Common Trees in New York: Identification Guide

Sugar Maple (Acer saccharum)

The sugar maple is New York's state tree and the engine of one of the state's most beloved industries: maple syrup, with New York ranking among the top producers in the United States. In autumn, sugar maples transform the Adirondacks, Catskills, Hudson Valley, and Finger Lakes region into the celebrated foliage landscapes that draw millions of leaf-peepers each October, producing some of the most vivid orange, red, and yellow tones of any deciduous tree in the world. Sugar maples thrive in well-drained, fertile upland soils and dominate the northern hardwood forest — the most widespread forest type in Upstate New York — where they grow alongside American beech and yellow birch. Trees begin producing sap when daytime temperatures rise above freezing following hard freezes, typically in February and March in most of New York.

Where to find it: Upland hardwood forests on well-drained loamy soils throughout Upstate New York from the Adirondacks and Catskills south through the Appalachian Plateau

How to identify it:

• Iconic 5-lobed leaf with U-shaped sinuses between the lobes, 3–6 inches across, turning orange to red in fall
• Opposite, paired samara seeds (helicopter seeds) with wings spread nearly 180 degrees
• Deeply furrowed, grayish-brown bark with irregular, shaggy plates on mature trees
• Dense, rounded crown with upward-arching branches in forest-grown trees

American Beech (Fagus grandifolia)

American beech is one of New York's most distinctive forest trees, instantly recognized by its impossibly smooth, pewter-gray bark — a surface that has tempted generations of visitors to carve their initials, a practice that wounds the tree and introduces pathogens. In the Adirondacks and Catskills, beech was a dominant component of the northern hardwood forest for millennia, but beech bark disease — caused by a combination of the European beech scale insect and several Neonectria fungi — has killed millions of beech trees across New York over the past several decades, fundamentally altering forest composition. Resistant individuals ('lingering beeches') are being studied and propagated by researchers at SUNY-ESF and other institutions. Beech nuts are nutritionally rich and were a critical food source for passenger pigeons (now extinct) and remain important for black bears, turkeys, and blue jays.

Where to find it: Mesic upland hardwood forests throughout Upstate New York; most common in the Adirondacks, Catskills, and western New York

How to identify it:

• Smooth, unbroken, silvery-gray bark — unlike any other New York tree
• Toothed, oval leaves 3–5 inches long, with distinct parallel veins running to each tooth tip
• Dead leaves often persist on branches through winter (marcescent) on younger trees and lower branches
• Triangular beech nuts in spiny, 4-part husks about 0.75 inch, ripening in October

Eastern White Pine (Pinus strobus)

Eastern white pine is the largest conifer in the northeastern United States and one of New York's most historically important trees — the great white pine forests of the Adirondacks and St. Lawrence lowlands provided the masts for the British Royal Navy in the colonial era, marked by the Broad Arrow policy. Today, white pine dominates large portions of the Adirondack forest, growing in pure stands on sandy, glacial-outwash soils and as a component of mixed hardwood-conifer forests throughout Upstate New York. The trees grow rapidly, reaching 150 feet in height, and old-growth specimens in preserved tracts like the Adirondack forever-wild lands give a sense of the forest that once covered much of the Northeast. The five-needled bundles are the easiest diagnostic feature for field identification.

Where to find it: Sandy loam soils, glacial outwash plains, and mixed upland forests throughout Upstate New York, with strongholds in the Adirondacks and the Tug Hill Plateau

How to identify it:

• Soft, flexible blue-green needles in bundles of exactly 5 — the only 5-needle pine in New York
• Long, cylindrical cones 4–8 inches with thin, unarmed scales, often resin-coated
• Young bark smooth and gray-green, becoming deeply furrowed with dark gray-brown, blocky ridges with age
• Tall, straight trunk with a distinctive layered, horizontal branch arrangement visible from a distance

Tulip Tree (Liriodendron tulipifera)

The tulip tree is New York's tallest native hardwood and reaches the northern edge of its natural range in the Hudson Valley, where it grows in rich, moist bottomlands and mesic upland slopes south of the Catskills. A member of the magnolia family, it produces striking tulip-shaped orange and green flowers in May and June, though they're often missed because they bloom high in the canopy of mature trees that can exceed 150 feet in height. In the Hudson Valley and on Long Island, tulip trees grow to impressive size in sheltered ravines and moist lower slopes, and their distinctive leaf shape — a 4-lobed leaf with a flat or concave tip — makes them immediately identifiable at any time of year. Brilliant yellow fall color in October is another hallmark.

