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  Cupressaceae : Juniperus virginiana

  R. Neil Reese

  Juniperus virginiana is a perennial, non-flowering, coniferous evergreen tree with a pyramidal or subcylindrical shaped crown, growing 5–20 m in height. The bark is reddish-brown to gray, fibrous and shredding as it ages. The younger branches are usually red. The adult leaves are green to blue green, tightly adpressed and scale-like, 2–4 mm long, 0.8-1.5 mm wide, arranged in opposite decussate pairs or occasionally whorls of three and overlapping the leaves above. Juvenile leaves are needle shaped, 5–11 mm long and are present on young trees and new branches. Red cedar is usually dioecious with male plants having yellowish-brown, sessile, solitary ovoid cones, 2.5-4 mm long, 1-2 mm in diameter, attached to the ends of branchlets. Female trees produce solitary, berry-like seed cones that are 3–7 mm in diameter, dark purplish-blue with a white waxy covering. These cones mature during the first year and contain 1-3 yellowish seeds. Cones shed pollen and are fertilized in April and May. Eastern red cedar is native to southern South Dakota, being found on pastures, prairie hillsides and disturbed ground. Because of its wide use in shelter belts, it has escaped and is naturalized throughout SD.

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  Elaeagnaceae: Elaeagnus angustifolia

  R Neil Reese

  Elaeagnus angustifolia is a perennial large shrub or small tree growing to 5 m tall. The trunk and mature branches have a scaly gray-brown bark, with young branches being covered with silvery gray hairs. The small branches often end in sharp spines. The alternate, simple, petiolate leaves are covered with silvery scales are star-shaped hairs. The blades are up to 10 cm long and usually less than 18 mm wide. The inflorescence consists of axillary groups of 1 to 3 short-stalked flowers on the young branches. The fragrant flowers are funnel-shaped, ~12 mm long and wide, with 4 spreading, yellow petal-like sepals that are silvery on the outer side. They are fused at the base and form an angled tube about as long as the lobes. There are 4 yellow stamens and a style. The fruit are edible, but mealy drupe-like achenes. Russian olive flower in May and June ad the fruit ripen in August through October. This species was introduced as a windbreak species and has become naturalized throughout the US. Although still planted for game improvement in some states, it is considered an invasive species in South Dakota.

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  Elaeagnaceae : Shepherdia argentea

  R. Neil Reese

  Shepherdia argentea is an erect, perennial, deciduous shrub or small tree, growing 2m to 6m in height and forming thickets by root suckers. Young stems are covered in scaley or stellate hairs giving them a white-mealy appearance, becoming gray with age, and 2–3-year-old twigs often end in spines. The simple leaves are opposite, oblong to oblanceolate, 2-5 cm long, 7-12 mm wide, gray green on both the upper and lower surfaces due to a covering of hairs. The margins are entire, the tip blunt and the blade narrowed at the base with a petiole of 3-6 mm. Buffaloberry is dioecious, the flowers in small clusters on 1 year old twigs. Male flowers have 4 sepals fused to a 8-lobed, shallow disk and have 8 stamens, their filament free. The female flowers have 4 sepals fused to a hairy disk that nearly encloses the pistil. The fruit is an ovoid, drupe-like achene, red, juicy and 5–7 mm long. Buffaloberry blooms in May and June and the fruits remain attached into the fall. They grow throughout South Dakota along streambanks, on hillsides and in ravines.

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  Ericaceae : Arctostaphylos uva-ursi

  R. Neil Reese

  Arctostaphylos uva-ursi is a perennial low shrub, with trailing flexible stems which form mats 1-2 m in diameter. The bark is reddish on younger stems and light colored and exfoliating on older stems. The leaves are alternate with a short petiole. The blades are entire, spatulate to obovate, evergreen and 1-3 cm long. The upper surface of the leaves is leathery and shiny. The flowers are arranged in terminal racemes or panicles and are often pendulous. The 5 sepals are 1-1.5 mm long, pink to white and persisting in fruit. The corolla is urceolate, white to pink, 4-8 mm long and the lobes are reflexed. There are 10n stamens that are shorter than the petals and a the ovary is 5-celled. The fruit is a fleshy drupe, red, 4-10 mm in diameter containing 5 boney 1-seeded nutlets, Bearberry blooms from May to July and grows in wooded areas on rocky to sandy sights in western South Dakota. This species is commonly found on much of the norther and mountainous regions of North America.

