Lick Creek Park, College Station, TX

This is a guide of the flora and fauna of Lick Creek Park in College Station, TX as compiled by the Texas Master Naturalist Brazos Valley Chapter. The park is 515.5 acres and has several distinct ecological regions including bottomland forest, sedge meadow, and Post-oak savannah.

Legumes

The Fabaceae or Leguminosae commonly known as the legume, pea, or bean family, are a large and economically important family of flowering plants. It includes trees, shrubs and herbaceous plants perennials or annuals, which are easily recognized by their fruit (legume) and their compound, stipulated leaves. The group is widely distributed and is the ...more ↓

honey locust

The honey locust, Gleditsia triacanthos, also known as the thorny locust, is a deciduous tree native to central North America. It is mostly found in the moist soil of river valleys ranging from southeastern South Dakota to New Orleans and central Texas, and as far east as eastern Massachusetts.

Eastern Redbud

Cercis canadensis (eastern redbud) is a large deciduous shrub or small tree, native to eastern North America from Southern Ontario, Canada south to northern Florida but can thrive as far west as California.

Rattlebush

Sesbania drummondii, known as Rattlebush, Rattlebox and Poison bean, is a medium-sized perennial shrub in the legume family Fabaceae. It is native to the southeastern United States, from Texas east to Florida.

sugarberry

Celtis laevigata is a medium-sized tree native to North America. Common names include Sugarberry, Southern Hackberry, or in the southern U.S. Sugar Hackberry or just Hackberry.

Sunflower Family

Asteraceae or Compositae (commonly referred to as the aster, daisy, or sunflower family) is an exceedingly large and widespread family of Angiospermae. The group has more than 23,000 currently accepted species, spread across 1,620 genera (list) and 12 subfamilies. In terms of numbers of species, Asteraceae is rivaled only by Orchidaceae. (Which of the two ...more ↓

western ragweed

Ambrosia psilostachya is a species of ragweed known by the common names Cuman ragweed, perennial ragweed, and western ragweed.

Frostweed

Verbesina virginica is a species of flowering plant in the aster family. It is native to the Southeastern United States, where it is found in calcareous soil, often in bottomland thickets and edges of woods....

Climbing hempvine

Mikania scandens is a species of flowering plant in the aster family, Asteraceae. Its common names include climbing hempvine, climbing hempweed, and louse-plaster. It is native to the eastern and central United States, its distribution extending into Tamaulipas in Mexico. Reports of its presence in Ontario in Canada are erroneous. It is an introduced and ...more ↓

Hercules' club

Zanthoxylum clava-herculis, Hercules' club (or Hercules-club), pepperwood, or southern prickly ash, is a spiny tree or shrub native to the southeastern United States. It grows to 10–17 m tall and has distinctive spined thick, corky lumps 2–3 cm long on the bark. The leaves are glabrous and leathery, pinnately compound, 20–30 cm long with 7-19 ...more ↓

Box Elder

Acer negundo is a species of maple native to North America. Box elder, boxelder maple, and maple ash are its most common names in the United States.

blackjack oak

Quercus marilandica (Blackjack oak) is a small oak, one of the red oak group Quercus sect. Lobatae, but fairly isolated from the others. It is native to the southern and central United States, with populations following the eastern seaboard north to Long Island.

willow oak

Quercus phellos (willow oak) is a deciduous tree in the red oak group of oaks. It is native to eastern North America from southern New York (Long Island) south to northern Florida, and west to southernmost Illinois and eastern Texas. It is most commonly found growing on lowland floodplains, often along streams, but rarely also in uplands with poor drainage, up to 400 m ...more ↓

post oak

Quercus stellata (Post oak) is an oak in the white oak section. It is a small tree, typically 10–15 m tall and 30–60 cm trunk diameter, though occasional specimens reach 30 m tall and 140 cm diameter. It is native to the eastern United States, from Connecticut in the northeast, west to southern Iowa, southwest to central Texas, and southeast to northern Florida. It is one ...more ↓

Pecan

The pecan (/pɪˈkɑːn/, /pɪˈkæn/, /ˈpiːkæn/, or /ˈpiːkɑːn/; Carya illinoinensis) is a species of hickory, native to south-central North America, in Mexico from Coahuila south to Jalisco and Veracruz, in the United States in Georgia, Alabama, Iowa, Illinois, Kansas, Missouri, Indiana, Tennessee, Kentucky, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas.

American Beautyberry

Callicarpa americana (American beautyberry) is an open-habit, native shrub of the Southern United States which is often grown as an ornamental in gardens and yards. American beautyberries produce large clusters of purple berries, which birds and deer eat, thus distributing the seeds.

Eastern Cottonwood

Populus deltoides, the eastern cottonwood, is a cottonwood poplar native to North America, growing throughout the eastern, central, and southwestern United States, the southernmost part of eastern Canada, and northeastern Mexico.

chinese tallowtree

Triadica sebifera, also known as Sapium sebiferum, is commonly known as the Chinese tallow tree, Florida aspen, chicken tree, gray popcorn tree, and candleberry tree. The tree is native to eastern Asia, and is most commonly associated with eastern China, Taiwan, and Japan. In these regions, the waxy coating of the seeds is used ...more ↓

Yaupon holly

Ilex vomitoria, commonly known as yaupon or yaupon holly, is a species of holly that is native to southeastern North America. The word yaupon was derived from its Catawban name, yopún, which is a diminutive form of the word yop, meaning "tree". Another common name, cassina, was borrowed from the Timucua language (despite this, it usually ...more ↓

American Sycamore

Platanus occidentalis, also known as American sycamore, American planetree, occidental plane, and buttonwood, is one of the species of Platanus native to North America. It is usually called sycamore in North America, a name which can refer to other types of tree in other parts of the world.

SPILAC

Spiranthes lacera, commonly called the Slender Ladies'-tresses, is a species of orchid that is native to Eastern North America. It has a widespread range and is found in a variety of open habitats, both natural and disturbed. It produces a spiral of white flowers in the summer.

Dayflowers

Commelina is a genus of approximately 170 species commonly called dayflowers due to the short lives of their flowers. They are less often known as widow's tears. It is by far the largest genus of its family, Commelinaceae. The Swedish taxonomist Carl Linnaeus of the 18th century named the genus after the two Dutch botanists Jan Commelijn and his nephew Caspar, each ...more ↓

Edited by Rick Laughlin, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA)