20 Types of Trees to Look for in Yosemite
Yosemite National Park is 1,125 square miles of beauty, which happens to include 35 different types of trees. While driving up to the park from a westward direction, you will see oak trees dotting the San Josquin Valley along with the lower foothills, but there are many other species of trees you can find throughout this beautiful park that have become national treasures.
Read on for a list and information on 20 types of trees in Yosemite.
1. Digger Pine
The Digger Pine, also known as the Pinus Sabiniana, sports many branches and is a beautiful silver gray. It is one of few trees that can be found in the Foothill Forest in the Upper Sonoran Zone that can survive the severe drought conditions during the long summers.
2. Small Knobcone Pine
The Small Knobcone Pine’s formal name is Pinus attenuate and it also grows in the Upper Sonoran Zone but very infrequently. It can be found peppered throughout the Foothill Forest but you will have to keep your eyes open if you want to find one since they are few and far between.
3. Valley Oak
When it comes to hardwood trees, the oaks rule in the Yosemite area. The Valley Oak, also referred to as Quercus Lobata or roble, can be found throughout Yosemite. This tree grows to become one of the largest of all of the North American oak trees and is normally found in California. It tends to grow in interior valleys and foothills and can live for about 600 years.
4. Flowering Dogwood
Flowering dogwoods, also known as Cornus nuttallii, will grow to a height of about 35 to 40 feet or 10 to 12 meters. Some people consider this to be a shrub, but the flowering dogwoods are actually low branch trees that boast oval leaves and a flat-topped crown area. The leaves are about 3 to 6 inches wide and boast creamy white flowers with four petals on each one that will appear early every year in the springtime. These trees can live for about 80 years.
5. Broadleaf Maple (Acer macrophyllum)
With the formal name of Acer macrophyllum, the bigleaf or broadleaf maple, sometimes also referred to as the Oregon maple, is a large tree that is native to the western part of North America and can normally be found near the Pacific coast of Southern California. It can grow two hides of 80 to 100 feet with smaller, juvenile trees growing less than three feet each year. It grows the most when it is between the ages of 15 to 30 years old at about 2 feet every single year during that time frame.
6. Giant Sequoia (Sequoia gigantea)
Giant sequoias are the trees that many of you may have seen in textbooks and on the Internet in vacation photos of your friends on your social media accounts in which they are standing in front of because they are so massively wide and tall. In fact, these trees are considered the world’s most massive trees that never stopped growing and can reach hikes of about 300 feet. These trees weigh in it over 600 tons and are some of the oldest living organisms on the earth today and are considered to be at least 3000 years old, according to Earth Day.org.
7. Jeffrey Pine
With the formal name of Pinus jeffreyi, the Jeffrey Pine replaces its close relative, the western yellow pine. It can be found in the lower part of the Main Timber Belt as well as the bottom lands, which are very fertile and promote the growth of the Jeffrey pine trees. A hardwood tree was named in honor of a botanist who documented it: John Jeffrey. The tree also goes by the names of Jefferey’s pine, black pine, or yellow pine and is considered to be a North American pine tree. This species is mainly found in California, which is fitting since you can see many of them in Yosemite. This tree is considered to be a very fast-growing conifer since it can grow about three feet each year and can live on for centuries.
8. White Fir (Abies concolor)
According to the Arbor Day Foundation, the beautiful White Fir tree with the formal name of Abies concolor, was discovered many decades ago by naturalist Donald Peattie when he recognized not only the beauty of this tree but its adaptability for being to be used as an ornamental tree. And it has a beautiful color and shape to it as well as the ability to thrive in harsh weather in rugged terrain and has become a favorite to be used in people’s landscaping in urban areas. It is one of the most often used trees within the Christmas tree industry.
9. Douglas Fir
The Douglas fir tree, also known as Pseudotsuga taxifolia, is considered to be a very large tree as well as a very rugged and durable one. These trees are some of the oldest trees in North America since many of them are more than 1,500 years old. The timber from this beautiful tree is used in the building and construction industries because it is so strong and works well as one of the best timbers for heavy structural purposes, including trusses for your roof or as glulam beams.
10. Green Western Yellow Pine (Pinus ponderosa)
The green western yellow pine tree, also called ponderosa pine or Pinus ponderosa, may just have the most well-known name of any tree on our list. The reason it rings a bell with many people throughout the world is that it was made famous by the very popular television show, Bonanza. The word ponderosa means heavy or enormous in Spanish and was given to this tree because of its huge size once it is fully mature.
