Trees of Louisiana: 41 Common Native Trees (and 4 to Avoid)

The most common trees in Louisiana are loblolly pine, sweetgum, water oak, red maple, sugarberry, bald cypress and water tupelo, with longleaf and slash pines on the sandy uplands and live oaks along the coast and in towns. Bald cypress is the state tree, and the southern magnolia is the state flower. About half of Louisiana is forest: pine forests in the hills of the north and west, and bottomland hardwood forests and cypress-tupelo swamps along the Mississippi, the Red River and in the Atchafalaya Basin, the largest river swamp in the U.S.

Louisiana’s hot, humid climate and wet, low-lying land suit trees that tolerate flooding, and many of its most familiar trees grow with their roots under water for months at a time. It also suits invasive trees from Asia, and Chinese tallow has taken over much of the state’s coastal prairie and abandoned farmland.

• Pines
• Swamp and Bottomland Trees
• Live Oaks, Magnolias and Upland Hardwoods
• Small Trees and Shrubs
• Don’t Plant These Invasive Trees
• Where to See Louisiana’s Trees

Tree	Botanical name	Native to LA	Where you’ll see it
Loblolly Pine	Pinus taeda	Yes	Hills and plantations across the state
Longleaf Pine	Pinus palustris	Yes	Kisatchie National Forest and the sandy hills of west-central and southeast Louisiana
Slash Pine	Pinus elliottii	Yes	Flatwoods of the Florida Parishes, north of Lake Pontchartrain
Shortleaf Pine	Pinus echinata	Yes	Dry hills of north Louisiana
Spruce Pine	Pinus glabra	Yes	Moist, shady stream terraces in the Florida Parishes
Bald Cypress (State Tree)	Taxodium distichum	Yes	Swamps, bayous and lake edges statewide
Water Tupelo	Nyssa aquatica	Yes	Cypress-tupelo swamps, especially in the Atchafalaya Basin
Black Gum and Swamp Tupelo	Nyssa sylvatica and N. biflora	Yes	Uplands (black gum) and swamps and wet flatwoods (swamp tupelo)
Red Maple	Acer rubrum	Yes	Swamps, bottomlands and yards statewide
Green Ash	Fraxinus pennsylvanica	Yes	Bottomlands and river banks
Water Hickory	Carya aquatica	Yes	Flooded bottomlands and swamp edges
Black Willow	Salix nigra	Yes	Sandbars, river banks, ditches and new land in the delta
Eastern Cottonwood	Populus deltoides	Yes	Banks of the Mississippi, Red and Atchafalaya rivers
Sugarberry	Celtis laevigata	Yes	Bottomlands, levees and towns statewide
American Sycamore	Platanus occidentalis	Yes	Stream banks and bottomlands
Sweetgum	Liquidambar styraciflua	Yes	Bottomlands, old fields and yards statewide
Water Oak	Quercus nigra	Yes	Bottomlands, old fields and city streets
Willow Oak	Quercus phellos	Yes	Bottomlands; planted as a street tree
Overcup and Nuttall Oak	Quercus lyrata and Q. texana	Yes	The wettest bottomlands along the Mississippi and Red rivers
Pecan	Carya illinoinensis	Yes	Bottomlands along the Mississippi and Red rivers; orchards and yards
Southern Live Oak	Quercus virginiana	Yes	Coastal ridges, south Louisiana towns and plantations
Southern Magnolia	Magnolia grandiflora	Yes	Upland forests and yards statewide
Sweetbay Magnolia	Magnolia virginiana	Yes	Swamp edges, bay heads and wet pine flatwoods
White Oak	Quercus alba	Yes	Upland forests of north and central Louisiana and the Florida Parishes
Southern Red Oak	Quercus falcata	Yes	Dry upland forests
Mockernut Hickory	Carya tomentosa	Yes	Upland forests, often with pines
American Beech	Fagus grandifolia	Yes	Moist slopes and ravines in north Louisiana and the Florida Parishes
Winged Elm	Ulmus alata	Yes	Dry uplands, old fields and fencerows
Wax Myrtle	Morella cerifera	Yes	Everywhere, from coastal marsh edges to pine flatwoods
Yaupon Holly	Ilex vomitoria	Yes	Coastal ridges, forest understory and hedges
American Holly	Ilex opaca	Yes	Forest understory statewide
Mayhaw	Crataegus opaca	Yes	Swamp edges and wet flatwoods, and orchards
Eastern Redbud	Cercis canadensis	Yes	Forest edges and yards
Flowering Dogwood	Cornus florida	Yes	Upland forests and yards in the northern half of the state
American Persimmon	Diospyros virginiana	Yes	Old fields, fencerows and bottomlands
Sassafras	Sassafras albidum	Yes	Old fields, fencerows and forest edges
Pawpaw	Asimina triloba	Yes	Moist bottomlands and ravines, often in colonies
Sparkleberry	Vaccinium arboreum	Yes	Dry, sandy uplands and pine forests
Swamp Titi	Cyrilla racemiflora	Yes	Swamp edges, bay heads and wet pine flatwoods
Hercules’ Club	Zanthoxylum clava-herculis	Yes	Coastal ridges, sandy woods and fencerows
Common Hoptree	Ptelea trifoliata	Yes	Forest edges, rocky and sandy woods
Chinese Tallow	Triadica sebifera	No (China)	Coastal prairies, marsh edges, old fields and yards
Chinaberry	Melia azedarach	No (Asia)	Old home sites, fencerows and forest edges
Tree of Heaven	Ailanthus altissima	No (China)	Roadsides, vacant lots and railroad banks
Mimosa	Albizia julibrissin	No (Asia)	Roadsides, stream banks and yards

