Wildlife Uses of Trees, Shrubs, and Herbaceous Plants

Stephen Burr

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Photo URL: https://www.audubon.org/field-guide/bird/greater-prairie-chicken

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Photo URL:https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/American_Redstart/id

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Photo URL: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Northern_Cardinal/id

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Eastern Towhee

Photo URL: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Eastern_Towhee/id

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Boreal Owl 

Photo URL: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Boreal_Owl/id

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Common Name: Large Leaved Cucumber Tree

Botanical Name: Magnolia macrophylla

Native Region: Southeastern United States

Mature Size:  Height: 30.00 to 40.00 feet, Spread: 30.00 to 40.00 feet - Missouri Botanical Garden

Hardiness Zones: 5 - 8

Preferred Growing Conditions:  Best grown in moist, organically rich, well-drained loams in full sun to part shade. Generally intolerant of soil extremes (dry or wet). Intolerant of most urban pollutants. Best sited in locations protected from strong winds which may shred the large leaves. May take 12 or more years before first blooms appear - Missouri Botanical Garden 

Wildlife Uses:  Seeds are eaten by squirrel, opossum, quail, turkey, mice, and chipmunks (Hodges et al., 2010; Elias, 1980). Seeds are high in fat and are a good energy source for migratory birds (USNA, 2006). They are eaten by eastern kingbirds, mockingbirds, robins, wood thrushes, and red-eyed vireos (Arnold Arboretum, 2011). Pollinators, especially beetles, are attracted to the pollen that is high in protein. - USDA Plants 

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Common Name: Hay Scented Fern 

Botanical Name: Dennstaedtia punctilobula

Native Region: Eastern North America

Mature Size:  Height: 1.50 to 2.00 feet, Spread: 2.00 to 3.00 feet - Missouri Botanical Garden

Hardiness Zone: 3 - 8

Preferred Growing Conditions:  Best grown in moist, rich, humusy, acidic, medium moisture loams in part shade to full shade. With consistent moisture, it tolerates full sun. Also tolerates a wide range of soils, including poor rocky soils and, once well established, dry soils. Also tolerates full shade. Spreads aggresively by rhizomes to form colonies. - Missouri Botanical Garden 

Wildlife Uses: Provides cover for small mammals and ground nesting birds 

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Common Name: Blue Ash 

Botanical Name: Fraxinus quadrangulata 

Native Region: North America

Mature Size:  Height: 50.00 to 75.00 feet, Spread: 35.00 to 60.00 feet - Missouri Botanical Garden

Hardiness Zones: 4 - 7

Preferred Growing Conditions:  Easily grown in average, dry to medium wet, well-drained soils in full sun. Prefers consistently moist, humusy loams, but is generally considered to be one of the best of the ashes for dry sites. - Missouri Botanical Garden

Wildlife Uses:  Mature trees offer feeding sites for woodpeckers, nuthatches, and chickadees, and nesting sites for great blue and green herons, and Cerulean warblers. Older and larger trees provide cavities for fisher, and wood ducks, hooded mergansers, and goldeneyes when near wetlands. Downed decaying trees provide cover for salamanders. - Missouri Botanical Garden 

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Common Name: Black Spruce 

Botanical Name: Picea mariana 

Native Region: North America

Mature Size: 30-50′ tall 

Hardiness Zones: 3-7

Preferred Growing Conditions:  Easily grown in acidic, moist but well-drained soils in full sun. Tolerates some light shade. Prefers rich soils, but tolerates average to poor ones. Soils should be kept consistently moist and not allowed to dry out in the early years. Once the roots are well established, plants generally require less moisture. Prefers cool climates and will struggle in the heat and humidity of the deep South. - Missouri Botanical Garden

Wildlife Uses:  providing food and shelter for animals such as the red squirrel (that eats the seeds from the cones), fisher and marten (that eat red squirrels), and birds like the boreal owl (which hunts for voles and shrews among the dense spruce groves) and the spruce grouse (which feeds on the buds of various conifers in winter). Because the seeds of black spruce often remain in the cones, they are an important food source for birds such as pine siskin, crossbills and pine grosbeak. Black spruce also forms important habitat for one of Manitoba's rarest species, the woodland caribou - http://www.naturenorth.com/winter/blspruce/Fblsprce_4.html

