Common Native Tree Species of Massachusetts

Just as Massachusetts contains a wide variety of forest types, within those are a surprising number and variety of forest species. The number of commercial forest species on many woodlands may total 20 or more, making management much more complicated than would be the case on woodlands down south where foresters deal with fewer than 10 species.

Important native species of trees in Massachusetts include:

Eastern white pine:
The most abundant forest species in Massachusetts and the original commercial species, white pine is found throughout the state. Large volumes of white pine are cut every year for use in lumber, millwork and moldings.

Red maple:
The second most abundant species, red maple is found in woodlands throughout Massachusetts. A lower value hardwood, red maple is growing much faster than it is being utilized. Red maple’s bright red leaves brighten wetlands and other wooded areas in early fall.

Eastern hemlock:
An important softwood for wildlife, Eastern hemlock is most commonly used in rough construction. This low value species, which can live for centuries, is threatened by an imported pest, the hemlock wooly adelgid, which
sucks the juices from its needles, eventually killing the tree.

Northern red oak:
With the demise of the American chestnut due to the chestnut blight, red oak has become the most important hardwood species in Massachusetts, highly valued both for use in furniture and flooring, and as a source of food
for many species of wildlife. Foresters are concerned that oak is not being grown as fast as it is being cut.

Sugar maple:
Sugar maples are the signature tree of small towns in Massachusetts, providing the orange and yellow fall foliage along stonewalls and village greens. Besides its scenic beauty, sugar maple is valued for the production of maple syrup in springtime, and as a high value source of lumber for furniture, flooring and other uses. Sugar maples are threatened by the effects of acid rain and global warming.

Black cherry:
This highly-valued hardwood grows in many woodlands in Massachusetts but it thrives on the deeper, rich soils west of the Connecticut River. Its red heartwood is used for furniture and cabinets. At the northern end of its natural range, black cherry will likely benefit from higher temperatures due to global warming.

White oak:
This slow-growing hardwood was prized for use in shipbuilding and making barrels in colonial times, and is used for furniture and flooring today. Its large acorn is a favorite food of wildlife.

Red spruce:
A strong, light softwood used for building construction, red spruce only grows on higher elevation sites, mostly in the Berkshires. If temperatures rise due to global warming, red spruce may disappear from Massachusetts.

Paper birch:
Paper, or white, birch is famous for the loosely held white bark that was used by native Americans to build canoes. A readily machined hardwood most common on sites of former wildfires, especially at higher elevations, white birch, like red spruce and balsam fir, is at the southern end of its natural range and may eventually disappear from the state due to global warming.

Pitch pine:
This hard yellow pine is found on sandy sites with the highest concentration in southern Plymouth County and Cape Cod. Such sites are ecologically important and require wildfire to allow pitch pines to reproduce and survive
competition from other fire-susceptible species.

Black gum:
This species is an often overlooked wetland species. Of no commercial importance, some black gums in Massachusetts have been found to be more than 400 years old.

American chestnut:
Once a forest giant that accounted for 25 percent of the
American elm trees in some woodlands, chestnuts have been wiped out by the imported chestnut blight, with only stump sprouts remaining that rarely survive long enough to produce nuts before dying from the blight. The familiar Y-shaped American elms once shaded the streets of most Massachusetts towns before they too were struck down by an imported pest, the Dutch elm disease.