Tree dictionary
Trees of Pettis County
35 native and 4 invasive species recorded here. All of Missouri.
Invasive trees in Pettis County
Spreading here on their own. Cutting is only half the job; the stump needs treating or it comes back.
Long compound leaves with a glandular notch at each leaflet base, rank odor, and smooth gray bark. Spreads by root suckers and millions of seeds along roads, railroads and lots statewide. Host of the spotted lanternfly.
2 records in the county
Photo: Darkone (talk · contribs) · CC BY-SA 2.5 · Wikimedia Commons
Glossy, smooth-topped leaves and white-to-purple fruit; brought for silkworms, now in fencerows and lots statewide and crossing with native red mulberry.
2 records in the county
Photo: Emőke Dénes · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
The large shrub that greens up first and drops last, with hollow stems and red berries, crowding out everything under the trees in woodlots and parks across Missouri.
8 records in the county
Photo: Eric Hunt · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Silver-backed leaves, fragrant spring flowers and red speckled berries; planted for wildlife, now blanketing old fields and roadsides statewide.
1 record in the county
Photo: KENPEI · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Native trees in Pettis County
Thick corky bark, big fringed acorns and leaves widest near the tip. Found in bottoms, prairies and savannas across the state; tolerates drought and fire.
1 record in the county
Photo: Heath Cajandig · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Dark blocky bark with yellow-orange inner bark, glossy leaves. One of the most common upland oaks in the Ozarks.
1 record in the county
Photo: Willow · CC BY 2.5 · Wikimedia Commons
A big handsome red oak of bottomlands and lower slopes, mostly southern and eastern Missouri. Good red fall color.
1 record in the county
Photo: Tmasjeg · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
An oak with smooth, unlobed leaves like a laurel's. Common statewide on slopes and in fencerows.
5 records in the county
Photo: Unknown author · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons
Named for the long bark plates that curl away from the trunk. Five leaflets, sweet nuts, found statewide on slopes and bottoms.
1 record in the county
Photo: Famartin · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Like shagbark but with seven leaflets and the largest nuts of any hickory. A bottomland tree, mostly along the larger rivers.
1 record in the county
Photo: Robert H. Mohlenbrock. USDA SCS. Midwest wetland flora: Field office illustrated guide to plant species. · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons
Fuzzy leaf undersides, tight furrowed bark, and nuts with thick shells and little meat. Common on Ozark uplands.
1 record in the county
Photo: Photo by David J. Stang · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Bright yellow winter buds give it away. Moist woods and bottoms statewide; the fastest-growing hickory.
1 record in the county
Photo: No machine-readable author provided. MPF assumed (based on copyright claims). · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Dark furrowed bark, long compound leaves, and the round green-husked nuts that stain everything. Rich bottoms and slopes statewide; Missouri leads the nation in wild nut harvest.
2 records in the county
Photo: Unknown author · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons
Gray bark and oblong sticky nuts; a cousin of black walnut found in moist woods of the eastern Ozarks. Uncommon and declining.
1 record in the county
Photo: H. Zell · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Deeply cut leaves silvery underneath, fast growth, and shaggy bark. Native to river bottoms statewide and planted in countless yards.
2 records in the county
Photo: Darkone (talk · contribs) · CC BY-SA 2.5 · Wikimedia Commons
Red twigs, red flowers in late winter and red fall leaves. Native to the eastern Ozarks and Bootheel swamps; cultivars planted everywhere.
3 records in the county
Photo: Ayotte, Gilles, 1948- · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
A maple with compound leaves, often mistaken for poison ivy as a seedling. Grows fast in bottoms, fencerows and neglected lots statewide.
2 records in the county
Photo: CK Kelly · CC BY 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
The common bottomland ash, planted by the thousands as a street tree for decades. Leaves green on both sides.
1 record in the county
Photo: Jerzy Opioła · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
White upper bark peeling in patches, huge leaves and dangling seed balls. Creek and river bottoms statewide; among the largest trees in the state.
