A national tree is a tree that has been designated as a symbol of a country or province. National trees are often chosen for their beauty, cultural significance, or economic importance. They can be used to represent a country’s natural resources, its history, or its people.
What appears below is my best attempt to list as many of these significant species as possible. However, not all countries have an officially designated national tree, though sometimes they will have certain tree species that have been closely associated with the nation’s identity. Failing these two criteria, sometimes a nation’s national flower is substituted if it is of a species that can grow to at least the size of a shrub or small tree.
Also note that the local name is used whenever possible. To avoid confusion, the scientific name is also included.
| Country | Common Name | Scientific Name | Wood Image |
|---|---|---|---|
| Afghanistan | ??? | Morus nigra | |
| Albania | Ulliri | Olea europaea | |
| Antigua and Barbuda | Whitewood | Terminalia buceras |  |
| Angola | Imbondeiro | Adansonia digitata | |
| Argentina | Quebracho colorado | Schinopsis balansae | |
| Australia | Golden wattle | Acacia pycnantha | |
| Bahamas | Lignum Vitae | Guaiacum sanctum |  |
| Bangladesh | ?? ??? | Mangifera indica |  |
| Belize | Mahoganyo | Swietenia macrophylla |  |
| Bhutan | ????????? | Cupressus cashmeriana | |
| Brazil | Pau-brasil | Paubrasilia echinata |  |
| Cambodia | ???????? | Borassus flabellifer | |
| Canada | Maple | Acer spp. |  |
| Chile | Monkey puzzle tree | Araucaria araucana | |
| Colombia | Palm, Quindio wax | Ceroxylon quindiuense | |
| Costa Rica | Guanacaste | Enterolobium cyclocarpum | |
| Croatia | Oak, Pedunculate | Quercus, Quercus robur | |
| Cuba | Palm, Cuban royal | Roystonea regia | |
| Cyprus | Oak, Golden | Quercus alnifolia | |
| Czech Republic | Linden, small-leaved | Tilia cordata | |
| Denmark | Beech & Oak | Fagus sylvatica & Quercus robur |  |
| Dominican Republic | Mahogany, West Indies | Swietenia mahagoni | |
| Ecuador | Cinchona, red | Cinchona pubescens | |
| El Salvador | Maquilishuat | Tabebuia rosea | |
| England | Oak, English | Quercus robur | |
| Estonia | Oak, Pedunculate | Quercus robur | |
| Finland | Silver birch | Betula pendula | |
| Germany | Oak | Quercus spp. | |
| Greece | Olive | Olea europaea | |
| Guatemala | Ceiba | Ceiba pentandra | |
| Haiti | Palm, royal | Roystonea regia | |
| Hungary | Elm | Ulmus spp. | |
| India | Indian banyan | Ficus benghalensis | |
| Indonesia | Teak | Tectona grandis | |
| Ireland | Oak, sessile | Quercus petraea | |
| Iran | Cypress, Mediterranean | Cupressus sempervirens | |
| Israel | Olive | Olea europaea | |
| Italy | Strawberry tree | Arbutus unedo | |
| Jamaica | Blue mahoe | Talipariti elatum | |
| Japan | Cherry, Japanese | Prunus serrulata | |
| Laos | ???????? | Plumeria alba | |
| Latvia | Oak, pedunculate & linden | Quercus robur & Tilia cordata | |
| Lebanon | Cedar of Lebanon | Cedrus libani |  |
| Lithuania | Oak, Pedunculate | Quercus robur | |
| Macedonia | Pine, Macedonian | Pinus peuce | |
| Madagascar | Baobab | Adansonia spp. | |
| Malaysia | Merbau | Intsia palembanica | |
| Maldives | Palm, Coconut | Cocos nucifera | |
| Malta | G?arg?ar | Tetraclinis articulata | |
| Mexico | Ahuehuete | Taxodium mucronatum | |
| Moldova | Oak, Pedunculate | Quercus robur | |
| Nepal | Rhododendron | Rhododendron spp. | |
| New Zealand | Silver fern | Cyathea dealbata | |
| Nicaragua | Lemonwood | Calycophyllum candidissimum | |
