

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The Identifying Woody Plants class I am taking made a field trip to Lovett Pinetum last week. It was about 30 minutes in traffic getting there and 30 minutes back. 8 more woody plants were added to our list to recognize in the field…plus we saw some plants not required but interesting…and walked around a new-to-me place. I took my camera along.

Here are some of the plants I photographed at Lovett Pinetum. I share the scientific name and family for those that are added to the list of plants we are to recognize for the class…only the common names for those that were easily visible and pointed out to us in passing at the Pinetum.

Eastern wahoo…with lots of aphids on the stems.

Poison ivy - Toxicodendron radicans – Anacardiaceae: “leaves of three,” leaves are oval, but margins vary considerably

Black walnut – Juglans niger – Juglandaceae: with chambered pith. This is a tree I was very familiar with from Maryland…nuts on the ground in the fall are always very noticeable!

Joint fir (Ephedra): not native to Missouri but an interesting plant.

True cedar – Cedrus – Pinaceae: needles on short shoots, evergreen, cones upright, does not grow very well in Missouri.

Ozark witch hazel – Hamamelis vernalis – Hamamelidaceae: Woody seed capsule from flowering last January still not open; hairy twigs; shrub; leaves already changing. Flowers, when they appear, will have ribbon-like petals

American hazel – Corylus americana – Betulaceae – nuts will turn brown as they ripen; shrub; leaves wide oval and doubly serrate

Longleaf pines – Along Atlantic coast and Florida; white bud at ends of branches

Jewelweed (not a woody plant) was blooming in several places…particularly around the spring area.

There was large black oak that was pointed out on our trek back to the vans…but oaks must be for another class since it wasn’t added to our ‘must know’ list this time.

While we were at the Pinetum, we noted two animals: a black rat snake parallel to our trail (very sluggish, might have just eaten since it didn’t move while we watched) and a deer that watched us from across an open area then took off when we got a little closer.

It was a good field trip for identification of trees, vines, and shrubs!

Previous posts about my experiences in the Identifying Woody Plants class at Missouri State University

Springfield Botanical Gardens Field Trip

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The field class I am taking at Missouri State University made a trip to the Springfield Botanical Gardens in late August – on a sunny day when the temperature was in the high 90s and the humidity was high too. We tried to stop in shady spots and didn’t walk all that far. There were no misshapes but everyone was glad that the field trip did not last as long as it could have.

I opted to wear my photovest so that I could put my water bottle in the back pocket; my field notebook and pencil was in the front pocket and I had my small point and shoot (Canon Powershot SX730 HS) on my sling strap. It worked well to write notes and take pictures. The point and shoot worked better for me than my phone which I used in the previous class during a field walk around the campus because the camera is easier to hold steady and has better optics for zooming into the parts of trees.

Here are some of the trees we stopped to talk about:

Norway Spruce - Picea abies – Pinaceae: with its large cones that have visible resin and dangling branches

Eastern Hemlock – Tsuga canadensis – Pinaceae: with green and brown cones and flat needles

American Elm – Ulmus americana – Ulmaceae: with its doubly serrated leaves and vase shape

Blue Spruce – Picea pungens – Pinaceae: with its glaucus needles, papery cones, and pegs where needles used to be

Flowering Dogwood – Cornus florida – Cornaceae: with its bark like alligator skin and red drupes

There was an old Bradford Pear which we stopped to look at…and talk about the invasive aspect of this tree that was highly recommended for planting not that long ago. (Bradford/Callery Pear – Pyrus calleryana – Rosaceae)

Yellow/Tulip poplar – Liriodendron tulipfera – Magnoliaceae: with braided bark…I didn’t take a picture since this a very familiar tree for me!

Silver Maple – Acer saccharinum – Sapindaceae: with heavily indented 5-lobed leaves with the silver underside

I couldn’t resist taking at least one flower picture while we were at the garden!

Registering for a College Class

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I registered for a class at Missouri State University last week – Identification of Woody Plants. It has been over 40 years since I did this last! Lots has changed in those years.

  • I didn’t need to go through an admissions process ahead of time or get transcripts sent because I am part of the cohort of people over 62 years old that can attend classes at much reduced cost (MSU 62). I called their office a week before the registration day to confirm. I also asked about the pre-req for the class I wanted to take; I had the pre-req in my long-ago college experience but without the transcript, how would they know? I was advised to email the instructor to get a waiver…which I did and they waived the pre-req for me.

  • The course catalog and schedule are all online now rather in paper/soft cover books. I knew that there were only 7 slots remaining in the course I wanted to take before I headed to registration.

  • The registration for the MSU 62 cohort was held the week before classes started which is later than I usually registered back in the 70s. I arrived just after they opened. The receptionist for the event handed me forms and sent me to tables/chairs to fill them out. The course I wanted to take was not on the paper version of a course list on the tables, so I was glad I had the numbers for it written down to enter in the appropriate places on the form. I also had the printed version of the email exchange with the instructor. I was so focused on the requirements for my degree 40 years ago…now I am just taking whatever interests me and not for credit.

  • When I finished the forms, I joined the queue in chairs waiting for advisors…and thoroughly enjoyed a donut while I waited. I don’t remember ever having food provided when I registered for college classes before!

  • The advisor got me admitted and registered very quickly. She discovered that I already had a number with the university (maybe because I had donated back in 2020).

  • After that I was routed to a second person that printed out my concise schedule and talked to me about setting up my computer accounts, books and parking permits. It appears that the only cost is going to be for the parking pass – quite a bargain even compared to the costs I had in the 1970s. In addition, the textbook for the class I am taking is listed as ‘optional’ so I am waiting to buy it until after I hear what the instructor says in the first session.

Less than an hour after I entered the building, I was walking back to the parking garage. Along the way I photographed the colorful school mascot (bear) at the corner of the building. I am looking forward to this course…not so different from the way I always looked forward to the fall during my education-intense years…but savoring that I won’t be taking any tests!