Trees
The primary forest cover here is an Oak-Hickory forest. There are some pine areas here, primarily resulting from areas that were farmed and abandoned. Some of the pine was lost when Southern Pine beetles swept through East Tennessee in 2000 following a period of extreme drought. Most of the forest here was cut in the 1940's according to neighbors and a small area was cut in the early fifties. Some of the trees such as Hickory, Beeches, and some defective trees were not cut and there are a few virgin areas that were not cut due to extreme slope.
One hickory that was removed for a new road in 1990 was about 300 years old which gives an indication of the age of some of the trees of the forest in the Hollow could be. I believe that some areas of the Hollow are Virgin Forest due to the steepness of some of the slopes and the difficulty in the early 1900s in logging with only mules or horses. I recently counted the rings of a Chestnut Oak that had fallen across a trail that appeared to be 150 years old. Many of the trees in the Hollow are over 100 feet in height. The forty-five or more major native hardwood tree species that I have identified are:
Deciduous Native Trees
- White Oaks: White Oak(Quercus alba), Chestnut Oak(Quercus montana), Post oak(Quercus stelata), Chinquapin (or chinkapin) oak(Quercus muehlenbergii)
- Red or Black Oaks: Northern Red Oak(Quercus rubra), Scarlet oak (Quercus coccinea), Southern red oak(Quercus falcata), Black oak, (Quercus velutina), Blackjack Oak (Quercus marilandica) Turkey Foot Oak (Quercus laevis)
- Willow Oak (Quercus phellos)
- American Beech(Fagus grandifolia
- Hickory: Mockernut Hickory (Carya tomentosa), Shagbark hickory (Carya ovata), Pignut Hickory (Carya glabra)
- Maples: Red maple (Acer rubrum), Sugar Maple (Acer saccharum)
- Sourwood(Oxydendrum arboreum)
- Black Walnut(Juglans nigra )
- Black Cherry(Prunus serotina)
- Tulip Poplar(Liriodendron tulipifera)
- Red Mulberry(Morus rubra)
- White Ash(Fraxinus americana)
- Green Ash (Fraxinus pennsylvanica)
- Dogwoods: American Dogwood(Cornus florida), Silky Dogwood(Cornus amomum), Cherokee Chief Dogwood('Cherokee Chief') Stiff Dogwood (Cornus foemina) Pagoda Dogwood (Cornus alternifolia)
- Black Willow(Salix nigra)
- Blackgum(Nyssa sylvatica)
- Sweet Gum(Liquidambar styraciflua)
- American Holly(Ilex opaca)
- Redbud: Eastern Redbud (Cercis canadensis), Forest Pansey Redbud(Cercis canadensis 'Forest Pansey')
- Serviceberry (Amelanchier arborea)
- American Sycamore (Platanus occidentalis)
- Boxelder (Acer negundo)
- Elms: American Elm (Ulmus americana), Winged elm (Ulmus alata)
- Hackberry (Celtis occidentalis)
- Persimmon (Diospyros virginiana)
- Sassafras (Sassafras albidum)
- Ironwood (Casuarina equisetifolia)American Basswood (Tilia americana)
- Sweet Birch (Betula lenta)
- American Chestnut (Castanea dentata) No longer present but have seen sprouts
- American Hornbeam (Carpinus caroliniana)
- Osage Orange (Maclura pomifera)
- Paw Paw(Asimina triloba)
Native and Non-native Flowering Shrubs
- Painted Buckeye (Aesculus sylvatica)
- Highbush Huckleberry(Vaccinium stamineum)
- Lowbush Huckleberry(Vaccinium pallidum)
- Sparkleberry (Vaccinium arboretum)
- Elderberry(Sambucus)
- Crepe myrtle(Various cultivars)
- Fig(Ficus Carica )
- Filbert (Contorted) (Corylus)
- Forsythia (Forsythia)
- Hydrangea(Various cultivars)
- Rhododendron (Evergreen varieties)
- Rhododendron (Azaleas – Native Deciduous varieties)
- Rhododendron (Azaleas - Hybrid Deciduous varieties)
- Mountain Laurel
- Peonies(Various cultivars)
- Wiegela(Various cultivars)
- Butterfly Bush(Various cultivars)
- Hibiscus: Double Rose of Sharon
- Hibiscus, Tropical (Varieties)
- Spirea 'Little Princess'
- Hearts a' Bursting(Euonymus americanus )
- Mountain Witch Alder(Fothergilla major)
- Snowball bush
- Holly(Various cultivars)
- Ashy Hydrangea(Hydrangea cinerea)
Native Evergreen Conifers
- Eastern Red Cedar(Juniperus virginiana )
- Eastern White Pine(Pinus strobus)
- Loblolly Pine(Pinus taeda)
- Shortleaf Pine(Pinus echinata )
- Virginia Pine(Pinus virginiana)
- Thuja Hybrids (Green Giant-Cross of Western Red Cedar(Thuja plicata and Thuja standishii) and Emerald Green-Thuja occidentalis var. 'Smaragd'
Deciduous Conifers
- Baldcypress (Taxodium distichum)
- Dawn Redwood(Metasequoia glyptostroboides ) Picture 161
Non-Native Trees
- Kousa Dogwood(Cornus kousa)
- Japanese Maple(Acer plamatum ‘Atropurpureum’ ) (Acer plamatum ‘Bloodgood’ )
- Empress Tree{Paulownia tomentosa)
- Mimosa(Albizia julibrissin)
