Wood: The wood is moderately important as it is very heavy, hard and fine-grained. It is a tough, shiny, red-brown wood, used for tool handles and shuttles and formerly used for making hubs of small wheels, barrel-hoops and occasionally engraver's blocks.
Wildlife: Birds frequently eat the flower buds during winter, affecting the blooming the following spring. Songbirds, squirrels, raccoons and small mammals eat the fruits and white-tailed deer browse the leaves, twigs and especially the new growth.
Horticulture: This
is one of the most popular native flowering trees in the US. It is a dependable,
attractive and adaptable tree, excellent for use as a specimen, massed in
groups or planted at the corners of buildings. Cultivars include "
White Cloud," a free-flowerer with white bracts; "Rubra,"
with rose-colored bracts; and "Pendula," with pendulous branches.
