Forest Tree Identification

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Forest Tree Identification

• by
• Gordon K. Weddle
• Photographs by Robert Doty and G. Weddle
• May 26 2004

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Introduction

• Study of forests requires knowledge of the
  species that compose them but..
• Leaves of forest trees are often inaccessible
• Species must be identified primarily by their
  bark and fruit as leaves are too far away for
  careful examination
• Here we use photographs of bark for identification

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Bark Characteristics

• Texture
• Color
• Thickness
• Tightness
• Pattern

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Bark Texture

• Smooth
• Rough with ridges and fissures
• Tight barked
• Loose
• Flaky
• Shreddy
• Delaminating

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Color
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Bark Thickness

• Bark on many trees is quite thin.
• Examples would be American Beech, Black Cherry
  and Ironwood
• Thin Barked trees generally do not have a lot of
  texture in their bark
• Thick Barked trees include ash, walnut, and
  yellow poplar.
• All trees develop thicker bark with age.

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Bark Tightness

• This is a measure of how firmly attached the
  bark is to the woody tissue.
• It is not related to bark thickness as Oaks have
  thick bark but bark that is also very tight.
• If the Bark is exfoliating, shredding and scaling
  off then the bark would be said to be loose

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Bark Pattern

• Bark consists of ridges and valleys or fissures
  separating them
• Some have wide fissures
• Some have narrow fissures
• Some have fissures painted white
• Thin barked trees can have pigment-based
  patterns. For example tree of heaven has
  diamond-shaped patches.

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Eastern Red Cedar
Juniperus virginiana, is our only native cone
bearing tree. This species is the source of
cedar lumber so often used in cedar chests. It
is identifiable by its shreddy reddish bark and
by the persistence of dead limbs on the lower
part of the tree. Leaves are scale-like.
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Black Willow

• Salix nigra, is a wetland species that is common
  along streams and lakes. At Clay Hill it occurs
  only where the soil is persistently wet. Bark is
  black and deeply furrowed with scaly ridges.
  Leaves are 3-6 inches long and lance shaped.

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Walnuts (Juglandaceae)

• Alternate pinnately compound leaves
• Fruit encased in a fleshy husk
• Twigs with chambered pith
• Species of forest openings and gaps intolerant of
  shade

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Black Walnut
Juglans nigra, has compound alternate leaves,
deeply furrowed reddish black bark superficially
resembling ash. Bark of walnut is layered as
seen in the insert on the left. Walnuts are
usually found near these trees. Twigs have
chambered pith.
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Butternut
Juglans cinerea, white walnut is identifiable by
its sinuous dark ridges that separate flat white
patches between. The leaves are walnut-like.
The nut looks like an elongated walnut. The
roots of larger trees are distinctively buttressed
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Hickories (Juglandaceae)

• Alternate pinnately compound leaves
• Nut enclosed in a woody husk
• Pith solid

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Bitternut Hickory

• Carya cordiformis, has bark that contains shallow
  furrows and ridges that are more or less parallel
  to one another. Fruits are about 1 or less and
  distinctively winged. This species has sulfur
  yellow buds and yellowish color on the nuts.
  Bitternut differs from the other hickories
  because its buds are slender.

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Pignut Hickory
Carya glabra, resembles bark of mockernut hickory
but differs in having 5 leaflets rather than 7-9.
and in the size and shape of the nut. Pignut
fruits are smaller than those of either mockernut
or shagbark. They also are differently shaped
being somewhat oval with an elongate stem such
that they appear pendant.
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Mockernut Hickory
Carya tomentosa, is one of three so-called
tight-barked hickories we have at CHMF. Its bark
is fissured. The fissures are arranged such that
the ridges between them appear braided or
interlaced. The tree has compound leaves with
7-9 leaflets. Nuts of this species are large (1
1/2 -2 inches) and similar to those of shagbark
hickories.
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Shagbark Hickory

• Carya ovata, is a common, easily identified
  forest tree. The only other tree with such
  shaggy bark is the kingnut hickory and it is a
  bottomland species. Leaves have 5-7 leaflets.
  Winter buds are quite large to ¾ . Nuts are
  edible and a favorite of humans and squirrels
  alike

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Birches (Betulaceae)

• Leaves alternate and simple
• Leaf edges serrated
• Generally small trees
• Two woodland species, hornbeam and eastern
  hornbeam both also called ironwood. Both
  species are slow growing understory trees.