Pines

Loblolly Pine (Pinus taeda)

Loblolly pine is the most common tree in Louisiana’s forests and the backbone of the state’s timber industry. It grows fast to 60 to 100 feet tall, with needles 6 to 9 inches long in bundles of three and 3- to 6-inch cones with sharp prickles. It grows naturally on moist uplands and has been planted on millions of acres of former farmland, especially in north and central Louisiana.

Longleaf Pine (Pinus palustris)

Longleaf pine has the longest needles of any Eastern pine, 8 to 18 inches long in bundles of three, and large cones 6 to 10 inches long. Seedlings spend several years in a “grass stage” that looks like a clump of grass, building deep roots before shooting up. Its open, grassy forests depend on frequent fire. Most of Louisiana’s longleaf forest was cut by the 1930s, but it is being restored, especially in Kisatchie National Forest.

Slash Pine (Pinus elliottii)

Slash pine grows 60 to 100 feet tall, with glossy needles 7 to 10 inches long in bundles of two and three and shiny brown cones. Its name comes from “slash”, an old word for wet, swampy ground, where it often grows. In Louisiana it is native only east of the Mississippi River, in the Florida Parishes, but it is planted farther west.

Shortleaf Pine (Pinus echinata)

Read our guide to Shortleaf Pine

Shortleaf pine has short needles for a Southern pine, 3 to 5 inches long, in bundles of two and three, and small cones with a tiny prickle on each scale. It grows 50 to 100 feet tall on dry, rocky or sandy hills, mostly in the northern parishes, often mixed with oaks and hickories.

Spruce Pine (Pinus glabra)

Spruce pine is the most shade-tolerant Southern pine and grows scattered among hardwoods in moist bottoms and along streams, not in pure stands. It has short, soft, twisted needles in pairs and smooth gray bark when young, more like a spruce than a pine, which gives it its name. It grows 60 to 80 feet tall and makes a good, fast-growing yard tree.

Swamp and Bottomland Trees

Bald Cypress (State Tree) (Taxodium distichum)

Bald cypress became Louisiana’s state tree in 1963. It is a deciduous conifer whose soft, feathery needles turn rusty orange and drop in fall. It grows 50 to 100 feet tall, with a swollen, buttressed base and woody “knees” rising from the water around it, and it can live for more than 1,000 years. Most of Louisiana’s old-growth cypress was logged between the 1880s and the 1920s for its rot-resistant wood, but second-growth cypress swamps cover large areas today. It also grows well in yards and along streets.

Water Tupelo (Nyssa aquatica)

Water tupelo grows with bald cypress in the deepest, longest-flooded swamps. It has a strongly swollen base, large, oval leaves and olive-sized, purple fruits that float and are eaten by wood ducks and other wildlife. It grows 60 to 100 feet tall. Its flowers are an important source of nectar for bees.

Black Gum and Swamp Tupelo (Nyssa sylvatica and N. biflora)

Black gum and swamp tupelo are close relatives of water tupelo with smaller leaves and fruits. Black gum grows on uplands and swamp tupelo in wet flatwoods and swamps, with a swollen base like water tupelo’s. Both grow 50 to 80 feet tall, have glossy, oval leaves that turn brilliant scarlet in early fall, and bear small, blue-black fruits that feed many birds. They are native trees, not the Australian eucalyptus sometimes called black gum.

Red Maple (Acer rubrum)

Read our guide to Red Maple

Red maple is one of the most common trees in Louisiana’s swamps and bottomlands. The local form, swamp red maple, has leaves with three shallow lobes and white undersides. It is one of the first trees to bloom, with tiny red flowers in January and February, followed by bright red, winged seeds that color whole swamps in late winter. It grows 40 to 70 feet tall.

