Who can identify trees correctly? Professionals such as scientists, biologists, arborists, foresters. That’s what we think. Enthusiasts, botanists, and gardeners can as well. Trees are all around us, and the information about them is readily available. So why do most people leave it to professionals and scientists to master that information while they remain in the dark? When asked, most people say because it is difficult, there are simply too many tree varieties and too much information to remember. That’s a misconception.
When we are young, and we learn what trees are by just from observing the world around us. Everybody learns from a young age that trees can be small or large, have bark, grow from the ground, and that they have leaves! Sounds simple enough. But then we learn that trees can have different types of leaves, those leaves have different shapes and forms. Like snowflakes, no two leaves are ever the same. Leaves can take the form of needles or they can take shapes in broad fashion.
The leaves that most people know by virtue of experiencing life are the leaves of maple, oak and pine trees. From an early age, most people know this much regarding tree identification. This little bit of information can get people far and help them identify a large number of trees correctly. Tree identification is something you practice every day, even if you don’t know it.
So why not take it one step further? Easy to follow guides aren’t hard to find, and a lot can be learned from even just a short moment of reading. What other traits do trees display that can be used to identify the tree? For one, leaf types. When examining conifers, you can observe needles and scale-like leaves. For broadleaf trees, leaves can be simple or compound, and knowing what that means is important and a big step into the world of understanding trees.
Simple leaves are self-explanatory, single leaf. Compound leaves are multiple leaflets sharing a leaf stem. For example, our oaks and maples have simple leaves, whereas an ash tree has a compound leaf comprised of 5-9 leaflets on one major leaf stem. Other traits to note about leaves are shapes (lobed or oval), the margins (serrations or straight), the arrangements (opposite or alternating along the twigs – addressed below).
Something else people notice about trees all the time, mostly when walking by them, is the bark of a tree! Tree bark can have many characteristics, including being flat and smooth, shredded and striped horizontally or vertically, patchy and exfoliating, or ridged and furrowed in diamond shaped patterns. Oaks and maples are good examples of trees, that depending on the species, can have any of these varieties of bark. Examples of trees that have ridged, vertical patterned, corked bark are Norway maples and ash trees.
A final quick characteristic to discuss about trees is the arrangement of twigs branches and leaves, alternating or opposite. A common acronym that professionals use to identify the majority of trees that have opposite leaf arrangement is “MAD Horse.” This mnemonic device stands for Maple, Ash, Dogwood, Horse Chestnut. Many of the other trees one will encounter will have alternating leaf and twig arrangement, making tree identification that much more of a breeze.
This of course is still just a scratch on the surface when learning how to properly and confidently identify the wide variety of amazing trees that exist out there. Resources are plenty, and relatively inexpensive or free on the web. Not to mention, a call to your arborist is a great resource to help get you started in the world of tree identification and classification. Then you too can take stock on the trees that surround you.