Photo of: Boreal Owl

Photo URL: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Boreal_Owl/id

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Common Name: Japanese Cryptomeria 

Botanical Name: Cryptomeria japonica

Native Region: Japan, Southern China

Mature Size:  Height: 50.00 to 60.00 feet, Spread: 20.00 to 30.00 feet - Missouri Botanical Garden

Hardiness Zones: 5 - 9

Preferred Growing Conditions:  Best grown in moist, rich, fertile, acidic, well-drained soils in full sun. Tolerates light shade. Soils should not be allowed to dry out. Site in a location protected from drying winter winds. - Missouri Botanical Garden

Wildlife Uses: Provides cover for wildlife

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Common Name: American Mountain Ash

Botanical Name: Sorbus americana

Native Region: Eastern North America

Mature Size: Height: 15.00 to 30.00 feet, Spread: 15.00 to 25.00 feet - Missouri Botanical Garden

Hardiness Zones: 3 - 6

Preferred Growing Conditions:  Best grown in moist, acidic, humusy, well-drained soils in full sun. As the common name suggests, this is a tree of cool mountain climates that dislikes dry soils and hot and humid summers. It will not grow well in the deep South below USDA Zone 6. It is somewhat intolerant of urban pollution. It generally requires little pruning. Prune if needed from late fall to early spring. - Missouri Botanical Garden

Wildlife Uses: American mountain-ash is a preferred browse for moose and white-tailed deer.  Moose will eat foliage, twigs, and bark.  Up to 80 percent of American mountain-ash stems were browsed by moose in control plots adjacent to exclosures on Isle Royale.  Fishers, martens, snowshoe hares, and ruffed grouse also browse American mountain-ash. The berries of American mountain-ash are eaten by numerous species of birds and small mammals, including ruffed grouse, ptarmigans, sharp-tailed grouse, blue grouse, American robins, other thrushes, waxwings, jays, squirrels, and rodents. - US Forest Service

Photo of Ptarmigan Bird

Photo URL: https://www.audubon.org/field-guide/bird/rock-ptarmigan

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Common Name: Red Pine 

Botanical Name: Pinus resinosa 

Native Region: Eastern North America

Mature Size:  Height: 50.00 to 80.00 feet, Spread: 20.00 to 25.00 feet - Missouri Botanical Garden

Hardiness Zones: 2 - 5

Preferred Growing Conditions:  Grow in average, medium moisture, well-drained sandy loams in full sun. Very little tolerance for shade. Best growth is in geographic areas with cool summers and cold winters. Tolerates a wide variety of soils. Somewhat intolerant of urban pollution. - Missouri Botanical Garden 

Wildlife Uses:  This species provides cover for many species of mammals and birds. Deer, cottontails, and snowshoe hares browse songbirds, mice and chipmunks feed on the seed while seedlings - USDA plants 

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Common Name: Cucumber Tree

Botanical Name: Magnolia acuminata 

Native Region: Eastern North America

Mature Size:  Height: 40.00 to 70.00 feet, Spread: 20.00 to 35.00 feet - Missouri Botanical Garden

Hardiness Zones: 3 - 8

Preferred Growing Conditions:  Best grown in moist, organically rich, well-drained loams in full sun to part shade. Generally intolerant of soil extremes (dry or wet). Intolerant of most urban pollutants. May take 12 or more years before first blooms appear - Missouri Botanical Garden

Wildlife Uses:  Many fruits fall to the ground with their seeds still enclosed and become forage for towhees and other ground-feeding birds, as well as small mammals. - https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=maac 

Photo of: Eastern Towhee

Photo URL: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Eastern_Towhee/id

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Common Name: American Beech

Botanical Name: Fagus grandifolia 

Native Region: Eastern North America

Mature Size: Height: 50.00 to 80.00 feet, Spread: 40.00 to 80.00 feet - Missouri Botanical Garden