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Hop Hornbeam (Ironwood)
Ostrya virginiana, is a distinctive understory
tree seldom reaching a diameter of 10 or more.
Ironwood has a distinctively shreddy bark, oval
unlobed leaves with saw-toothed edges and a
distinctively hops shaped fruit in autumn. This
species is one of the slowest growing species in
the forest. This slow growth makes growth rings
incredibly small and the wood incredibly hard.
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Bluebeech

• Carpinus caroliniana, has bark that resembles
  American beech, but it has a very sinuous
  appearance. Bark is often mottled with light and
  dark patches. The photograph was taken when this
  tree was wet so it appears darker than it
  normally would

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American Beech
Fagus grandifolia, is one of the more easily
identified trees. This large forest species has
thin gray bark that does not change much with
age. It gets covered with patches of algae and
lichen occasionally giving it a greenish tint.
The leaf edges are serrated and the leaves are
ovate in shape. In winter the buds are very
elongate and sharp, often resembling needles or
awns.
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Oaks (Fagaceae)

• Leaves simple and alternate
• Leaves have highly variable margins
• Fruit is an acorn
• Acorn shape and size is species-specific
• Terminal buds are clustered at the end of stems
• Pith is obviously star-shaped

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White vs Red Oaks

• White Oaks
• Leaf edges are smooth or scalloped
• Acorn matures in one year
• Nut shell smooth inside
• Red Oaks
• Leaf lobes commonly sharp and bristle tipped
• Acorn matures in two years.
• Nut shell woolly inside

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White Oak
Quercus alba, is one of the more important trees
in forests of Kentucky. This species is easily
identifiable by is light gray color, by its
relatively thin bark and by shreddy nature of its
bark. Leaves are distinctively lobed and its
acorns are quite small (1/2 ) relative to those
found in red oaks.
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Black Oak
Quercus velutina, is a large forest tree with
dark bark that is very hard and deeply fissured.
In older trees the fissures fragment horizontally
forming a bark with a very blocky appearance.
Leaves resemble those of red oak but have flat
bases. Acorn is distinctive with cup covering ½
of nut and having loose scales. Kernel is yellow
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Northern Red Oak
Quercus borealis, is an important, large forest
species. Its bark is similar to that of most
other red oaks except that in the younger
branches there are silvery streaks between darker
patches. Northern red is also easily
identifiable by its distinctive acorn which is
¾-1 inch in length and capped by a saucer shaped
cup.
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Shumard Oak

• Quercus shumardii, leaves are more distinctive
  than the bark or acorn. Leaf notches or sinuses
  tend to be narrower at the edge of the leaf than
  they are closer to the mid-vein. Bark most
  closely resembles that of black oak. Acorn cup
  is shallow and identifiable by elongate pointed
  scales.

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American Elm
Ulmus americana, was one of our largest forest
species until the introduction of Dutch Elm
Disease. Now most of the trees are small. It is
recognizable by having thinly fissured bark with
ridges between these fissures flakey. The
general color is brownish red. The tree is also
identifiable by its distinctive simple leaves.
They are ovate and serrate-edged with uneven,
asymmetrical bases.
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Hackberry
Celtis occidentalis, is common in fencerows and
other openings but not common in woodlands.
Younger trees have bark that is similar to
American Beech but as they age the develop warty
ridges of layered bark. Leaf base is uneven or
lopsided.
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Yellow Poplar (Tulip Tree)
Liriodendron tulipifera, is a very common
species at CHMF. This straight tall tree is
characterized in younger species by shallow
white-colored patches between narrow ridges.
Also the tree leaves triangular limb scars as the
lower limbs are lost. In the spring this member
of the magnolia family has showy yellow flowers
that eventually produce a winged fruit.
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Sassafras
Sassafras albidum, is a distinctive tree young or
old. This specimen is quite large. Its bark has
a reddish cast and a distinctive spicy odor. It
is deeply furrowed and blocky. Younger trees are
identifiable because the new twigs are green in
color and the leaves have distinctively two or
tree different shapes.
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Sycamore

