Trees, week 1

Question 1

Acer saccharum

Answer 1

sugar maple

Leaves: palmate, opposite, simple. coarse toothed, deep lobes, 3-5. dark to gray-green.

Buds & Stems: buds resemble ice cream cones, in 3. egg shaped. leaf scars crescent shaped. Brown stems

Habit: fully developed, open form, shade tolerant

Bark: young bark smooth gray-brown. aged bark has deep furrows and long, irregular, thick shaggy plates.

Fruit: 2 winged samaras, down facing

Notes:

Question 2

Betula alleghaniensis

Answer 2

yellow birch

Leaves: ovate, pointed tip, finely double serrated margins, cordate base, short petiole. Simple, Alternate. Dull dark green. 2 leaves per shoot bud

Buds & Stems: imbricate(scaled) buds, often hairy, appressed (grow flat to the twig)

Habit: pyramidal & dense in youth, irregular & wide spread in maturity

Bark: yellowish-bronze on young stems w/ papery shreds, visible horizontal lenticels. mature tree changes to dark gray, peels fall away to irregular plates.

Fruit: erect female catkins, male drooping, fatter than B. lenta

Notes: Faint wintergreen smell in twigs

Question 3

Carya ovata

Answer 3

shagbark hickory

Leaves: Alternate, Pinnately Compound. 5-7 leaflets per rachis. wide, elliptical, accuminate leaves. deep yellow-green. golden yellow in fall.

Buds & Stems: imbricate terminal buds. ovate & blunt tips. Stems are downy, smooth and shiny, visible lenticels. red-brown. shield shaped leaf scar.

Habit: big tree, 60’-80’, straight cylindrical trunk, oblong crown of ascending and descending branches.

Bark: gray-brown, develops characteristic “shaggy” plates of park that curl away from trunk.

Fruit: hickory nut has 4 sectioned husk

Notes:

Question 4

Fraxinus americana

Answer 4

white ash

Leaves: Opposite, Pinnately Compound. 5-9 leaflets, round base, accuminate, dark green.

Buds & Stems: U shaped bud scar. terminal bud present, dark brown. short, stubby bud stems are rounded, shiny, grayish to greenish brown.

Habit: weakly pyramidal in youth, open, round top crown in maturity.

Bark: ash gray to gray-brown, diamond shaped, narrow, vertical ridges.

Fruit: single wing samaras in clusters

Notes: Vs green ash: longer leaf & petiole, samara seeds fatter, wider wing. bark is more furrowed & hard compared to plate-like on green ash. Green ash bud is more pointed

Question 5

Fagus grandifolia

Answer 5

American beech

Leaves: Alternate, simple, ovate-oblong, coarsely serrate. broadly cuneate at base, coarsely serrate. veins always parallel w/ distinctive points.

Buds & Stems: long, brown, imbricate slender buds. zig-zagging slender grayish brown stems.

Habit: massive, lots of branches

Bark: elephantine smooth grayish bark

Fruit: 3 sided prickly winged beech nut

Notes: very similar to sylvatica, grandifolia has serrated leaves. dead leaves persist through winter

Question 6

Fraxinus pennsylvanica

Answer 6

green ash

Leaves: Opposite, Pinnately Compound. 5-9 leaflets, ovate, cuneate at base, dark green, petiole short and wider than americana

Buds & Stems: bud scar straight across at top. smaller & narrower than white ash, woolly. stout, rounded stems

Habit: irregular, upright spreading crown with dipping branches.

Bark: more plated than white ash

Fruit: single wing samaras in bunches

Notes: leaves less serrate than white ash

Question 7

Betula papyrifera

Answer 7

paper or white birch

Leaves: Alternate, Simple. 2-4” ovate leaves with accuminate tip. coarsely double serrate. can have up to 3 leaves per bud spur

Buds & Stems: imbricate pointed ovate buds, brown-black. stems are reddish brown.

Habit: loosely pyramidal in youth, open roundish crown in maturity

Bark: distinctive chalky white peeling bark.

Fruit: long green pendulous hanging catkins, fruit a small nutlet

Notes: leaves are smaller and more coarsely serrate than other birches

Question 8

Fagus sylvatica

Answer 8

European beech

Leaves:Alternate, Simple. ovate or elliptic, smooth margins, downy petiole

Buds & Stems: long slender brown buds

Habit: ranges from densely pyramidal to rounded, branches to the ground

Bark: elephantine smooth bark, usually darker than grandifolia

Fruit: triangular 4-lobed nut

Notes:

Question 9

Quercus velutina

Answer 9

black oak

Leaves: Alternate, Simple. pinnate venation, lobes have accuminate points, 7-9 per leaf. shape can vary widely.

