Top 15 Most Iconic Trees Native to Virginia
Red Spruce: These trees can live to be over 400 years old. Some of the uses for this spruce’s wood include making musical instruments due to its hardness and lack of knots.
Hackberry: Hackberry Leaf Slug (Norape ovina) likes to live on these deciduous trees until they can fly away. The berries can be eaten raw and are slightly sweet. They are sometimes also used to make preserves.
Atlantic White Cedar : Cedar trees are known for their aromatic wood, which makes excellent bonfires, firewood for fireplaces, and are used when smoking meat and fish.
Loblolly Pine:These tall trees create small reddish-colored pine cones that generally grow in twos. This tree grows 2 feet per year, making a great privacy barrier tree.
Southern Live Oak:The live oak trees are all over the deep south, like Louisiana, and are adorned with beads yearly that hang along with the mystical Spanish moss in New Orleans.
Bald Cypress :This tree most commonly grows in swamps, freshwater marshes, and near rivers or lakes. The reason the tree sticks its conical knees above ground and, many times, out of the water is a mystery.
Black Willow: Its shallow root system is wonderful for stabilizing soil in erosion control. This tree typically grows near rivers, lakes, and marshes. It does not grow on the very tall mountains found in Virginia.
Bigtooth Aspen:This aspen tree lives on average for 50 years but can live up to 100 years. The name comes from the pointy teeth along the edge of the leaves. These full-sun trees are one of the most beautiful in the fall.
Sweet Birch:The sweet birch is a pyramid-shaped deciduous tree that grows primarily in the mountain terrain. Wintergreen oil can be made by using this tree.
Longleaf Pine:The tree’s dark green needles measure 18 inches long, while the pine cones measure 10 inches. For 5 – 7 years, these trees remain a tuft of pine needles until they develop a solid root system.
Black Walnut :These trees typically lose their branches from 3 – 6 feet off the ground and provide good shade cover. Walnut production can take from 6 – 20 years to become fruitful.
Eastern Redbud:A small deciduous tree that has pink flowers in the spring and summer. The redbud doesn’t flower until it is four years old. The seed pods are brownish-black.
Sweetbay Magnolia:The flowers from these trees have a wonderful scent and make great ornamental yard trees. They are very hardy and have low flammability. This is a host plant from swallowtail butterfly caterpillars.
Red Mulberry:The Native Americans used the plant of worming and dysentery. The tree is not very flammable and is a host to the red admiral butterfly caterpillars. The fruit is sweet and can be eaten off the tree.
Honey Locust:These are shade trees and do not have thorns. The tree prefers full sun and can grow up to two feet every year. The white and green flowers are very fragrant, and the twisted seed pods provide food for animals.