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  Ericaceae: Vaccinium membranaceum

  R. Neil Reese

  Vaccinium membranaceum is a perennial, deciduous shrub with a shallow, fibrous root system. Mature plants typically reach 30–90 cm in height. Stems are slender, erect to spreading, and covered with smooth bark that becomes reddish-brown with age. Leaves are alternate, simple, broadly ovate to elliptic, 1–5 cm long and 0.5–3 cm wide, with finely serrated margins and an acute tip. The upper leaf surface is dark green and glabrous or sparsely hairy, while the lower surface is paler and often glaucous or slightly hairy. Petioles are short, 2–5 mm long. Flowering occurs from May to July, with inflorescences forming short racemes or clusters of 3–10 nodding, bell-shaped flowers 5–10 mm long. Flowers have five fused sepals forming a small green calyx 1.5–2 mm long, and five fused petals forming a white to pale pink, urn-shaped corolla 4–7 mm long with a slightly flared mouth. Stamens number ten, with filaments often hairy near the base and anthers with terminal pores releasing pollen via vibration (buzz-pollination). The pistil consists of a single ovary with a slender style and a small stigma. The fruit is a round, juicy berry, 6–12 mm in diameter, dark blue to nearly black with a smooth, glossy skin, maturing from August to September. Mountain huckleberry is native to South Dakota's Black Hills and western regions, typically found in montane forests, subalpine meadows, and rocky slopes, preferring acidic, well-drained soils under partial shade.

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  Ericaceae: Vaccinium scoparium

  R. Neil Reese

  Vaccinium scoparium is a perennial, deciduous shrub with a shallow, fibrous root system and no rhizomes or tubers. Mature plants typically reach 10–60 cm in height. Stems are slender, erect to spreading, often forming dense, low mats or thickets. Leaves are alternate, simple, broadly ovate to elliptical, 0.5–2 cm long and 0.3–1 cm wide, with finely serrated margins and an acute tip. The upper leaf surface is dark green and glabrous or sparsely hairy, while the lower surface is paler and sometimes glaucous. Petioles are short, 1–3 mm long. Flowering occurs from May to July, with inflorescences forming small clusters or solitary nodding, bell-shaped flowers 4–7 mm long. Flowers have five fused sepals forming a small green calyx 1–1.5 mm long, and five fused petals forming a white to pale pink, urn-shaped corolla 3–6 mm long with a slightly flared mouth. Stamens number ten, with filaments often hairy near the base and anthers with terminal pores for buzz-pollination. The pistil consists of a single ovary with a slender style and small stigma. The fruit is a round, fleshy berry, 5–8 mm in diameter, dark blue to black with a smooth, glossy skin, maturing from July to September. Grouse whortleberry is native to South Dakota’s Black Hills and western regions, typically found in montane forests, subalpine meadows, and rocky slopes, favoring acidic, well-drained soils under partial shade.

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  Fabaceae: Amorpha canescens

  R. Neil Reese

  Amorpha canescens is a small perennial deciduous shrub or subshrub, which grows 30 cm to 1.2 m in height from a deep, rhizomatous root system. Main stems are brown and woody with the few branching stems being green to gray-white. The grey-green leaves are alternate odd-pinnate and appear leaden due to their dense hairiness Leaves contain 29-41 leaflets, are subsessile with the petiole 0.5-1.0 mm long. The rachis is 8-13 cm long, the petiole and rachis densely are pubescent with short whitish to gray woolly hairs. Leaflets are 9-17 mm long and 4-8 mm wide, ovate-oblong to elliptical. The margins are entire. The flowers bloom from May to August and have a 5-lobed fused calyx 1.5-2.0 mm long, with free lobes 1.5-2.0 mm long. Corollas are not papilionaceous, forming a bluish-purple tube that is 4-5 mm long and 2.0-2.5 mm wide. Ten stamens are exserted from the tube, the free portion of the filaments 4-5 mm long with bright yellow anthers. The superior ovary is 1.0-1.5 mm long and densely hairy, with the style 2-3 mm long and having a 3-lobed stigma. The fruits are small (3-4mm) modified 1-seeded legumes. This plant can be found growing in well-drained soils of prairies, bluffs, and open woodlands.

