Week 1 - Tree ID Features

Question 1

Acer palmatum

Answer 1

Japanese Maple.

Opposite buds & leaf arrangement; simple leaf but deeply lobed; palmately veined; doubly serrated leaf margins; buds nearly hidden by base of petiole. Fruit appears as a samara: a winged papery tissue juts out from the ovary wall to catch the air for dispersal, AKA a helicopter.

Question 2

Acer palmatum var. dissectum

Answer 2

Opposite buds & leaf arrangement; leaves dissected to point of attachment (palmately compound). It looks lacy and thin. Leaves vary from light green in the spring to red in the fall.

Question 3

Acer palmatum ‘Bloodgood’

Answer 3

Opposite buds & leaf arrangement; reddish purple in spring/summer, often scarlet in fall; buds also have purple coloration. Can look bronze in the later summer.

Question 4

Clerodendrum trichotomum - Leaves and Flowers

Answer 4

Opposite bud & leaf arrangement; tomentose; fragrant leaves – peanut butterish smell; fragrant white flower with a scarlet calyx; metallic blue fruit. “Peanut butter tree” “Harlequin Glorybower”

Question 5

Parthenocissus henryana

Answer 5

Palmately compound vine (5-7 leaflets); silver veins; purple color underneath; tendrils with adhesive discs; stems are 4-sided. Blueish berries. (Remember that: Henry is a silver-haired, square guy!)

Question 6

Parthenocissus quinquefolia

Answer 6

Palmately compound vine (3-5 leaflets); tendrils with adhesive discs; stems rounded

Question 7

Platanus x acerifolia

Answer 7

Alternate bud & leaf arrangement; petiole wraps completely around bud (see leaf scar after leaves have dropped); maple-shaped leaf with truncate base; zig-zag stems.

Question 8

Rhus typhina ‘Laciniata’

Answer 8

Pinnately compound, deeply cut, serrated leaves; petiole & stems are very hairy; fruit are persistent red panicles.