11. California Buckeye (Aesculus californica)
The California Buckeye tree, also known as Aesculus californica, is also sometimes referred to as a California horse chestnut tree and it is believed to be native to the state of California as well as the southwestern part of Oregon. It does well in drought conditions and has drooping leaves that can distinguish it from other trees. It’s very important to note that the California Buckeyes on this tree are poisonous if you ingest them, which include the seeds as well as tea that is made from the leaves and sprouts. This means do not eat the buckeyes!
12. Mountain Laurel
Dermatophyllum secundiflorum is a species of flowering shrubs or small trees and the Mountain Laurel, or Umbellularia californica, is a part of this species. This tree is native to the southwestern United States as well as Mexico and can also be found throughout Yosemite. It has a slower growth rate and will only grow about a foot every year.
13. California Nutmeg
Torreya californica, or Tumion californicum, are the formal names of the California nutmeg tree that can be found throughout the beautiful landscape of Yosemite. It grows along the Pacific Coast ranges as well as the foothills of the Sierra Nevada and is native to North America. This tree has beautiful Evergreen foliage and is very hardy so it can survive in a lot of different climates. It is a large tree that boasts plenty of seed-filled fruits that grow at different times throughout the year. The California nutmeg seeds are edible, although you should make sure that you are positively identifying the tree correctly before consuming the seeds so you can avoid accidentally poisoning yourself since there are trees that look very similar to the California nutmeg tree.
14. Mountain Mahogany (Cercocarpis)
Cercocarpus parvifolius, more commonly known as a mountain mahogany tree, is a smaller tree that boasts nitrogen-fixing flowers that are part of the rose family of Rosaceae. This tree is not only native to northern Mexico but to the western United States as well and many of them can be found peppered throughout Yosemite. They like semi-desert climates and habitats and grow well at high altitudes. You can find these trees in larger numbers when you enter into the Main Timber Belt, or Transition Zone, of the Sierra Nevada. This is one of the most amazing forests in the world and this tree adds to its beautiful landscape.
15. Fragrant Incense Cedar
Calocedrus decurrens (California Incense-cedar also known as Libocedrus decurrens Torr., is part of the conifer species that is native to the western part of North America with most of them being found in central western Oregon as well as throughout California and the extreme western part of Nevada. It also does well in the northern Baja California area and Mexico. It can grow to about 2,900 meters tall and has a great aroma, hence its name for fragrant incense cedar.
Its trunk grows to about three meters around and it has a very broad crown to it with tons of branches that spread out. The bark of this tree is an orange-brown color but after weathering it turns a gray shade that is smooth at first but becomes very fissured over time. The leaves are bright green on each side of the shoots and you can find several of these throughout Yosemite.
16. California Black Oak (Q. californica)
Quercus kelloggii, the California black oak, is part of the red oak tree family and is native to the western part of North America. It is a large impressive tree that is also sometimes referred to as the Kellogg oak tree. this tree can be found throughout the forest in Yosemite National Park, so keep your eyes open and you might spot a few.
17. Interior Live Oak
Quercus wislizeni, known by the common name interior live oak, is a part of the Evergreen oak family and often looks more like a shrub. It can be found in many areas throughout California, which obviously includes Yosemite National Park.
18. Canyon Live Oak
The cuercus chrysolepis, commonly called the canyon live oak tree, canyon oak, golden cup oak or maul oak, can be found in Yosemite and along the California coast ranges. It is a large tree and very beautiful. Most of these can be found along the entryways into Yosemite.
19. Willow
If you look closely along the streams throughout Yosemite National Park, you may very well spot different species of Willow trees that have the formal name of Salix. These trees have narrow leaves and like to grow along a water supply. Some of their branches can be used to make baskets and the wood from these trees is used for a variety of products.
20. Black Cottonwood (Populus trichocarpa)
Populus trichocarpa, which is the black cottonwood, is also sometimes referred to as the western balsam-poplar or California poplar. It is a beautiful broadleaf tree that is native to western North America and can be seen at Yosemite in several different areas. It is a stronger, more durable tree that is sometimes used as timber for building and construction projects and is also known as a model organism when it comes to plant biology.
We hope that you enjoy your visit to Yosemite and that you are able to find and identify several of the 20 trees we discussed above. There are several others that you may see as well, but at least with this information in hand, you may be able to pick some of these out from the array of other trees and shrubs found throughout this amazing national park.
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