Tree Identification Flashcards
tends to grow dark green, leaf is wider than it is high, the bark is ridged and furrowed, has blunt red-green buds, oozes white sap from petiole
Norway Maple=Acer platanoides
has leaves wider than high, blunt red-green buds, has reddish foliage
Crimson King Norway Maple=Acer platanoides ‘Crimson King’
grows upright with light green foliage, leaves have 3-5 lobes, has a small red bud, silvery gray bark with black horizontal streaks, with a red or yellow fall color
Red Maple=Acer rubrum
grows weedy (leaves drooping a little) with deeply sinused leaves, has small red buds
Silver Maple=Acer saccharinum
grows upright and wide, has tapered leaves, buds are brown, pointed and sharp, young bark is smooth, old is plated samara 60 degrees
Sugar Maple=Acer Saccharum
it is a groundcover, 3 lobed leaves with white veins
English Ivy=Hedera helix
has compound leaves, buds are a shiny black under the petiole, twigs are green
Japanese Pagodatree=Sophora japonica
grows very straight, bud is a duckbill (split open into quacking duck in winter), leaves like a cat head, fruit-cone shaped
Tulip tree=Liriodendron tulipifera
pinnate compound leaves, dioecious, weedy tree, ends of the twigs are glaucous, leaflets have lobes
Box Elder=Acer negundo
palmate compound leaves, large sticky buds, spiny fruits
Horsechestnut=Aesculus hippocastanum
small tree, striated bark, red-purple pointed buds, small apple-like fruit
Shadblow Serviceberry=Amelanchier canadensis
white bark with gray splotches and horizontal lenticels (lines), accuminate apex leaves with truncate base, has single catkins
Gray Birch=Betula populifolia
grows upright open, crescent-shaped leaf scar, pinnate compound leaves with opposite spacing, fall foliage purple to orange, one -wing samara seeds, dioecious
White Ash=Fraxinus americana
grows rounded and slightly compact, d-shaped leaf scar, curved branches with fine compound pinnate leaves with opposite spacing, fall foliage yellow, has one-winged samara
Green Ash=Fraxinus pennsylvanica
pinnate and bipinnate compound leaves, has zig-zag branches, older trees form a sort of umbrella of leaves, has tiniest leaflets and rachises of all in class, legume has giant beanpods
Thornless Honeylocust=Gleditsia triacanthos inermis (all underlined)
pinnate compound leaves, very pubescent, naked cream colored long ‘claw’ buds, fuzzy rachis, fuzzy egg-shaped fruit, dark brown chambered pith
White/Butternut Walnut=Juglans cinerea
pinnate compound leaves, slightly pubescent, naked brown colored short ‘claw’ buds, buds may be superposed, round fruit like tennis balls, tan chambered pith
Black Walnut=Juglans nigra
exfoliating (peeling) bark on older trees, bud below the petiole (hidden), 3-lobe serrated maple-like leaf but with alternate spacing, leaf-scar goes around bud, has creamy-white bark, seed balls grow singularly
Sycamore/American Plane tree=Platanus occidentalis
triangular leaves (delta) with truncate base and acute apex, large green buds,breaks easily because of fast growth rate, cotton-like seeds (like large dandelion seeds)
Eastern Cottonwood=Populus deltoides
flat petiole, crenate (rounded) margins, grayish bark, round alternate leaves, pointed buds like sugar maple
Quaking Aspen=Populus tremuloides
clustered buds, rounded lobes on leaves, rough bark, sweet acorns
White Oak=Quercus alba
pinnate compound leaves on brown twigs, straight and gangly growing, rope-like bark, legume with small peapod sized fruit, has darkest leaves of all in class, spines at the nodes
Black Locust=Robinia pseudoacacia
usually single trunk, ovate leaves with less tapered apex, bark chalky white on all of the tree and peels, has catkins in 2’s and 3’s, indistinct buds with mustaches where branch meets trunk
Paper/White Birch-Betula papyrifera
shaggy cinnamon bark, dentate leaves with large teeth
River Birch-Betula nigra
pinnate compound alternate leaves, shaggy bark on older trees and striated bark on young trees, very small lateral buds (hitchhikers) beside terminal buds, round hard nuts, golden fall color
Shagbark Hickory-Carya ovata
ovate leaves with arched venation, tree is vase-shaped, flat flower bud with tapered apex, black vegetative buds, raspberry-like fruit
Kousa Dogwood-Cornus kousa
shrub with opposite buds, has corky wing lines on twigs, bright red fall color, orange seed fruit in a capsule
Winged Euonymus/Burning Bush-Euonymus alatus