Where to find it: Rich, moist bottomlands, ravines, and mesic slopes in the Hudson Valley, Long Island, and the lower Catskill foothills

How to identify it:

• Distinctive 4-lobed leaf with a flat or notched tip that resembles a tulip flower silhouette
• Tulip-shaped flowers with 6 green-orange petals and orange interior markings, blooming May–June
• Upright, cone-like aggregate of winged seeds persisting on branches into winter
• Straight, tall trunk with furrowed, interlacing gray bark on mature trees

Yellow Birch (Betula alleghaniensis)

Yellow birch is New York's most commercially valuable native hardwood and an ecologically essential component of the northern hardwood forest that covers vast stretches of the Adirondacks and Catskills. The distinctive yellowish-bronze, horizontally peeling bark — giving off a faint wintergreen scent when scratched — makes it one of the most reliable tree identifications in the Adirondack backcountry. Yellow birch often germinates on top of decaying nurse logs and stumps, leaving mature trees perched on stilt-like roots over a hollow space where the nurse log has long since rotted away. It is a canopy dominant in the cool, moist forests of the Adirondack highlands, growing alongside sugar maple, American beech, and red spruce.

Where to find it: Cool, moist upland hardwood forests in the Adirondacks, Catskills, and Appalachian Plateau; often on rocky, well-drained slopes and alongside streams

How to identify it:

• Distinctive yellowish-bronze to silvery bark that peels in thin, horizontal, paper-like strips
• Wintergreen scent in twigs and inner bark when scratched — a reliable field test
• Oval, doubly serrated leaves 3–4 inches long with pointed tips
• Upright, cylindrical catkins (seed cones) 0.75–1.5 inches that disintegrate at maturity

Northern Red Oak (Quercus rubra)

Northern red oak is the most widespread and abundant oak in New York State, growing across virtually every upland forest type from Long Island to the Adirondack foothills and from the Hudson Valley to the Great Lakes lowlands. It is among the fastest-growing native oaks in the Northeast and dominates mixed oak forests on dry to mesic uplands throughout central and eastern New York. In the Catskills, red oak often grows alongside chestnut oak on rocky ridges; on Long Island, it shares the landscape with black oak and scarlet oak. New York's red oaks produce substantial acorn crops every two to four years, which synchronize wildlife reproduction cycles for deer, bears, and turkeys across the entire state.

Where to find it: Upland hardwood and mixed forests on well-drained to mesic soils throughout New York State, at elevations below 3,000 feet

How to identify it:

• Large leaves 5–9 inches long with 7–11 pointed, bristle-tipped lobes and deep, C-shaped sinuses
• Rounded acorns 0.75–1 inch with a shallow, flat-saucer cup covering one-quarter of the nut
• Dark, nearly black bark with flat, shiny 'ski trail' ridges at the upper trunk
• Large, terminal buds with many reddish-brown, overlapping scales

Black Cherry (Prunus serotina)

Black cherry is one of New York's most ecologically important mid-successional trees, a valuable timber species, and a critical food source for migratory birds — its small, bitter black cherries ripen in August and September, attracting dozens of thrush, tanager, and warbler species during fall migration across the state. In the Allegheny Plateau of western New York, black cherry is commercially harvested for its prized furniture and cabinetry wood, where it commands some of the highest timber prices of any northeastern hardwood. It grows rapidly in disturbed forests and old fields, and its dark, burnt-potato-chip-like bark flakes are one of New York's most reliable field identification clues. The undersides of leaves and the crushed twigs emit a distinctive almond-like scent.

Where to find it: Old fields, forest edges, and upland hardwood forests across virtually all of New York State; most abundant in the Allegheny Plateau

How to identify it:

• Dark, scaly bark breaking into small, upturned, burnt potato chip-like flakes on mature trees
• Narrow, finely toothed leaves 2–5 inches long with a pointed tip and red-orange glands at the base of the midrib
• Long, drooping clusters of small white flowers in May, followed by dark purple-black cherries
• Crushed leaves and twigs emit a distinctive almond or cherry-extract scent (from hydrocyanic acid)

Shagbark Hickory (Carya ovata)

Shagbark hickory is the most readily identified of New York's several native hickory species, thanks to its spectacularly shaggy bark that peels in long, curved, gray plates giving the trunk an unmistakable shredded appearance. It grows throughout the mixed hardwood forests of central and western New York, the Hudson Valley, and Long Island, preferring well-drained upland slopes and ridge crests where it often grows alongside oaks and sugar maple. The large, round, thick-husked nuts are sweet and edible — favored by squirrels, chipmunks, deer, bears, and historically by Native peoples who extracted hickory milk from crushed nuts for cooking. The nuts husk open cleanly in 4 sections at maturity, distinguishing shagbark from other hickories.

