Where to Eat Along I-40 in Alma and Van Buren | Crawford County Lunch Stops
If you’ve ever driven Interstate 40 through Western Arkansas, you’ve...
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Arkansas is called the Natural State for good reason. Forests blanket much of the landscape, stretching from the pine-covered hills of the south to the hardwood forests of the Ozarks and the cypress swamps of the Delta. Trees grow along scenic highways, shade neighborhood parks, line riverbanks and tower above hiking trails. Trees are such a familiar part of everyday life that it’s easy to overlook them.
Many of us also probably group trees into one broad category, overlooking what makes them different and unique. And, most of us can probably only identify a handful of the trees we pass every day. Learning a few common species adds a new layer to time spent outdoors. A walk through a state park becomes more interesting when you recognize a blooming dogwood or the distinctive bark of a sycamore.
This isn’t a complete field guide to every tree in Arkansas. Instead, it’s an introduction to some of the native trees you’re most likely to encounter and a few interesting facts that make each one worth knowing.
How to Identify a Tree
You don’t have to be a botanist to identify trees. Start by looking at the leaves or needles. Their shape, arrangement and size are often the quickest clues. Bark can also be surprisingly distinctive, especially during winter when leaves have fallen.
Next, look for flowers, cones, nuts, berries or seed pods. Sweetgum trees scatter their familiar spiky seed balls across sidewalks each fall, while persimmon trees produce bright orange fruit. The tree’s overall shape and where it’s growing also offer hints. A towering bald cypress is at home in wetlands, while a shortleaf pine is more likely to be found on upland slopes.
If you want a more in-depth study, the Arkansas Tree Database from the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture is a great online resource that provides many photos to aid identification. Trees of Arkansas by Dwight M. Moore is a useful book published by the Arkansas Forestry Division.
Meet the Trees
Arkansas is home to well over 100 native tree species, but you don’t have to learn them all at once. These are some of the trees you’re most likely to encounter whether you’re hiking, camping, fishing or simply exploring your own neighborhood.
Eastern Redbud
One of the first signs of spring, the eastern redbud’s rosy-pink flowers peek between the bare branches before its heart-shaped leaves appear. It naturally grows along woodland edges and beneath taller trees, making it a favorite ornamental tree across Arkansas.
Flowering Dogwood
The flowering dogwood is another spring favorite, covering the lower canopy with white blossoms each year. Its bright red berries feed birds in late summer and fall, while its scarlet foliage provides one of Arkansas’s most beautiful autumn displays.
Bald Cypress
If you’ve ever paddled through one of Arkansas’s water trails winding through swamps and slow-moving bayous, you’ve likely seen a bald cypress. These ancient-looking trees grow in standing water and develop distinctive “knees” that rise above the surface around their trunks. Their durable, rot-resistant wood has been prized for generations.
American Sycamore
The sycamore is easy to recognize thanks to its mottled white and gray bark that peels away in patches. Often found along rivers and streams, it grows into one of Arkansas’s largest hardwood trees and has shaded waterways for centuries.
White Oak
Strong, long-lived, and dependable, the white oak has been part of Arkansas’s forests for centuries. Its acorns provide food for countless wildlife species, while its dense wood is used for flooring, furniture and barrel making.
American Persimmon
Wild persimmons may be small, but they’re packed with flavor once fully ripe. Their bright orange fall fruit is enjoyed by deer, foxes, birds, and anyone patient enough to wait until it loses its mouth-puckering bitterness. Persimmon pudding remains a traditional Southern favorite.
Black Walnut
Black walnut trees produce flavorful nuts wrapped inside thick green husks and are also valued for their beautiful hardwood. The rich brown lumber is commonly used in fine furniture and cabinetry. Beneath the tree, however, many plants struggle to grow because walnuts naturally release a compound called juglone into the soil.
Sweetgum
Love them or hate them, almost everyone recognizes the sweetgum’s spiky seed balls. Its distinctive star-shaped leaves turn brilliant shades of yellow, orange, red, and purple each fall, making it one of the state’s most colorful native trees.
Eastern Cottonwood
Cottonwoods thrive along rivers, lakes and floodplains where they grow quickly into towering shade trees. In late spring, they release clouds of cotton-like seeds that drift through the air, giving the tree its common name.
Shortleaf pine photo (right) courtesy of Christopher J. Earle.
Pines
In 1939, Arkansas designated the pine tree as the official state tree, but the law did not name a specific species. As a result, both the loblolly pine and the shortleaf pine, two of Arkansas’s most common native pines, are generally recognized as the state’s trees. The fast-growing loblolly pine is the backbone of Arkansas’s forestry industry, supplying lumber, paper, and other wood products, while the shortleaf pine once dominated millions of acres of native forest and remains an important source of habitat for wildlife. Today, conservation efforts are helping restore shortleaf pine woodlands, ensuring this iconic Arkansas tree continues to thrive alongside its equally important cousin.
Eastern Red Cedar
Despite its name, the eastern red cedar is actually a juniper tree. Its fragrant wood has long been used for fence posts and cedar chests because it naturally resists insects and decay. The blue berry-like cones provide an important winter food sourc
Bois d’Arc (Osage Orange)
Known for its bright green hedge apples, the bois d’arc has one of the hardest woods in North America. Indigenous peoples prized it for making bows. Early Arkansas settlers later planted it extensively as living fence rows before barbed wire became common.
River Birch
River birch thrives along streams and rivers, where its curling, papery bark makes it easy to identify. Its ability to tolerate flooding has made it a favorite native tree for landscapes as well. The river birch is the only birch tree native to Arkansas.
Sassafras
Sassafras is one of Arkansas’s easiest trees to recognize because its leaves often appear in three different shapes, including the familiar mitten-shaped leaf. Its aromatic roots were once used to make traditional root tea, and its leaves turn vibrant shades of orange and red each fall.
Wild Black Cherry
Wild black cherry is common in forests throughout Arkansas. The tree produces fragrant white flowers each spring, and small, pea-sized fruit in late summer. The fruit is favored by wildlife and can be used in jams and jellies although it has a slightly bitter taste. Its wood is also highly valued for furniture and cabinetry.
Pecan
Native to Arkansas’s rich river bottoms, pecan trees are both beautiful shade trees and productive nut trees. Their nuts support wildlife and have become a staple ingredient in countless Southern recipes. Learn more about Arkansas Pecans.
Remarkable Trees Worth Discovering
Some trees become memorable not because of their species, but because of the stories they carry.
Across the state, Champion Trees represent the largest known examples of their species, reminding us just how impressive Arkansas’s forests can become when given time to grow.
Other trees have sparked curiosity for generations. Arkansas’s signal trees, believed by some to have been intentionally bent centuries ago to mark trails or important locations, continue to inspire discussion about the state’s earliest inhabitants and travelers.
Several Arkansas Moon Trees were grown from seeds that traveled into space aboard NASA missions, creating a unique connection between the Natural State and space exploration.
Healthy forests also depend on good stewardship. Moving firewood from one part of the state to another can spread insects and diseases that threaten native forests, making it important to leave firewood where you find it. Learning to recognize invasive trees is another way Arkansans can help protect the forests that make our state unique.
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