Hardiness Zones: 3 - 9 

Preferred Growing Conditions: Best grown in deep, rich, moist but well-drained soils in full sun to part shade. Intolerant of wet, poorly drained soils. Difficult to transplant and does not always grow well in urban settings. In the wild, beeches often form thickets or colonies by suckering from the shallow roots. - Missouri Botanical Garden

Wildlife Uses: Beech mast is eaten by a variety of birds and mammals, including mice, squirrels, chipmunks, black bear, deer, foxes, ruffed grouse, ducks, and bluejays. - USDA Forest Service 

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Common Name: Silver Maple

Botanical name: Acer saccharinum 

Native Region: Eastern North America

Mature Size: Height: 50.00 to 80.00 feet, Spread: 35.00 to 70.00 feet - Missouri Botanical Garden

Hardiness Zones: 3-9

Preferred Growing Conditions: Easily grown in average, medium to wet soils in full sun to part shade. Prefers moist soils, but shows somewhat surprising tolerance for poor dry soils.- Missouri Botanical Garden

Wildlife Uses: The abundant seeds of silver maples are eaten by many birds, including evening grosbeaks, finches, wild turkeys, ducks and other game birds, and small mammals, especially squirrels and chipmunks. The buds are an important food for squirrels when stored food is depleted, particularly in late winter and early spring. The bark is a food source for beavers and deer and rabbits browse the foliage. Silver maple tends to develop cavities that are used by cavitynesting birds and mammals and provide shelter and breeding habitat for many other species, including raccoons, opossums, squirrels, owls, woodpeckers, and many other birds. Because of its abundance and wide distribution of silver maple, its early-produced pollen may be important to the biology of bees and other pollendependent insects. Most references describe red maple as wind pollinated, but insect pollination may be important, as many insects, especially bees, visit the flowers. - USDA Plants

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Common Name: Norway Maple

Botanical Name: Acer platanoides

Native Region: Northeastern Europe to Caucauses 

Mature Size: Height: 40.00 to 50.00 feet, Spread: 30.00 to 50.00 feet - Missouri Botanical Garden

Hardiness Zones: 3 - 7

Preferred Growing Conditions: Easily grown in average, medium moisture, well-drained soil in full sun to part shade. Best in full sun. Tolerant of a wide range of soils. Tolerant of heat and drought. Generally tolerant of many urban pollutants. Freely reseeds. Shallow root system. 

Wildlife Uses: A number of moth caterpillars feed on the leaves, and the flowers provide nectar and pollen for bees and other insects. Birds and small mammals eat the seeds. -  https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/visiting-woods/trees-woods-and-wildlife/british-trees/common-non-native-trees/norway-maple/

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Common Name: Staghorn Sumac 

Botanical Name: Rhus typhina 

Native Region: Eastern North America - Missouri Botanical Garden

Mature Size: Height: 15.00 to 25.00 feet, Spread: 20.00 to 30.00 feet - Missouri Botanical Garden

Hardiness Zones: 3 - 8

Preferred Growing Conditions: Easily grown in average, dry to medium moisture, well-drained soils in full sun to part shade. Tolerant of a wide range of soils except for those that are poorly drained. Generally tolerant of urban conditions. This is a suckering shrub that will form thickets in the wild via self-seeding and root suckering. - Missouri Botanical Garden

Wildlife Uses: Staghorn Sumac seeds and fruits are eaten by many species of upland gamebirds, songbirds, and mammals.  White-tailed deer and moose browse the leaves and twigs.  The bark and twigs are eaten by rabbits, especially in winter. Staghorn sumac is planted for wildlife cover in the Northern Great Plains - USDA Forest Service 

Staghorn sumac provides nectar for several butterfly species, including banded and striped hairstreaks. It is also a larval host of spring azure butterfly. The colorful fruits persist into late winter and serve as emergency food for many species, including turkeys, bluebirds, robins, catbirds, and others. The tree colonies also provide nesting and shelter sites for many bird species - University of Maine (https://extension.umaine.edu/publications/2579e/) 

Photo of: Spring Azure Butterfly

Photo URL: https://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/species/Celastrina-ladon