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  Fabaceae : Amorpha fruticosa

  R. Neil Reese

  Amorpha fruticosa is a deciduous perennial shrub, which has 1 to several stems growing from 1 m to 3.5 m in height, often branched, forming a bushy top. The alternate, pinnately compound leaves are stipulate (caduceus, narrowly linear 2-4 mm in length) 10 – 30 cm long with 4 – 15 pairs of emarginate leaflets. The inflorescences are solitary to clusters of densely flowered racemes 5-20 cm in length that bloom from June to August. The 5-merous calyx is fused forming a tube 2-3 mm long with broadly rounded to triangular lobes extending about 0.5 mm. The reddish-purple petals form a tube 5-6 mm long that encloses the stamens and pistil. There are 10 stamens 6-8 mm long and united at the base, with bright yellow anthers. The single pistil matures into a legume 5-7 mm by 2-3 mm. False indigo is commonly found along moist stream banks, in the open or in open woods.

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  Fabaceae : Amorpha nana

  R. Neil Reese

  Amorpha nana is deciduous perennial shrub, which grows 30 cm to 60 cm in height. The stems are branched above, often covered with short hairs when young. The alternate, compound odd-pinnate leaves are 3-10 cm long with 3-10 cm long petioles having associated stipules that are 3-5 mm long. The broadly oblong leaflets are arranged in 6-15 pairs with a single terminal leaflet and are 6-13 mm long by 3-6 mm wide. Dwarf indigo flowers are borne in densely flowered terminal racemes, 3-9 cm long. The dark, purple-colored flowers appear from May to June. The sepals form a short turbinate tube 2-3 mm long with 1-2 mm long triangular lobes. The corolla is composed of petals fused into a tube, 5-6 mm long, with a slender claw, and encloses the stamens and pistil. There are 10 stamens fused at the base and a single pistil. The fruit is a legume, 4.5-5.5 mm long by 2-3 mm wide. This species is commonly found on dry prairies and rocky or sandy hillsides.

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  Fabaceae: Gleditsia triacanthos

  R. Neil Reese

  Gleditsia triacanthos is a deciduous tree known for its rapid growth, thorny branches, and distinctive compound leaves. It typically grows 15–25 meters tall, sometimes reaching up to 30 meters and has a broad, open crown. The bark is gray-brown and deeply furrowed. Branches bear large, branched thorns up to 20 cm long, though thornless cultivars exist. Leaves are pinnately or bipinnately compound, 20–40 cm long, with numerous small, ovate to lanceolate leaflets about 2–5 cm long and 1–2 cm wide. The tree is deciduous, shedding leaves in late fall. Flowering occurs in late spring (May–June). The flowers are small, greenish-yellow, and fragrant, arranged in loose, open racemes. Each flower is typically about 5–7 mm long. Each flower has four sepals and four petals. The sepals are small, green, and fused at the base, about 2–3 mm long, with lanceolate lobes. The petals are also small, about 3–5 mm long, yellow-green, and somewhat irregular in shape. The tree produces long, flattened pods 15–30 cm in length, containing several hard, brown seeds. Pods mature in fall and persist through winter. Honey locust is native to eastern South Dakota and the central United States. It is commonly used in landscaping and is widely naturalized throughout South Dakota, often found in floodplains, open woodlands, and along rivers.

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  Fabaceae: Gymnocladus dioicus

  R Neil Reese

  Gymnocladus dioicus is a large, deciduous, perennial tree with rough bark and growing to 23 m tall. The young twigs are brown, hairless with light brown to orange lenticels. The large leaves are alternate, bipinnate, 30-90 cm long, 30-60 cm wide, with each leaf having 3-7 pairs of pinnae (branches), the branches up to 10 cm long and having 4-7 pairs of leaflets on each branch. The leaflets are 4-7 cm long, 2-3 cm wide, rounded at the base, pointed at the tip with entire margins. The inflorescence consists of terminal racemes or panicles, 5-30 cm long. the flowers have a tubular-obconic hypanthium 6-10 mm long, with 5 oblong sepals, 3-5 petals 4-5 mm long, 10 stamens with those opposite the petals slightly longer than those opposite the sepals. The trees generally produce either male or female flowers,but usually also produce some perfect flowers.The fruit is a flattened, oblong, indehiscent legume 5-15cm long and 3-5 cm wide, containing dark seeds, 15-20 mm in diameter. The fruit is green in the summer and turns purplish-brown as it dries. Kentucky coffee blooms in May and June in woodlands along streams and on open hillsides in southeastern South Dakota. This species has been planted in windbreaks and urban landscapes throughout SD and can be found in many regions as an introduced species.