Green Ash (Fraxinus pennsylvanica)

Green ash grows 50 to 70 feet tall, with compound leaves of 5 to 9 leaflets in opposite pairs and gray bark with diamond-shaped ridges. It is common in bottomland forests, along with the swamp-dwelling Carolina ash and pumpkin ash. The emerald ash borer, which has killed millions of ash trees across the eastern U.S., reached Louisiana in 2015.

Water Hickory (Carya aquatica)

Water hickory, also called bitter pecan, is one of several hickories native to Louisiana. It grows 50 to 80 feet tall in bottomlands that flood for weeks at a time, and it has compound leaves of 7 to 13 narrow leaflets and bark that peels in long, loose plates. Its flattened nuts look like small pecans, but the kernels are very bitter. Ducks, squirrels and hogs eat them.

Black Willow (Salix nigra)

Black willow is the largest native willow in North America, 30 to 60 feet tall, often with several leaning trunks. It has long, narrow, finely toothed leaves and fuzzy catkins in early spring. It is often the first tree to grow on new sandbars, mudflats and spoil banks, and it holds riverbanks together with its roots. It is short-lived and has weak wood.

Eastern Cottonwood (Populus deltoides)

Read our guide to Eastern Cottonwood

Eastern cottonwood is one of the fastest-growing trees in North America, reaching 80 to 100 feet tall. Its triangular leaves have flattened stalks, so they flutter in the slightest breeze. In spring, female trees release seeds covered in white, cottony fluff. It grows mainly on riverbanks and sandbars along the big rivers.

Sugarberry (Celtis laevigata)

Sugarberry, or sugar hackberry, is one of the most common trees in Louisiana’s bottomland forests and along levees and fencerows. It grows 60 to 80 feet tall, with smooth, gray bark dotted with corky warts and narrow, pointed leaves with a lopsided base. Its small, orange-red to purple fruits feed birds through winter. It is a tough, fast-growing tree in towns.

American Sycamore (Platanus occidentalis)

American sycamore is one of the largest hardwoods in eastern North America, 70 to 100 feet tall. Its bark peels off in patches, leaving the upper trunk and branches smooth and white. It has large, maple-like leaves and round seed balls that hang on long stalks through winter.

Sweetgum (Liquidambar styraciflua)

Sweetgum is one of the most common hardwoods in Louisiana. It grows 60 to 100 feet tall, with glossy, star-shaped leaves that turn purple, red, orange and yellow in fall. Its spiky, round seed balls, called gumballs, fall all winter. It grows fast and quickly takes over logged land and old fields.

Water Oak (Quercus nigra)

Water oak is one of the most common trees in Louisiana, in bottomlands, old fields and yards. Its leaves are shaped like a spoon or a duck’s foot, wider at the tip, and often stay green well into winter. It grows fast to 50 to 80 feet tall but is short-lived for an oak, and old trees are prone to rot and falling limbs. Its small acorns feed ducks, deer and squirrels.

Willow Oak (Quercus phellos)

Willow oak has narrow, smooth-edged leaves, 2 to 5 inches long, like a willow’s. It grows 60 to 80 feet tall with a dense, rounded crown and handles wet, heavy soil, so it is a popular street and shade tree across the South. Its small acorns are an important food for ducks.

Overcup and Nuttall Oak (Quercus lyrata and Q. texana)

These two oaks grow in the lowest, most often flooded bottomlands. Overcup oak has deeply lobed leaves and acorns almost completely covered by their cups, which helps them float to new ground. Nuttall oak has bristle-tipped lobes and large, striped acorns, and it is widely planted to feed ducks and deer. Both grow 60 to 80 feet tall.

Pecan (Carya illinoinensis)

Pecan is the largest hickory, 70 to 100 feet tall, with leaves of 9 to 17 slightly curved leaflets. It grows wild in the bottomlands of the Mississippi and Red rivers, and Louisiana is one of the major pecan-growing states, with native groves and orchards of named varieties. Pecans are the key ingredient in pralines.

Live Oaks, Magnolias and Upland Hardwoods

Southern Live Oak (Quercus virginiana)

Southern live oak is the tree of south Louisiana: a massive, evergreen oak, 40 to 80 feet tall and often much wider, with long, sweeping limbs draped in Spanish moss and resurrection fern. Its small, leathery leaves are dark green above and gray below. It stands up to hurricanes better than almost any other tree. The avenue of live oaks at Oak Alley Plantation and the old oaks of New Orleans City Park are the best known. The Live Oak Society, founded in Louisiana in 1934, registers old trees.

