Common Trees in Maryland: Identification Guide

White Oak (Quercus alba)

White oak is Maryland's state tree and one of the most majestic and ecologically important hardwoods in the state. The Wye Oak in Talbot County on the Eastern Shore — before its death in 2002 from storm damage — was the largest white oak in the United States, estimated to be over 460 years old with a crown spread exceeding 100 feet. Maryland still holds the cultural memory of that legendary tree, and the Wye Oak State Park preserves the site. White oak occurs throughout Maryland in well-drained upland forests from the Allegheny highlands to the Eastern Shore, and its acorns are the single most important wildlife food in the state, supporting deer, turkey, wood ducks, and over 100 species of insects.

Where to find it: Well-drained upland slopes, ridges, and terraces throughout the state; from mountain ridges to Eastern Shore uplands

How to identify it:

• Leaves with 7-9 rounded lobes without bristle tips; lobes are finger-like and variable in width
• Light gray to whitish bark that is shallowly platy and scaly — the 'whitest' bark of any Maryland oak
• Oblong, chestnut-brown acorns with a rough, warty cap covering one-quarter of the nut
• Large, spreading, horizontally layered crown on open-grown trees; massive lower limbs

Loblolly Pine (Pinus taeda)

Loblolly pine is the most abundant tree on Maryland's Eastern Shore, blanketing the flat Delmarva Coastal Plain from Cecil County south to Worcester County in vast stands of commercial and natural forest. It is the primary commercial timber species in the region and forms the matrix forest between the agricultural fields and wetlands that define the Eastern Shore landscape. In natural settings on the Eastern Shore, loblolly pine grows alongside Atlantic white cedar, black gum, and sweetgum in pocosins and wet flatwoods. Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge in Dorchester County — famous for its Chesapeake Bay tidal marshes and bald eagle population — is surrounded by loblolly pine forest that provides critical nesting habitat.

Where to find it: Well-drained to moderately wet Coastal Plain soils; old fields, second-growth forests, and mixed pine-hardwood stands on the Eastern Shore

How to identify it:

• Needles in bundles of 3, 6-9 inches long — moderately long, softer than longleaf pine
• Oblong cones 3-5 inches with short, sharp prickles; often remain on branches for several years
• Upper bark is orange-brown and platy; lower trunk is grayish and more deeply furrowed
• Tall, straight trunk with an open, irregular crown; often self-prunes lower branches

Tulip Poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera)

Tulip poplar is one of the tallest trees in Maryland and the signature hardwood of the state's Piedmont and Blue Ridge forests, forming impressive stands in Catoctin Mountain Park, Sugarloaf Mountain, and the stream valleys of Montgomery, Howard, and Baltimore counties. In urban and suburban settings across the Baltimore-Washington corridor, tulip poplar is one of the most common and valued large street and yard trees. Maryland's National Register of Big Trees recognizes exceptional tulip poplars in several counties, with specimens exceeding 130 feet in height. The species has also colonized extensively in the Montgomery County Agricultural Reserve, where old farm fields have converted to young tulip poplar forest over the past 50 years.

Where to find it: Moist, rich upland slopes, coves, and bottomland terraces throughout the Piedmont and mountain regions

How to identify it:

• Distinctive 4-lobed leaf with a flat or notched apex — no other Maryland tree has this leaf shape
• Tulip-shaped yellow-green flowers with an orange blaze at the base, blooming April-May
• Tall, straight, columnar trunk with pale gray bark developing deep, white-filled furrows
• Cone-like aggregate fruit with winged seeds that persist on bare branches through winter

American Beech (Fagus grandifolia)

American beech is one of Maryland's most distinctive forest trees, recognized by its signature smooth, pewter-gray bark that is unfortunately irresistible to carvers — almost every old beech tree in Maryland bears decades of initials and carvings. Maryland's beech forests are particularly fine in the Allegheny Plateau of Garrett County, where beech, sugar maple, and yellow birch form the classic Appalachian Northern Hardwood association. Swallow Falls State Park in Garrett County features old-growth hemlock and beech along the Youghiogheny River, one of the few old-growth forest remnants in Maryland. Beech is threatened by beech leaf disease, a recently emerged nematode-associated disease now affecting Maryland's beech forests.