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  Fagaceae : Quercus macrocarpa

  R. Neil Reese

  Quercus macrocarpa is a deciduous coarse shrub to large tree, with deeply furrowed bark, growing up to 30 m in height and with the trunk more than 1 m in diameter. The simple, alternate leaves are obovate, pinnately lobed, 10-25 cm long and 5-15 cm wide. The leaves are usually shiny green on the upper surface and silvery due to star-shaped hairs on the lower surface and can vary greatly in size and shape depending on location and climate. Burr oak is monoecious, the green male flowers develop in pendulous catkins, each flower with a 5-lobed calyx and 5-10 stamens. The green female flowers are solitary or in small clusters in the axils of new growth, have 6 sepals and an ovary embedded in the surrounding tissues, with styles exerted. The fruit is a nut (acorn) surrounded by a deep cup, the margins and sides often fringed, that envelops half or more of the ovoid nut that is up to 4 cm long and 4 cm wide. Burr oak flowers in April and May in upland forests and along lake shores in much of South Dakota.

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  Grossulariaceae : Ribes americanum

  R. Neil Reese

  Ribes americanum is a perennial shrub, with erect to ascending, unarmed stems, growing 1-1.5 m tall. The younger stems are hairy, and dotted with yellow glands, becoming smooth and gray to black with age. The simple, alternate leaves are nearly round in shape, 3-8 cm long, with 3 deeply parted lobes and 2 shallow lobes at the outer edges. The leaf margins have sharp to rounded teeth, the upper leaf surface is smooth, and the lower surface is covered with hairs and small glands. The inflorescences are composed of hairy, axillary, drooping, racemes with 6-15 flowers. The calyx is tawny brown at the base, becoming greenish white above, 8-10 mm long, the hairy, bell-shaped hypanthium is 3-4.5 mm long, with 5 sepal spreading to reflexed lobes, 4-5 mm long. The 5 petals are white 2-3 mm long, inserted at the top of the hypanthium. The 5 stamens are inserted between the petals, have a broad base, are tapered toward the top. The fruit is a black, ovoid berry, 6-10 mm in diameter, with persistent floral remnants on the end. Black currant blooms in May and June on the edges of woods, in moist ravines and along streambanks in much of South Dakota.

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  Grossulariaceae : Ribes aureum var. villosum

  R. Neil Reese

  Ribes aureum var. villosum is a perennial woody shrub, erect to arching main stems are 1-2 long, the younger stems and branches light brown, darkening with age. The stems are unarmed. The alternate, simple leaves develop directly on the branches of the current year and in clusters on projections from older stems. The leaf petioles are 2-5 cm long, the blades about the same length, broadly diamond to oval shaped, with 3 main rounded or bluntly pointed lobes, occasionally more, often further divided into shallow lobes. The margins are entire, or with a few blunt to rounded teeth. The inflorescence consists of axillary racemes of 3-8 flowers on peduncles 3-6 mm long. The yellow calyx tube is 10-14 mm long with 5 reflexed lobes, 3-5 mm long and showier than the corolla. The corolla has 5, erect, yellow petals, 2-3.5 mm long, often with all of the petals or their distal ends turning red. There are 5 stamens 1-2 mm long, attached to the hypanthium opposite the sepals. The fruit is a globose berry, 7-9 mm in diameter, greenish yellow and turning black as it matures. Buffalo currant blooms in April and May on dry, open hillsides, along the edges of thickets and streambanks, predominantly in western South Dakota.