Where to find it: Well-drained upland slopes, ridge crests, and mesic hardwood forests throughout central and western New York, the Hudson Valley, and Long Island

How to identify it:

• Shaggy, peeling gray bark with long, curved plates lifting away from the trunk at both ends
• Large compound leaves with typically 5 leaflets (occasionally 7), the terminal leaflet largest
• Round nuts 1–1.5 inches in a thick, 4-sectioned green-to-brown husk that splits cleanly to the base
• Stout, cigar-shaped end buds with overlapping, gray-tipped outer scales

Norway Maple

Norway maple (Acer platanoides) is arguably the single most damaging invasive tree in New York's forests, planted ubiquitously as a street tree throughout the 20th century and now naturalizing aggressively into forest understories throughout the state from Long Island to the Adirondack foothills. Its shade tolerance exceeds that of native sugar maple, allowing it to establish a dense canopy under closed forests and suppress native wildflowers, shrub seedlings, and sugar maple regeneration. New York City's parks and street trees are heavily dominated by Norway maple, and natural areas like the Catskill and Hudson Valley forests show significant invasion pressure from adjacent suburban plantings.

Tree of Heaven

Tree of heaven (Ailanthus altissima) has colonized roadsides, railroad rights-of-way, urban vacant lots, and forest edges throughout New York State, from Brooklyn to Buffalo, with significant invasions along the Hudson Valley and I-87 and I-90 corridors. It grows extraordinarily rapidly — up to 8 feet per year — produces thousands of winged seeds, and resprouts aggressively from roots and cut stumps, making removal a multi-year commitment. It is the primary host for the spotted lanternfly (Lycorma delicatula), an invasive pest confirmed in New York since 2020 that is threatening grape, apple, and hop industries.

Black Locust

Black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia) is native to a small region of the Appalachians in Virginia and North Carolina but is considered invasive throughout New York State, where it was widely planted for erosion control, fence posts, and mine land reclamation. It spreads aggressively by root sprouts and seeds in disturbed areas, sand plains, and early successional forests, fixing nitrogen in ways that alter soil chemistry and facilitate its own spread while disadvantaging native plants adapted to low-nitrogen soils. On Long Island's pine barrens and in the Hudson Valley shale barrens, black locust invasion is a significant threat to rare native plant communities.

What causes the brilliant fall foliage in New York's Adirondacks and Catskills?

New York's spectacular fall color results from the dominance of sugar maple in the northern hardwood forests of the Adirondacks and Catskills, combined with cool nights and warm days in September and October that maximize anthocyanin pigment production in maple leaves. As days shorten and temperatures drop, sugar maples cease chlorophyll production and reveal their underlying yellow pigments while simultaneously producing new red and orange pigments. The cool, glacially derived soils of the Adirondack highlands and the combination of multiple maple and birch species create some of the most consistently vivid autumn color in the world.

How do I tell a sugar maple from a Norway maple in New York?

The most reliable field test is to break the leaf petiole (stem) — Norway maple exudes a milky white sap, while sugar maple produces a clear sap. Leaf shape is also diagnostic: Norway maple leaves have more pointed lobes with finer teeth, while sugar maple lobes have broader, more rounded sinuses. Norway maple leaves are generally larger and darker green, and their paired seeds (samaras) spread at nearly 180 degrees (flat), while sugar maple samaras form a more acute angle of roughly 60–90 degrees. In fall, Norway maple typically turns yellow, while sugar maple reliably produces orange to red tones.

Are there any native conifers in New York besides white pine?

Yes — New York has a diverse native conifer flora. Eastern hemlock forms extensive forests in the Catskills and Hudson Highlands. Red spruce and balsam fir dominate the boreal zone above 3,000 feet in the Adirondacks. Red pine grows on sandy soils and rocky outcrops throughout the Adirondacks and St. Lawrence lowlands. Jack pine is present in very localized sandplain habitats in the Adirondack foothills. Pitch pine is the characteristic conifer of Long Island's pine barrens and rocky Catskill ridges. Eastern larch (tamarack) — the only deciduous conifer in New York — grows in Adirondack sphagnum bogs and turns golden in October before dropping its needles.