Where to find it: Rich, moist upland slopes and bottomland terraces; most abundant in Garrett County and the Appalachian highlands

How to identify it:

• Smooth, unbroken, silver-gray bark — the smoothest bark of any large Maryland hardwood; does not become furrowed with age
• Elliptical leaves with prominent parallel veins and sharp, regular teeth along the margins
• Three-sided nuts in a bristly husk — beechnuts are a critical food for black bears, turkeys, and blue jays
• Leaves turn copper-tan in fall and persist on the lower branches through winter (marcescent)

Bald Cypress (Taxodium distichum)

Bald cypress is at the northern edge of its natural range in Maryland, occurring naturally in tidal swamps along the Chesapeake Bay tributaries — particularly along the Pocomoke River and its swampy tributaries on the Lower Eastern Shore, where some of the northernmost naturally occurring bald cypress groves in the United States are found. Pocomoke River State Park and the Pocomoke State Forest protect significant stands of cypress in a landscape that feels almost subtropical, filled with prothonotary warblers, river otters, and water moccasins at the northern limit of their range. The Chesapeake Bay watershed also has scattered planted and naturalized cypress in tidal swamps as far north as Baltimore County. Maryland's cypress are culturally significant as northernmost outposts of the quintessentially Southern swamp forest.

Where to find it: Tidal swamps, river backwaters, and permanently or seasonally flooded lowlands of the Lower Eastern Shore and southern Maryland

How to identify it:

• Feathery, soft, flat needles arranged alternately that turn orange-brown and drop in autumn — deciduous conifer
• Conical root projections (knees) emerge from the water around the base in flooded conditions
• Deeply buttressed, flared base narrowing to a straight trunk above the waterline
• Gray-brown fibrous bark peeling in long, thin strips

Atlantic White Cedar (Chamaecyparis thyoides)

Atlantic white cedar is one of Maryland's most regionally distinctive conifers, forming dense, cathedral-like swamp forests in acidic pocosins and bogs on the Eastern Shore, particularly in Worcester and Wicomico counties. Pocomoke State Forest contains significant Atlantic white cedar stands, and the Nassawango Creek Preserve managed by The Nature Conservancy protects one of the finest remaining stands in Maryland. These swamps have a distinctive character — dark, tannin-stained water, a spongy sphagnum moss floor, and the dense, perfectly straight trunks of cedar rising 60-80 feet with interdigitating crowns that block nearly all sunlight. Atlantic white cedar was historically cut extensively for shingles and boat planking, and most Maryland stands are second-growth at best.

Where to find it: Acidic pocosins, sphagnum bogs, and tidal swamp margins of the Eastern Shore Coastal Plain

How to identify it:

• Tiny, scale-like blue-green leaves pressed tightly against the twigs in flat, fan-like sprays
• Small, round, waxy cones only 0.25 inches in diameter, bluish when young, brown when ripe
• Reddish-brown, fibrous bark that peels in long, thin, spiraling strips
• Straight, slender trunk with a narrow, conical crown; aromatic wood with a cedar scent

Red Maple (Acer rubrum)

Red maple is arguably the most adaptable and ubiquitous tree in Maryland, growing in conditions ranging from wet tidal swamps along the Chesapeake Bay tributaries to dry upland ridges in the Appalachians of Garrett County. It blooms in late February and early March — often the first tree to flower in Maryland — with tiny red flowers that flush the treetops a warm red before any leaves emerge. In fall, red maple delivers some of the most reliable and early fall color in Maryland, turning brilliant orange-red along creek bottoms and wetland margins in late September and October. The species is critically important in tidal wetland forests along the Chesapeake Bay, where it is often the dominant canopy tree in freshwater tidal swamps.

Where to find it: Extremely adaptable — wet swamps, bottomland forests, dry upland ridges, and everything in between across the state

How to identify it:

• Three to five-lobed leaves with V-shaped (not U-shaped) sinuses; red leaf stems are a useful field mark
• Small red flower clusters on bare branches in February-March — the earliest flowering native tree in Maryland
• Paired, red-tinged winged samaras appearing in April-May
• Smooth, light gray bark on young trees becoming dark gray and scaly-platy on mature trees

Sassafras (Sassafras albidum)

Sassafras is one of Maryland's most recognizable trees thanks to its extraordinary leaf variability — three distinct leaf shapes (unlobed oval, mitten-shaped with one lobe, and three-lobed) can all appear on the same tree, often on the same branch. It is common throughout Maryland's Piedmont, Western Shore Coastal Plain, and Eastern Shore in old fields, forest edges, and open upland forests. The aromatic roots and bark have been used medicinally and culinarily by Indigenous peoples of the Chesapeake region for centuries, and sassafras tea was a popular beverage among Colonial-era Maryland settlers. The brilliant orange and scarlet fall color of sassafras is among the earliest and most vivid in Maryland, typically peaking in early to mid-October.