  Synonym: Ribes odoratum

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  Grossulariaceae : Ribes hirtellum

  R. Neil Reese

  Ribes hirtellum is a perennial shrub, with erect to ascending stems with 1-3 nodal spines or often lacking these spines, the stems growing 0.5-1.5 m in height. The internodal prickles are few when present. The upper stems develop thin gray bark, shedding away along with any prickles, and the older branches are brown. The simple, alternate leaves are usually clustered on short lateral shoots, with slender, hairy petioles are up to 5 cm in length, often longer than the blades. The blades are almost round in outline, 1-5-3.5 cm long and 2-4 cm wide, with 3 major lobes and 2 smaller outer lobes. The margins have shallow, rounded teeth. The flowers are solitary or in small clusters along the stem, with slender, hairy pedicels 5-8 mm long. The flower parts form a yellow to lightly purplish, bell-shaped, hypanthium that is 5-8 mm long with 5 light green, flared sepals 3-4 mm long, and with 5, erect petals, 1-2 mm long. There are 5 stamens, opposite the sepals, 3-5 mm long, exerted above the petals. The fruit is a smooth, blue to black, ovoid to spherical berry, 8-10 mm in diameter, with persisting floral remnants on the end. Hairystem gooseberry blooms in May and June in rocky woods, along hillsides, in ravines and thickets along the eastern edge and western half of South Dakota.

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  Grossulariaceae: Ribes missouriense

  R. Neil Reese

  Ribes missouriense is a deciduous, spiny shrub growing 1 to 2 meters tall. The stems are slender, often with arching branches and scattered spines or prickles along its stems. Leaves are alternate, simple, sometimes fascicled on short lateral branches, broadly ovate to orbicular, 3 to 7 cm long and 3 to 6 cm wide, with 3 to 5 lobes, the 2 primary sinuses almost reaching the middle, and coarsely toothed margins. The upper leaf surface is dark green and sparsely hairy, while the lower surface is lighter and more densely hairy. Petioles measure 1 to 3 cm long. The inflorescence consists of nodding, solitary or paired (to 4) flowers that bloom from April through June. The calyx has five triangular sepals, 3 to 5 mm long and about 2 to 3 mm wide, often reflexed. Flowers have five petals that are pale yellow to greenish yellow, rounded to obovate in shape, measuring 6 to 10 mm long and 4 to 7 mm wide. Each flower contains 5 stamens, with filaments about 2 to 3 mm long and yellow anthers approximately 1 to 1.5 mm long, inserted alternate with the petals. The pistil is single with a superior ovary. Fruits mature from July through August as rounded berries about 1 to 1.5 cm in diameter, green when immature, turning dark purple to black when ripe, often covered with a waxy bloom. Missouri Gooseberry is native to South Dakota and grows mainly in wooded ravines, limestone bluffs, and rocky slopes, woodlands, thickets, and along stream banks, primarily in the eastern and southeastern parts of the state.

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  Grossulariaceae: Ribes oxyacanthoides

  R. Neil Reese

  Ribes oxyacanthoides is a deciduous, spiny shrub typically growing 0.5–1.5 meters tall with irregularly branched, ascending to sprawling, prickly branches. The stems are slender, yellow to brown when young wing dense prickles on the internodes. The nodes have 1-4 stout brown spines, 5-14 mm long. Older stems become blackened and unarmed. Leaves are alternate, simple, often fascicled at the ends of lateral shoots, broadly ovate to orbicular, usually 3 to 7 cm long and 3 to 6 cm wide, with three major and 2 minor lobes that are sharply toothed or coarsely serrated. The upper leaf surface is dark green and sparsely hairy; the underside is lighter and more densely hairy. Petioles range from 1 to 3 cm long. The inflorescence consists of 1-3(4) nodding flowers blooming from April to June. The calyx has five white to green triangular sepals, forming a hypanthium tube with lobes 3 to 5 mm long and about 2 to 3 mm wide, often reflexed. Flowers have five petals that are pale yellow to greenish yellow, broadly ovate to obovate, measuring 2-3 mm long, erect and shorter than the sepals. Each flower contains 5 stamens with filaments approximately 2 to 3 mm long and yellow anthers about 1 to 1.5 mm long, inserted alternate with the petals. They have a single pistil with a superior ovary and a slender style terminating in a small stigma. Fruits mature from July through August as rounded berries 1 to 1.5 cm in diameter, green when immature, turning red to dark purple at maturity, often covered with a waxy bloom. In South Dakota, northern gooseberry occurs primarily in moist woodlands, forest edges, streambanks, and rocky hillsides, scattered in the western region of the state.