| North Korea | Pine | Pinus spp. | |
| Pakistan | Cedar, deodar | Cedrus deodara | |
| Palestine | Olive | Olea europaea | |
| Panama | Panama tree | Sterculia apetala | |
| Paraguay | Lapacho | Handroanthus impetiginosus | |
| Peru | Cinchona | Cinchona officinalis | |
| Philippines | Narra | Pterocarpus indicus | |
| Poland | Oak, Pedunculate | Quercus robur | |
| Portugal | Oak, cork | Quercus suber | |
| Qatar | Christ’s thorn jujube | Ziziphus spina-christi | |
| Romania | Oak, Pedunculate | Quercus robur | |
| Russia | Larch, Siberian | Larix sibirica | |
| Saudi Arabia | Palm, Phoenix | Phoenix dactylifera | |
| Scotland | Pine, Scots | Pinus sylvestris | |
| Senegal | Baobab | Adansonia digitata | |
| Serbia | Oak, Pedunculate & spruce, Serbian | Quercus robur & Picea omorika | |
| Slovakia | Small-leaved linden | Tilia cordata | |
| Slovenia | Linden | Tilia spp. | |
| South Africa | Real yellowwood | Podocarpus latifolius | |
| South Korea | ??? | Pinus densiflora | |
| Sri Lanka | ?? | Mesua ferrea | |
| Sweden | Birch, Ornäs | Betula pendula ‘Dalecarlica’ | |
| Tanzania | African blackwood | Dalbergia melanoxylon | |
| Thailand | ???????? | Cassia fistula | |
| Ukraine | Kalyna | Viburnum opulus | |
| United Arab Emirates | Ghaf tree | Prosopis cineraria | |
| United Kingdom | Oak, Pedunculate | Quercus robur | |
| United States | Oak | Quercus spp. |  |
| Uruguay | Árbol de Artigas | Peltophorum dubium | |
| Venezuela | Araguaney | Tabebuia chrysantha | |
| Wales | Oak, sessile | Quercus petraea | |
| Yemen | Dragon blood tree | Dracaena cinnabari |
Below is a listing of the state trees of the United States of America. Considering that the national tree of the United States is the oak (listed above), it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that oaks represent the state trees of seven different states, with the white oak (Quercus alba) being the most popular at three states. However, white oak is not the most prevalent species on the list—that title goes to sugar maple (Acer saccharum), making the list for four different states. And while taken as a whole, the genus of oak (Quercus) is the most common hardwood, it is dwarfed by pine trees, with a total of ten various Pinus species making the list.
| State | State tree | Scientific Name | Wood Image |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | Pine, longleaf | Pinus palustris | |
| Alaska | Spruce, Sitka | Picea sitchensis | |
| Arizona | Palo Verde, blue | Parkinsonia florida | |
| Arkansas | Pine, loblolly | Pinus taeda | |
| California | Coast Redwood and Giant Sequoia | Sequoia sempervirens & Sequoiadendron giganteum | |
| Colorado | Spruce, blue | Picea pungens | |
| Connecticut | Oak, white | Quercus alba | |
| District of Columbia | Oak, scarlet | Quercus coccinea | |
| Delaware | Holly, American | Ilex opaca | |
| Florida | Cabbage Palmetto | Sabal palmetto | |
| Georgia | Oak, live | Quercus virginiana | |
| Hawaii | Candlenut Tree | Aleurites moluccana | |
| Idaho | Pine, western white | Pinus monticola | |
| Illinois | Oak, white | Quercus alba | |
| Indiana | Poplar, yellow | Liriodendron tulipifera | |
| Iowa | Oak, bur | Quercus macrocarpa | |
| Kansas | Cottonwood, eastern | Populus deltoides | |
| Kentucky | Poplar, yellow | Liriodendron tulipifera | |
| Louisiana | Cypress, bald | Taxodium distichum |  |
| Maine | Pine, eastern white | Pinus strobus | |
| Maryland | Oak, white | Quercus alba | |
| Massachusetts | Elm, American | Ulmus americana | |
