Trees
may be the oldest and largest living things in nature. They
are closely associated with our daily lives, yet most of us
now little about them and barely can tell one type of tree from
another.
Sixteen
editions of this handy pocket guide have been printed since
John Simcox Holmes, North Carolina's first State Forester, put
together the first edition in 1922. Holmes' idea was to provide
an easy-to-use reference guide to help people of all ages recognize
many of our common forest trees on sight. That goal has not
changed.
Although
the book has changed little, some uses of wood and general information
about the trees have. Carriages and wagons, for example, aren't
often made from Shagbark hickory (or anything else) anymore,
and Loblolly pine now is used for making tremendous amounts
of pine plywood, something unheard of in the 1920's.
Keeping
these changes in mind, we revised Common Forest Trees of North
Carolina in 1977 and 1995. Much of the narrative material, however,
remains just as former State Forester Holmes wrote it in 1922.
Many
of the drawings for this revision of the book were provided
by William C. Grimm as they appear in his book, The Book of
Trees. We have used these drawings and some of Grimm's narrative
material with both his permission and that of his publisher,
The Stackpole Company. We are grateful to Mr. Grimm and The
Stackpole Company for their assistance in making this publication
possible. A easy to use map of the trees' ranges is also included
with each listing.
The
scientific names used in this book follow those used in Checklist
of United States Trees (Native and Naturalized), USDA Forest
Service Handbook Number 54 1, published in September 1979. Common
names for trees often are confusing, and it is nearly impossible
to cite all of the names in use. Only those names generally
used in North Carolina are mentioned.
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