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  Juglandaceae : Juglans nigra

  R. Neil Reese

  Juglans nigra is a large tree with brown bark that grow to 25 m tall with a trunk up to 1 m in diameter in a forest stand. Individual specimens growing under ideal conditions can grow much larger. Young twigs are green and covered with glandular hairs. The alternate, compound palmate leaves grow to 50 cm long, the 11-23 leaflets are sessile, oblong lanceolate, pointed at the tip and usually with small teeth along the margins. The trees are monoecious, with green male flowers in catkins up to 12 cm long, each with about 4 sepals and 8-40 stamens. The female flowers are terminal on new growth in clusters of 1-several flowers, each with 3 small bracts and a hairy pistil with a short style and 2 yellow green stigmas. The fruit is a globose, yellow green turning brown nut, 5 cm in diameter, containing a nut 4 cm in diameter. Black walnut blooms in April and May. This species is native to the southeastern corner of South Dakota, but has been planted in windbreaks and yards state wide, becoming naturalized throughout the state.

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  Moraceae: Morus alba

  R. Neil Reese

  Morus alba is a deciduous tree growing 10 to 20 meters tall, with a broad, spreading crown and rough, furrowed grayish-brown bark. Leaves are alternate, simple, and variable in shape—ovate to deeply lobed—measuring 5 to 15 cm long and 4 to 12 cm wide, with serrated or wavy margins and petioles 1 to 3 cm long. Leaf surface can be smooth or slightly hairy, sometimes variegated. . The species is dioecious or sometimes monoecious, with small greenish unisexual flowers arranged in catkin-like inflorescences. Male flowers occur in slender cylindrical catkins 3 to 7 cm long and 0.5 to 1 cm wide, each flower apetalous with usually 4 stamens bearing 2 to 3 mm long filaments and longitudinally dehiscent anthers that release pollen. Female flowers are grouped in shorter, compact catkins 1.5 to 4 cm long and 0.5 to 1 cm wide, consisting mainly of a single superior ovary with one locule and ovule, a short cylindrical style 1 to 2 mm long, and a bifid, papillose stigma. Both flower types have a perianth of 4 to 6 small, scale-like tepals under 1 mm long protecting reproductive parts. The fruit is a multiple fruit (syncarp), 2 to 3 cm long, resembling a blackberry and ripening to white, pink, red, or dark purple, composed of numerous small druplets. The fruits are edible and sweet. Native to China, White mulberry has been widely introduced worldwide, and has adapted well to the region’s climate. Its presence is most notable in the eastern and central parts of the state where human settlement and cultivation have introduced it widely.

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  Oleaceae: Fraxinus pennsylvanica

  R Neil Reese

  Fraxinus pennsylvanica is a large tree reaching 20 m tall with dark gray to brown, furrowed bark. The younger branches go from greenish with white lenticels (pores) to brown to gray and can be smooth to hairy. The petiolate, opposite leaves are compound odd-pinnate,11-30 cm long, with 5-9 leaflets. The leaflets are lanceolate to elliptic, 6-15 cm long and up to 5 cm wide, with short stalks. The first pair of leaflets is usually the shortest. The margins usually have small teeth, the upper surface is dark green and smooth and the lower surface is paler with short hairs along the midvein or across entire surface. The trees are dioecious, having either male or female flowers. The inflorescences consist of panicles, 3-5 cm long, in the axils of leaves on the first year branches. The flowers have an irregularly toothed, cup-shaped calyx, no petals and either 2-3 stamens or a pistil with a long style. The fruit is a tan, narrowly oblanceolate single samara. Green ash blooms in April and May in flood plains, ravines and along stream and lake shores throughout South Dakota.

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  Pinaceae: Picea glauca

  R. Neil Reese

  Picea glauca is a tall, evergreen conifer that can reach heights of 20 to 30 meters or more. It has a conical crown with horizontal to slightly drooping branches, a straight trunk with thin, scaly, gray-brown bark. Needles are attached individually and arranged spirally around the twig. They are stiff, sharp, four-sided, 1 to 2.5 cm long, and bluish green to gray green with a whitish waxy coating. Male cones are small, cylindrical, and yellowish, producing pollen released from May to June. Female cones are green when young, maturing to brown in fall, typically 3–7 cm long, with thin, flexible scales. They mature from September through October, with seed dispersal occurring shortly after. The bark, needles, and cones are distinctive to this species. White spruce is native to boreal forests across much of North America, including parts of South Dakota, favoring cooler, moist environments and well-drained soils. Black Hills spruce is a variety of white spruce that is native to a geographically isolated area in and around the Black Hills of South Dakota. It was originally called Picea glauca var. densata, but many experts now designate it as Picea glauca ‘Densata’ because its differences from the species are judged insufficient to justify classification as a botanical variety.