Where to find it: Old fields, forest edges, and dry to mesic upland forests of the Piedmont, Coastal Plain, and foothills

How to identify it:

• Three distinct leaf shapes on the same tree: simple oval, mitten-shaped (one lobe), and three-lobed — unique in Maryland's flora
• All parts of the tree are aromatic — crushed leaves and twigs smell like root beer or sassafras candy
• Bright orange-red fall color among the earliest in Maryland's forests
• Orange-tinted, deeply furrowed, corky bark on older trees; green twigs on young growth

Tree of Heaven (Ailanthus)

Tree of heaven is one of Maryland's most aggressive invasive trees, naturalized throughout the state from urban Baltimore and Annapolis to forest edges along the Appalachian ridges of Western Maryland. It grows at extraordinary speed in disturbed soils, produces thousands of wind-dispersed seeds, and resprouts vigorously from roots after cutting. Tree of heaven is also the preferred host plant for the spotted lanternfly, another invasive pest now spreading through Maryland, making control of ailanthus doubly important for the state's agricultural and ecological health.

Callery Pear (Bradford Pear)

Callery pear has escaped from suburban plantings throughout Maryland's Piedmont and Coastal Plain, establishing in old fields, forest edges, and roadsides from Montgomery County to Queen Anne's County. Its early, profuse white bloom in March is deceptively beautiful — the tree is ecologically destructive, forming dense, thorny thickets that exclude native understory plants and tree seedlings. Maryland's Master Gardener program and DNR have actively promoted swapping callery pears for native alternatives like serviceberry, native plum, and redbud.

Multiflora Rose

While primarily a shrub rather than a tree, multiflora rose forms dense, impenetrable thickets across Maryland's fencerows, forest edges, and abandoned fields that prevent tree recruitment and suppress native shrub and wildflower communities. It was deliberately planted for erosion control and wildlife habitat in Maryland in the mid-20th century and has since become one of the most problematic invasive plants in the state. Control requires cutting and herbicide treatment repeated over multiple years, as the root systems are persistent and seed banks in infested soils can last decades.

How does the Chesapeake Bay influence Maryland's forest trees?

The Chesapeake Bay creates a distinctive set of forest communities found nowhere else in the mid-Atlantic. Freshwater tidal swamps line the tidal tributaries of the Bay with red maple, green ash, sweetgum, and swamp white oak — communities uniquely adapted to the alternating flood and drawdown of tidal influence. The Bay also moderates temperatures along both shores, allowing slightly more southern tree species like sweetbay magnolia, persimmon, and bald cypress to reach the northern limits of their ranges in Maryland's lower Eastern Shore counties.

Where can I see old-growth forest in Maryland?

Maryland has very little true old-growth forest, but several sites preserve old or structurally complex stands. Swallow Falls State Park in Garrett County has the finest old-growth hemlock and beech grove in the state, along the Muddy Creek waterfall area. The Soldiers Delight Natural Environment Area in Baltimore County preserves ancient scrubby serpentine barrens with old Virginia pines. The Nassawango Creek Preserve in Worcester County has old Atlantic white cedar, and several stream corridors in the Catoctin Mountain area contain mature tulip poplar and oak that approach old-growth character.

What is beech leaf disease and how is it affecting Maryland's forests?

Beech leaf disease is a recently emerged and rapidly spreading condition of American beech trees caused by a foliar nematode (Litylenchus crenatae). It was first detected in Ohio around 2012 and has since spread across much of the Appalachian region, reaching Maryland's western counties. The disease causes distinctive dark banding between the leaf veins, followed by leaf distortion, canopy thinning, and eventually tree death over several years. There is currently no proven treatment for forest populations, and Maryland foresters are monitoring the spread closely — the loss of beech would fundamentally alter the species composition of the state's Appalachian forests.