1 record in the county
Photo: Marty Aligata · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Warty, corky bark and lopsided leaves; purple berries birds love. Bottoms, slopes and city lots statewide, tough as nails.
2 records in the county
Photo: Chhe (talk) · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons
Dark scaly bark like burnt potato chips, glossy leaves and small black cherries in summer. Fencerows and woods statewide.
2 records in the county
Photo: Unknown author · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Mitten-shaped leaves in three forms on one tree, spicy-scented twigs, orange fall color. Old fields and woodland edges across the southern two-thirds.
2 records in the county
Photo: Randy Everette · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Tall and straight with square-tipped leaves and tulip-shaped green-and-orange flowers in May. Native to the eastern Ozarks and Bootheel; planted widely.
1 record in the county
Photo: Jean-Pol GRANDMONT · CC BY 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Blocky black bark and orange fruit that is mouth-puckering until frost. Old fields and edges across the southern two-thirds.
5 records in the county
Photo: Peterwchen · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Wicked branched thorns on wild trees, fine feathery leaves and long twisted pods. Bottoms and pastures statewide; thornless forms are planted.
2 records in the county
Photo: Plant Image Library from Boston, USA · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Pink-purple flowers on bare branches in early April, then heart-shaped leaves. Woodland edges statewide and a favorite yard tree.
5 records in the county
Photo: Greg Hume · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Salmon-pink peeling bark and doubly toothed leaves. Native along streams statewide; the most planted birch in Missouri yards.
1 record in the county
Photo: Greg Hume · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Five leaflets in a fan, yellow spring flowers and shiny brown nuts in spiny husks. Rich bottoms and slopes, mostly the eastern half.
1 record in the county
Photo: Unknown author · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Big drooping tropical-looking leaves and the largest native fruit, like a mango-banana in September. Moist bottoms and shaded slopes statewide.
4 records in the county
Photo: Scott Bauer, USDA · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons
Shreddy bark in thin strips and hop-like seed clusters. Dry wooded slopes statewide.
1 record in the county
Photo: Eric Hunt · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
The first white bloom in the woods each March, then sweet purple berries in June. Bluffs and slopes across the Ozarks and eastern Missouri.
1 record in the county
Photo: Dcrjsr · CC BY 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
- Native
Thorny, with orange-brown furrowed bark and softball-sized green fruit. Native to the southwest corner, planted as hedgerows statewide before barbed wire.
7 records in the county
A conifer that drops its feathery needles each fall, with buttressed trunks and knees rising from swamp water. Native to the Bootheel and lower Mississippi lowlands; planted statewide.
2 records in the county
Photo: Unknown author · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons
The evergreen that takes over every unmowed pasture and glade, with shreddy red bark and blue berry-like cones. Statewide.
3 records in the county
Photo: Famartin · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Flat white flower clusters in May and blue-black fruit; a small stiff tree of woodland edges statewide.
2 records in the county
Photo: Robert H. Mohlenbrock. USDA SCS · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons
Four-lobed pink capsules that split to show red seeds in fall. Moist woods and fencerows statewide.
1 record in the county
Photo: Mason Brock (Masebrock) · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons
Huge heart-shaped leaves, orchid-like white flowers in June and long bean pods. Native to the Bootheel bottoms; planted and naturalized statewide.
1 record in the county
Photo: Mark Wagner · CC BY 2.5 · Wikimedia Commons
Fragrant pink spring flowers and small hard green apples, in prairie edges and open woods, mostly north and west.
3 records in the county
Photo: M.S. del, J.N.Fitch, lith. · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons
The thicket dogwood of fencerows and prairie edges statewide, with white flower clusters and white berries.
2 records in the county
Photo: photo by John Knouse · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons
Records from GBIF (herbarium specimens and verified observations). A species missing here may still grow in the county; nobody has filed a record.