fan-shaped whorled leaves on a spur with palmate veins, spurs stay when leaves fall off, dioecious, grows very straight
Ginkgo-Ginkgo biloba
large upright growing, alternate star-shaped leaves with 5-7 lobes and finely serrated margins, spiky ball fruit
Sweetgum-Liquidambar styraciflua
rounded tree with reddish brown bark and irregular lenticels, has spurs on twigs, white fuzzy buds
Apple-Malus
vine with 3 lobed leaves, climb by tendrils and suction discs, has grape-like fruit, mostly found growing on buildings because used for landscaping
Japanese Creeper/Boston Ivy-Parthenocissus tricuspidata
vine or groundcover, has 5 palmate compound leaflets, climbs by tendrils and suction discs, not used for landscaping
Virginia Creeper-Parthenocissus quinquefolia
symmetrical uniform appearance, alternate waxy leaves that are as wide as they are tall, white pubescent buds, has spurs on twigs
Callery Pear-Pyrus calleryana
Large shrub, thick ovate opposite leaves with entire margins, double terminal buds
Lilac-Syringa vulgaris
Conical shaped tree, oblique leaf base and serrated margins, seeds grow in a cluster with a winged bracht, tree very large with sweeping hanging branches, small buds have 2 main scales (one big overlapping other smaller one),
Littleleaf Linden-Tilia cordata
Vase-shaped weed tree, simple parallel-veined alternate leaves with oblique bases and a sandpaper feel, small brown lop-sided buds and crooked terminal
American Elm-Ulmus americana
twining vine, reddish woody stem, shredding bark, ‘Tarzan vine’, woody thick tendrils, red petioles
Riverbank Grape-Vitis riparia
Twining woody vine without tendrils, engulfs whatever it grows on, has yellow fruit with orange seeds
Oriental Bittersweet-Celastrus orbiculatus
shrub with red twigs, leaves have arcuate venation, opposite buds, white pith and fruit, grows in wet stream areas
Red-twig Dogwood-Cornus sericea
shrub with purple-red twigs, tan pith and blue fruit, common to open fields but can also grow in wet stream areas
Silky Dogwood-Cornus amomum
cigar-shaped buds, elephant-hide bark, leaves have 7-9 vein pairs
European Beech-Fagus sylvatica
shrub with red stems, opposite ovate leaves with entire margins, top of leaves are dark green and bottom is silver, have strongly divergent buds and pea-sized seeds “WEEDY”
Lonicera-Honeysuckle
tall tree with exfoliating bark, trunk is green, leaves have truncate base, seed balls grow two together
London Planetree-Platanus x acerifolia
small tree, grows in clusters, dioecious, hass compound leaves, no terminal bud and pubescent stems
Staghorn Sumac-Rhus typhina
Shrub, vine, or groundcover, has compound trifoliate lobed leaflets, hairy vine, yellow fall color
Poison Ivy-Toxicodendron radicans
widespreading twiggy tree, single scale buds, really skinny and long (tranceolate) leaves
Golden Weeping Willow-Salix alba ‘Tristis’
large heavy-branched tree that commonly grows by streams, leaves have oblique base (heart-shaped), red-green buds with a two scales (1 big 1 small), fruit-winged nutlet
American Linden/American Basswood-Tilia americana
large shrub/small tree, opposite buds, ‘bird’s head’ bud, blue/black fruit (pink in spring), has suckers at base
Nannyberry Viburnum-Viburnum lentago
rounded large branches, smooth to slightly furrowed bark, large clustered buds, pointed lobes on leaves
Red Oak-Quercus rubra
tree with clustered buds, small terminal buds, pointed lobes on leaves, twiggy branches, pea-sized acorns
Pin Oak-Quercus palustris
tree with shaggy bark, leaves with rounded lobes that get wider at apex, pointed scales on clustered buds, large acorns with burs on edge of cap, narrow leaf base
Bur Oak-Quercus macrocarpa
*small understory tree, tri-lobed opposite leaves with serrated margins, white/gray bark with green stripes (purple in winter), stalked valvate bud
Striped Maple-Acer pensylvanicum
*small understory tree, has glabrous alternate leaves with doubly serrate margins, smooth gray bark with ridges, fruit is a cluster of leafy wings with a nutlet
American Hornbeam/Muscle Wood-Carpinus caroliniana
*small understory tree, pubescent alternate leaves with doubly serrate margins, brown/gray flaky bark, has 3 catkins at 90 degree angle, fruits have cluster sacks like hops
American Hophornbeam-Ostrya virginiana
*small tree with a rounded top, leaves have arcuate venation, checkered bark, small green vegetative buds, red football shaped fruit
Flowering Dogwood-Cornus florida