Habit: small-medium tree

Leaves: mature leaves scaled, juvenile leaves subulate

Bark: thin, fibrous, reddish brown

Reproductive structure: seed cone, turns from green berry-like to blue with whitish bloom, berrylike cone formed by fused cone scales

Habitat: dry and abandoned sites, midwestern mixed hardwoods

Habit: medium tree

Leaves: needles in fascicles of 2 (sometimes 3), 7-12 cm long

Bark: dark and scaly when young, becoming thick with reddish flaky plates, inner bark is slate gray

Reproductive structure: seed cone, ovoid to oblong, nearly sessile, apophsyis armed, shortest cone of southern pines

Habitat: deep, well drained soils and poor sites, midwestern mixed hardwoods

Habit: small tree in north, medium tree in south

Leaves: needles in fascicles of 3, somewhat twisting and spreading, 7.5-15 cm long

Buds: resinous, covered in fringed chestnut brown scales

Bark: dark and scaly, becoming plated and fissured, brown

Reproductive structure: seed cone, ovoid, flattened at base, umbo armed, can be serotinous

Habitat: shallow, infertile, sandy soils in swamps to extremely dry sites, midwestern mixed hardwoods

Habit: small to medium tree

Leaves: needles in fascicles of 2, twisted, often divergent, 2-8 cm long

Bark: smooth with shallow fissures, becoming scaly and plated, brown

Reproductive structure: seed cone, ovoid, sessile, thin scaled, umbo armed with needle-like prickle

Habitat: sterile clay soils and abandoned sites, midwestern mixed hardwoods

Habit: small tree in west, medium tree in southeast

Leaves: alternate, simple, obovate, thick and leathery, lobed, middle 2 lobes large and squarish or cross-shaped, some pubescence above, tomentum below

Buds: small, subglobose, chestnut brown, pubescent

Bark: reddish brown, longitudinal ridges

Fruit: acorn, solitary, paired or clustered, tip pubescent and/or striped, sessile or short-stalked, cup covers 1/3 to 1/2 of nut, pubescent, reddish brown, long pale hairs along rim

Habitat: dry, rocky, or sandy sites, midwestern mixed hardwoods

Habit: medium tree

Leaves: alternate, simple, obovate to elliptical to nearly lanceolate, crenate to repand-crenate margin, some pubescence below

Buds: acute with chestnut brown scales

Bark: dark, deeply furrowed

Fruit: acorn, solitary or in pairs, stalked or subsessile, cup very thin and lustrous, covering 1/3 to 1/2 of nut, scales somewhat fused, glabrous

Habitat: dry sites, rocky ridges, also rich well-drained soils near streams, midwestern mixed hardwoods

Habit: medium to large tree

Leaves: alternate, simple, ovate to obovate, deeply to moderately deeply lobed, u-shaped sinuses, bristle-tipped lobes, thick and leathery, pubescent scurfy below with axillary tufts, petiole stout, long, yellow

Bark: gray & rough, becoming nearly black with deep furrows, inner bark yellow or bright orange-yellow & bitter

Fruit: acorn, cup covers 1/3 to ½ of nut, scales loose fitting, slightly pubescent, with a fringe, nut reddish brown, often striped, kernel yellow, bitter

Habitat: dry ridges to moist rich sites, midwestern mixed hardwoods