Washington Native Plant Society: Starflower Image Herbarium

Home > Landscaping > Native Plants for Western Washington Gardens and Restoration Projects

Native Deciduous Trees

	*Acer circinatum* Vine Maple Tall, erect, multi-trunked shrub or small tree with sprawling branches. Height: 13-26 feet (4-8 meters) Leaves deciduous. Bark is initially smooth and bright green, eventually turning brown with age.
	*Acer macrophyllum* Big-leaf Maple A tree with a large, often multi-stemmed trunk and a loose, broad crown of large leaves. Height: 65-100 feet (20-30 meters) tall with trunk 3-5 feet (1-1.5 meters)diameter. Leaves deciduous. Bark is initially green, later becoming grey-brown and narrowly furrowed with age. Old bark is often covered with thick mats of mosses, lichens and ferns.
	*Alnus rubra* Red Alder A fast-growing deciduous tree well suited to disturbed sites. Height: Up to 80 feet (25 meters). Leaves deciduous. Bark is thin and gray with smooth white patches of lichens.
	*Betula papyrifera* Paper Birch A small to medium sized deciduous tree with attractive white, peeling papery bark. Height: Up to 100 feet (30 meters). Leaves deciduous. The bark peels off in smooth, horizontal, white papery strips marked with brown horizontal lines of raised pores.
	*Cornus nuttallii* Western Flowering Dogwood Multi-branched, irregular trees with attractive large white "flowers". Height: Up to 65 feet (20 meters) tall. Leaves deciduous. Blackish-brown bark, smooth, becoming finely ridged with age
	*Fraxinus latifolia* Oregon Ash Tough-wooded tree with gray bark and compound leaflets arranged oppositely around twigs. Height: Up to 82 feet (25 meters). Leaves deciduous. Bark becomes greyish-brown and fissured with age.
	*Larix occidentalis* Western Larch Leaves deciduous.
	*Malus fusca* Pacific Crabapple Small tree, slender in form, appears thorny; bushy in the open. Height: 16.5-40 feet (5-12 meters). Leaves deciduous. Twigs and branches appear to have thorns, but these are actually spurs, on which flowers and fruits are produced. Young twigs covered with tiny white or gray hairs. Older bark deeply fissured.
	*Populus balsamifera* Black Cottonwood Leaves deciduous.
	*Populus tremuloides* Quaking Aspen Deciduous thicket-forming tree with smooth white bark and leaves that "quake" in the wind. Leaves deciduous.
	*Prunus emarginata var. mollis* Bitter Cherry Shrub or small tree with white flowers and small red cherries. Height: Up to 50 feet (15 meters). Leaves deciduous. The bark is tough, stringy and waterproof. Color is reddish-brown or grey with horizontal rows of raised pores that look like white dots.
	*Quercus garryana* Garry Oak Beautiful, deciduous, heavy limbed oak tree. Height: Up to 82 feet (25 meters). Leaves deciduous.
	*Rhamnus purshiana* Cascara Erect, tall shrub or small tree with alternate leaves and inconspicuous flower clusters. Height: Up to 33 feet (10 meters). Leaves deciduous. Thin, smooth, very bitter, silvery gray bark.
	*Sambucus racemosa* Red Elderberry Shrub to small tree with clusters of small white flowers and red berries. Height: 20 feet (6 meters). Leaves deciduous. Soft pithy greenish brown twigs with lines and furrows, bark dark reddish-brown, warty, branches opposite, new twigs are purplish.

The landscaping and restoration information provided on this page is taken from Starflower Foundation Image Herbarium. All photographs © Starflower Foundation unless otherwise noted.