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  Pinaceae: Pinus contorta

  R. Neil Reese

  Pinus contorta is a medium-sized evergreen conifer reaching heights of 15 to 30 meters. It has a narrow, conical crown with dense branches. The bark is thin and scaly on young trees, becoming thick and deeply furrowed with age. Needles occur in pairs (2 per fascicle), are slender and sharp-pointed, 3 to 7 cm long, often twisted and dark green. Male cones are small, cylindrical, 1 to 3 cm long and about 0.5 to 1 cm wide, releasing pollen from May to June. Female cones are oval to conical, 3 to 7 cm long and 2 to 3 cm wide, often serotinous (remaining closed until exposed to fire or heat), they mature over two seasons, changing from a purple green to a light brown color in September or October. Lodgepole pine is native to the Black Hills of South Dakota where it grows in cooler, moist, higher elevation sites, often mixed with ponderosa pine and spruce. It is well adapted to fire ecology.

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  Pinaceae : Pinus ponderosa

  R. Neil Reese

  Pinus ponderosa is a large evergreen tree with a pyramid-shaped crown that broadens with age and can reach 35 m in height. The trunk is straight, gray brown and furrowed when young, becoming scaley and gray mixed with orange brown with age, and the branches are gray black in color. The needle-like leaves are clustered toward the branch tips, usually 3 (2) per fascicle, 8-20 cm long, with small teeth along the margins. The fascicles emerge from a membranous, orange brown, deciduous sheath that is 1.5-2.5 cm long. Ponderosa pines are monoecious, the male cones are yellow orange, cylindrical, 1.5-3 cm long, in axillary clusters of 10-20 cones. The female cones are brown, woody, broadly ovoid, 6-12 cm long, 6-8 cm wide, and mature in the second year. Each cone scale has a thin prickle on the outer side. The seeds are in pairs underneath the scales, 6-7 mm long with a papery wing 3-4 times as long as the seed. The cones release pollen in May and June on low mountains and rocky hillsides in western and southcentral South Dakota.

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  Rhamnaceae: Ceanothus herbaceus

  R. Neil Reese

  Ceanothus herbaceous is a deciduous, perennial, woody, bushy shrub growing up to 1 m tall. The simple, alternate leaves are 3-nerved, oblong to oblanceolate, the margins with small teeth and glandular when young. The upper surface of the leaves usually have a slightly white waxy covering and the lower surface with long white hairs. The inflorescence consists of terminal panicles at the ends of the leafy branches of the new year, on peduncles 1-5 cm long. the tiny white flowers have a short calyx tube with 5 lobes 1.6 mm long, 5 hooded petals, ~2.5 mm long, constricted (clawed) for ½ their length. There are 5 stamens with a 3-lobed ovary surrounded by a 10-lobed collar, 1.5 mm wide. The fruit is a 3-lobed capsule, 3-4.5 mm wide. New Jersey tea blooms in May and June on prairies and open wooded hills in western South Dakota.

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  Rhamnaceae : Ceanothus velutinus

  R. Neil Reese

  Ceanothus velutinus is an evergreen, perennial, spreading shrub growing 0.5-2.5 m tall, lacking spines and forming large colonies. The simple, alternate leaves are 3-nerved, ovate to ovate-elliptic, 4-8 cm long, the margins with small glandular teeth. The upper surface of the leaves are shiny green and often sticky, and the lower surface is pale with long often velvety hairs. The inflorescence consists of axillary, dense panicles. The tiny white flowers have a short calyx tube with 5 incurved lobes < 2 mm long, 5 recurved hooded petals, 2-2.5 mm long, abruptly constricted (clawed). There are 5 upwardly curved stamens with a 3-lobed ovary surrounded by a 10-lobed disk. The fruit is a 3-lobed capsule, 5-6 mm wide, with a slight crest above the middle. Mountain balm blooms in June and July on dry, open wooded hillsides in western South Dakota.