Southern Magnolia (Magnolia grandiflora)

Read our guide to Southern Magnolia

The flower of the southern magnolia has been Louisiana’s state flower since 1900. It is an evergreen tree, 60 to 80 feet tall, with large, glossy leaves that are often rusty brown underneath. From May into summer it has fragrant, creamy white flowers 6 to 12 inches across, followed by cone-like fruits with bright red seeds. Its leaves drop all year and are slow to break down.

Sweetbay Magnolia (Magnolia virginiana)

Sweetbay is a smaller magnolia, 20 to 50 feet tall, with narrow leaves that are bright silvery white underneath and flash in the wind. In late spring and summer it has fragrant, creamy white, cup-shaped flowers 2 to 3 inches across that smell of lemon. In Louisiana it is mostly evergreen. It tolerates wet soil and makes a good small tree for yards.

White Oak (Quercus alba)

White oak grows 60 to 100 feet tall, with a broad crown, pale gray, scaly bark and leaves with 7 to 9 rounded lobes. Its sweet acorns ripen in one year and are a favorite food of deer, turkeys and squirrels. It is one of the most valuable timber trees of the upland forests.

Southern Red Oak (Quercus falcata)

Southern red oak grows 60 to 80 feet tall and has distinctive leaves with a long, narrow end lobe, 3 to 5 bristle-tipped lobes and a rounded, bell-shaped base. The undersides are covered in soft, rusty hairs. It grows with pines on dry, sandy and clay hills.

Mockernut Hickory (Carya tomentosa)

Mockernut hickory grows 50 to 80 feet tall, with leaves of 7 to 9 leaflets that are hairy underneath and turn golden yellow in fall. Its bark is tight and furrowed, not shaggy. Its nuts have thick shells and very small kernels, which is where the name “mockernut” comes from. Shagbark, pignut and bitternut hickories also grow in Louisiana.

American Beech (Fagus grandifolia)

American beech grows 50 to 80 feet tall, with smooth, light gray bark that stays smooth on old trees and toothed, strongly veined leaves that turn copper in fall. It is very shade tolerant and grows on moist, well-drained slopes, not in swamps. Its small, triangular nuts feed turkeys, squirrels and deer.

Winged Elm (Ulmus alata)

Winged elm is a small elm, 40 to 60 feet tall, named for the flat, corky wings along its twigs. It has small, rough, toothed leaves with a lopsided base and flowers very early in spring. It is tough and drought tolerant and is common on dry hills and in old pastures.

Small Trees and Shrubs

Wax Myrtle (Morella cerifera)

Wax myrtle is an evergreen shrub or small tree, 10 to 20 feet tall, with narrow, aromatic leaves dotted with tiny glands. Female plants bear small, gray-blue berries covered in wax, which settlers boiled off to make bayberry candles. It grows fast in almost any soil, handles salt spray and makes a good screen.

Yaupon Holly (Ilex vomitoria)

Yaupon is an evergreen holly, 10 to 25 feet tall, with small, oval, wavy-toothed leaves and bright red berries on female plants in fall and winter. Its leaves contain caffeine, the only native North American plant that does, and Native Americans brewed them into a tea. It is very tolerant of heat, drought, wet soil and salt, and is one of the most popular native shrubs for hedges.

American Holly (Ilex opaca)

American holly is a slow-growing evergreen, 15 to 50 feet tall, with stiff, spiny leaves and smooth, pale gray bark. Female trees bear bright red berries in fall and winter if a male holly grows nearby. It is a common understory tree and a traditional Christmas green.

Mayhaw (Crataegus opaca)

Mayhaw is a small hawthorn, 20 to 30 feet tall, that grows in swamps and along bayous. It covers itself in white flowers in late winter, and its small, red, cranberry-like fruits ripen in May, giving it its name. People gather them, sometimes scooping them off the water in boats, to make mayhaw jelly, a Louisiana specialty. Mayhaws are now grown in orchards too.

Eastern Redbud (Cercis canadensis)

Eastern redbud is a small tree, 20 to 30 feet tall, that covers its bare branches in small, magenta-pink, pea-like flowers in late winter and early spring. Its heart-shaped leaves follow, then flat, brown seed pods. It is a popular native yard tree.

Flowering Dogwood (Cornus florida)

Flowering dogwood is a small tree, 15 to 30 feet tall, that has large white “flowers”, which are actually four bracts around a cluster of tiny green flowers, in early spring. In fall it has red leaves and glossy red berries that birds love. It needs well-drained soil and doesn’t grow in swamps.

