Among deciduous trees the state is noted for its sugar maples; birch and beech are common on the hills, and oaks, elm, hickory, ash, poplar, basswood, willow, chestnut and butternut on the less elevated areas.
In the Adirondack region the trees were principally white pine, spruce, hemlock and balsam, but mixed with these were some birch, maple, beech and basswood, and smaller numbers of ash and elm; in the swamps of this region were also larch and cedar.
Originally white pine was the principal timber of the Adirondacks, but most of the merchantable portion has been cut, and in 1905 nearly one-half of the lumber product of this section was spruce, the other half mainly hemlock, pine and hardwoods (yellow birch, maple, beech and basswood, and smaller amounts of elm, cherry and ash).
The most valuable trees for lumber are spruce, white pine, hemlock, cedar, white birch, ash, maple and basswood; all excepting pine and hemlock and poplar in addition are ground into wood pulp for the manufacture of paper.
Many trees of the eastern forest, such as basswood, sugar, river and red maple, red, white and black ash, red and rock elm, black and bur oak, white and red pine and red cedar find their western limit here.