• Platanus occidentalis, also known as the plane
  tree is one of the larger trees in North America.
  This species has thin peeling bark with patches
  of white in younger branches. It requires
  substantial moisture and can be considered a
  wetland species.

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Black Cherry

• Prunus serotina, is a common forest species that
  is easily identifiable by its black scaly bark.
  It has a thin platy appearance. Leaves are
  simple, serrate and alternate. Fruit is a small
  (1/4 inch) black cherry.

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Eastern Redbud
Cercis canadensis, is a small understory tree
with thin orange tinted bark that becomes scaly
with age. Leaves are heart shaped. Flowers are
pink-red in early spring. Seeds are born in a
pod-like fruit .
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Tree of Heaven
Ailanthus altissima is an introduced species.
Its origin is China and it has fast become one of
the most invasive of introduced trees. Tree of
heaven has a thin gray to black bark with
diamond-shaped markings and a generally sooty
appearance. Leaves of this species are pinnately
compound and they possess a distinctively foul
odor. Leaflets have a small projection or
yellowish gland at their base.
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Sugar Maple

• Acer saccharum, is the source tree for hard rock
  maple furniture and maple syrup. Maples all have
  opposite leaves, winged fruits. Bark is
  incredibly variable but generally has long scaly
  plates. Red maple has bark broken up into
  smaller scaly plates.

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Red Maple

• Acer rubrum, is a common forest tree with
  oppisite serrate edged leaves. The bark in this
  tree is much more similar to that of silver maple
  (water maples that is often used as a shade tree
  because of its rapid growth.

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Yellow Buckeye

• Aesculus octandra, is a distinctive tree. Its
  bark is thin and platy and almost always covered
  with mosses and algae. Its leaves are compound
  with leaflets arranged like the fingers of a hand
  (palmate). This species is shade tolerant. It
  occurs at moist sites.

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Black Gum (Tupelo)
Nyssa sylvatica, is one of two species with
alligator bark. It is deeply fissured
vertically and horizontally such that it is quite
blocky in appearance. The edges of these
irregularly-shaped blocks are often rounded over.
Tupelo leaves are among the first to change
colors in the fall. Generally they are bright
crimson red.
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Flowering Dogwood

• Cornus florida, is perhaps our most common
  understory tree. It is recognized by opposite
  simple leaves. The bark is thin, reddish and
  broken into squarish plates somewhat similar to
  black gum but the fissures are much shallower in
  dogwood

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Persimmon
Diospyros virginiana, is one of very few species
in which the bark of young trees is broken into
squarish blocks. Its leaves are untoothed,
oval-shaped and net-veined. Its twigs are
distinctive because they have distinctive bundle
scars.
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White Ash
Fraxinus americanus, is one of the few species of
tree with opposite compound leaves. The bark
varies from having regular diamond shaped ridges
to having the irregular fragmented appearance of
the tree figured here. The outer bark of ash is
spongy when pressed with the thumbnail.
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• No attempt was made here to include every tree.
  It is my hope that I have included the more
  common species. It is also my hope that this
  project will serve as incentive for you to adapt
  this program for use with your particular grade
  level. You may freely use the images for
  educational purposes. If you find a good use for
  them I would appreciate seeing what you have
  done. Email me at staff_at_clayhillforest.org or
  better yet, stop by CHMF for a longer visit.