American Persimmon (Diospyros virginiana)

American persimmon grows 30 to 60 feet tall, with thick, dark bark broken into small, square blocks. Only female trees bear fruit: round, orange, 1 to 2 inches across and very astringent until fully ripe and soft in fall. Raccoons, opossums, deer and coyotes eat them.

Sassafras (Sassafras albidum)

Sassafras grows 30 to 60 feet tall and has three leaf shapes on the same tree: oval, mitten-shaped and three-lobed. Crushed leaves and twigs smell spicy, like root beer. Its dried, ground leaves are filé powder, used to thicken and flavor gumbo, a practice Louisiana cooks learned from the Choctaw.

Pawpaw (Asimina triloba)

Pawpaw is a small understory tree, 15 to 30 feet tall, with large, drooping leaves and dark maroon flowers in spring. In late summer it bears the largest edible fruit native to North America, 3 to 6 inches long, with yellow, custard-like flesh that tastes of banana and mango. It is the only food of zebra swallowtail caterpillars.

Sparkleberry (Vaccinium arboreum)

Sparkleberry, or farkleberry, is the only blueberry that grows into a tree, 10 to 25 feet tall, with a twisted trunk and peeling, reddish bark. It has small, glossy leaves, clusters of white, bell-shaped flowers in spring and small, shiny black berries in fall that are edible but dry and gritty. Birds love them.

Swamp Titi (Cyrilla racemiflora)

Swamp titi is a large shrub or small tree, 10 to 25 feet tall, with glossy leaves that turn orange and red in fall and winter. In early summer it has long, narrow, drooping spikes of small, white, fragrant flowers that are a good source of nectar for bees. It grows in wet, acid soil and spreads into thickets.

Hercules’ Club (Zanthoxylum clava-herculis)

Hercules’ club, also called toothache tree, is a small, spiny tree, 15 to 30 feet tall, whose trunk is covered in corky knobs with a sharp spine on each. Its compound leaves are shiny and smell of citrus when crushed. Chewing the bark or leaves numbs the mouth, and it was once used for toothaches. Its leaves feed the caterpillars of the giant swallowtail butterfly.

Common Hoptree (Ptelea trifoliata)

Common hoptree, or wafer ash, is a shrub or small tree, 15 to 20 feet tall, with leaves of three leaflets that smell strongly when crushed. In late spring it has clusters of small, greenish-white flowers, followed by round, flat, papery fruits like wafers. Like Hercules’ club, it is in the citrus family and feeds giant swallowtail caterpillars.

Don’t Plant These Invasive Trees

Chinese Tallow (Triadica sebifera)

Chinese tallow, also called popcorn tree, is the most damaging invasive tree in Louisiana. It has heart-shaped leaves that turn red and orange in fall and white, waxy seeds that birds spread everywhere. It grows fast, tolerates flooding and salt, and has turned large areas of coastal prairie and abandoned farmland into dense tallow forest. Pull or treat seedlings as soon as you see them.

Chinaberry (Melia azedarach)

Chinaberry is a fast-growing tree, 30 to 50 feet tall, with lacy, twice-compound leaves, clusters of fragrant, lilac flowers in spring and round, yellow berries that hang on through winter. It was planted around Southern homes for shade, but birds spread its seeds into forests. Its berries are poisonous to people and pets.

Tree of Heaven (Ailanthus altissima)

Tree of heaven grows extremely fast and spreads by seed and by root suckers that come up after cutting. It has long compound leaves, with a small, gland-tipped tooth at the base of each leaflet, and a strong, unpleasant smell when crushed. It is the favorite host of the spotted lanternfly, an invasive pest.

Mimosa (Albizia julibrissin)

Mimosa is a small tree, 20 to 40 feet tall, with fern-like leaves and fluffy, pink, powder-puff flowers in early summer. It was a favorite Southern yard tree, but it spreads by seed along roads and streams and into forest edges. See types of mimosa trees.

Where to See Louisiana’s Trees

• Atchafalaya Basin and Lake Martin: cypress-tupelo swamp you can see by boat or from the road near Breaux Bridge.
• Kisatchie National Forest: Louisiana’s only national forest, with longleaf pine forests, hardwood bottoms and sandstone bluffs.
• Oak Alley Plantation and New Orleans City Park: some of the largest and oldest live oaks in the South.
• Planting your own: for wet yards, choose bald cypress, swamp red maple, willow oak or sweetbay; for dry, sandy soil, try longleaf pine, southern red oak or yaupon. Avoid water oak close to the house, since old trees drop limbs.

For more Gulf Coast trees, see our guides to the trees of Alabama and Florida.