| Michigan | Pine, eastern white | Pinus strobus | |
| Minnesota | Pine, red | Pinus resinosa | |
| Mississippi | Magnolia, southern | Magnolia grandiflora | |
| Missouri | Dogwood, flowering | Cornus florida | |
| Montana | Pine, ponderosa | Pinus ponderosa | |
| Nebraska | Cottonwood, eastern | Populus deltoides | |
| Nevada | Single-leaf pinyon & Bristlecone pine | Pinus monophylla & Pinus longaeva | |
| New Hampshire | Birch, paper | Betula papyrifera | |
| New Jersey | Oak, northern red | Quercus rubra |  |
| New Mexico | Pine, pinyon | Pinus edulis | |
| New York | Maple, sugar | Acer saccharum | |
| North Carolina | Pine | Pinus spp. | |
| North Dakota | Elm, American | Ulmus americana | |
| Ohio | Buckeye, Ohio | Aesculus glabra | |
| Oklahoma | Redbud, eastern | Cercis canadensis |  |
| Oregon | Fir, Douglas | Pseudotsuga menziesii |  |
| Pennsylvania | Hemlock, eastern | Tsuga canadensis | |
| Rhode Island | Maple, red | Acer rubrum | |
| South Carolina | Sabal Palmetto | Sabal palmetto | |
| South Dakota | Spruce, Black Hills | Picea glauca var. densata | |
| Tennessee | Poplar, yellow | Liriodendron tulipifera | |
| Texas | Pecan | Carya illinoinensis | |
| Utah | Aspen, quaking | Populus tremuloides | |
| Vermont | Maple, sugar | Acer saccharum | |
| Virginia | Dogwood, flowering | Cornus florida | |
| Washington | Hemlock, western | Tsuga heterophylla | |
| West Virginia | Maple, sugar | Acer saccharum | |
| Wisconsin | Maple, sugar | Acer saccharum | |
| Wyoming | Cottonwood, plains | Populus deltoides subsp. monilifera |
Are you an aspiring wood nerd?
The poster, Worldwide Woods, Ranked by Hardness, should be required reading for anyone enrolled in the school of wood nerdery. I have amassed over 500 wood species on a single poster, arranged into eight major geographic regions, with each wood sorted and ranked according to its Janka hardness. Each wood has been meticulously documented and photographed, listed with its Janka hardness value (in lbf) and geographic and global hardness rankings. Consider this: the venerable Red Oak (Quercus rubra) sits at only #33 in North America and #278 worldwide for hardness! Aspiring wood nerds be advised: your syllabus may be calling for Worldwide Woods as part of your next assignment! 
Morus nigra has the common name of black mulberry, it’s kin morus alba is famous for use in the silk industry as the leaves are used for food for the domestic silkworm, although i have heard of silkworms not always turning their nose up at morus nigra leaves either.
Awesome work..It is so difficult to determine one wood from another. I would like to know if you have s poster or book that focuses only on woods that are native not necessarily native but trees of the US? DO You have book or poster that focuses on TREE back as a way of identifying wood? Also can you tell from this pic what kind of wood this is ? And one more thing, out of Oak and Pecan, Mesquite and Pear, Hickory, and China Berry, i find that CB burns the longest amount of time so it must be… Read more »
I don’t have anything for sale that focuses only on US stuff, although being published in the US, most of my stuff has a slight bias towards North American species. Here’s an article that does this: https://www.wood-database.com/wood-articles/common-us-hardwoods/
Don’t have anything with bark samples, sorry.
For the picture, hard to get an ID from that distance.
China berry should not be denser than the other species you listed, especially stuff like hickory, so I’m not sure what’s going on with that…