Buds & Stems: imbricate, conate to oval buds. stout grayish toreddish brown stems

Habit: variable habit, irregular crown, 50-60’ avg height

Bark: dark brown to blackish, broken into rough irregular blocks. mature tree becomes darker, separates into irregular blocks

Fruit: acorn, scaled cap covers 1/2 of the nut

Notes:

Question 10

Quercus alba

Answer 10

white oak

Leaves: Simple, alternate. 5-9 rounded lobes, narrow cuneate base

Buds & Stems: small, blunt imbricate buds, reddish brown, slightly hairy. stout, brownish purple stems, sometimes covered in waxy grayish blooms

Habit: tall, upright rouded with wide-spreading branches.

Bark: light gray, young vertical strips turn to rectangular flattened blocks.

Fruit: acorn, egg shaped, bumpy raised scales on cap, covers 1/4 of nut

Notes:

Question 11

Liriodendron tulipifera

Answer 11

tulip poplar

Leaves: Alternate, Simple. broad, 4 lobed bright green. long petiole

Buds & Stems: valvate (edges meet w/o overlap) long duck bill shaped bud. greenish to reddish brown stems, covered w/ a bloom.

Habit: rounded with large branches

Bark: ash gray, closely spaced white or grayish vertical cracks develop into furrows between flat ridges, which become more rounded as the tree matures.

Fruit: conelike aggregate of samaras, persist through winter

Notes:

Question 12

Betula lenta

Answer 12

black birch

Leaves: Alternate, Simple glossy dark green. serrated glossy dark green, paler beneath w/ hairy veins

Buds & Stems: imbricate conical sharp pointed buds

Habit:

Bark: young tree has dark reddish brown smooth bark with long horizontal lenticels. mature bark is dark gray and breaks into thick irregular plates. no peeling bark.

Fruit: long catkins, fruit a small winged nutlet

Notes: lighter leaf texture than alleghaniensis. stronger wintergreen taste in stems.

Question 13

Prunus serotina

Answer 13

black cherry

Leaves: Alternate, Simple. glossy dark green, serrated, oblong shape, accuminate tip, cuneate at base

Buds & Stems: imbricate oval buds. twig has bitter almond taste

Habit: pyramidal in youth, oval headed in maturity

Bark: smooth reddish brown in youth, long, closely packed horizontal lenticels. bark breaks into scales turning darker in color, curling outwards. “burnt cornflakes”

Fruit & Flowers: hanging small fruits turn from red to black

Notes:

Question 14

Juglans cinerea

Answer 14

butternut

Leaves: Alternate, pinnately compound. 11-19 leaflets with terminal leaf. oblong and finely serrated

Buds & Stems: leaf scar has monkey face with a hairy brow. bluntpointed downy buds

Habit: long and horizontal

Bark: light gray and smooth with rusty brown vertical cracks. furrows deepen in between smooth vertical ridges

Fruit & Flowers: bright green male catkins, fruit is football shaped nut.

Notes:

Question 15

Tilia americana

Answer 15

American linden or basswood

Leaves: Alternate, simple. broad ovate leaf, cordate(heart) shaped base. dark green, coarsely serrate.

Buds & Stems: lateral divergent teardrop brown buds, stems smooth gray-brown to reddish

Habit: “sympodial” branches droop down then grow back upwards

Bark: light gray-brown, broken by vertical cracks. narrow furrows between intersecting ridges that curve around branches or old branch junctions

Fruit & Flowers: small nutlets hang outside leaflike structure

Notes:

Question 16

Juglans nigra

Answer 16

black walnut

Leaves: Pinnately Compound, alternate. terminal leaf not always present,

Buds & Stems: leaf scar similar to cinerea, no eyebrows.

Habit: loose canopy

Bark: light brown-grayish, flat topped ridges create intersecting furrows, often broken horizontally in y shapes

Fruit & Flowers: walnut case round green lime shaped

Notes: chemically alleopathic, prevents other plants from growing nearby. leaves smaller & less fuzzy than butternut