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Identify Trees

There are several ways to identify trees in winter: by their leaves, if they are evergreen; by their buds, branching patterns, bark or overall shape if they are deciduous trees that lose their leaves. Most trees have one distinguishing feature that quickly identifies each for me.

One of the easiest trees to identify is the Eastern white pine (Pinus strobus). They are very common, dominating many woods. The needles are 3-5-inches long and, unlike any other native evergreen tree, they are grouped in clusters of five needles; the needles are pointed, but soft to touch. Their branches grow out from the trunk in whorls of five or six branches that are the same distance off the ground; the distance between whorls shows how much it grew in a given year.

The other very common evergreen tree in our woods is the Canadian hemlock (Tsuga canadensis). In contrast to white pines, they have flat needles about half an inch long. The needles have two light green stripes on their undersides. Their foliage feels good to touch- they have no sharp points on their needles. They are fast-growing, and can grow in deep shade - which gives them an advantage in the forest, allowing them to grow up anywhere, and to eventually elbow other trees aside and shade them out.

Although there are others, there are just three commonly found full-sized native trees that have opposite branching. By opposite branching I mean that their smaller branches, twigs and buds grow in pairs, opposite each other on a branch. They are sugar maples (Acer saccharum), red maples (Acer rubrum) and white ash (Fraxinus americana). White ash tends to have larger diameter twigs than the maples - often the thickness of a pencil, while the maples have much finer branches. As you look up at a tree you will rarely see opposite branching everywhere because twigs and branches get knocked off. But the buds on a twig will be arranged pairs if your specimen is a maple or an ash.

Leaf buds are also one of the ways that scientists identify tree species in winter. To differentiate between red and sugar maples you need to look at their buds. Sugar maple buds are about one quarter inch long and sharply pointed. They often appear in threes at the terminal end of a branch, otherwise they are in opposite pairs. Red maple buds are arranged in a similar fashion, but have shorter buds, an eighth of inch or less, and the buds are blunt. Most importantly for me, red maple buds and twigs have a reddish hue, which get redder as spring approaches.

The form of a tree is an important indicator for me, though where a tree is growing (and how many other trees are around it) will greatly influence shape. Red maples tend to be quite vertical, growing straight up with ascending branches. Sugar maples tend to sprawl more than red maples. Red maples are fast growing, tough trees. They grow almost anywhere - even in very wet areas. Sugar maples are much slower growing and are more finicky about where they grow, preferring well drained soils.

Other than its branching, the bark of a mature white ash is its most distinctive feature for me. It is almost corky, furrowed into diamond-shaped areas separated by narrow interlacing ridges. Younger ash trees have smoother bark, but you can identify them by looking at the buds: they are tiny, compared to maple buds, and are much more rounded. You almost need a hand lens to examine them.

American beech (Fagus grandifolia) is one of my favorites in winter. The younger trees have smooth grey bark and many (though not all) hold onto their elliptical, tan-colored, serrated leaves until May. The bigger beeches lose their leaves and still have beautiful grey bark, but the bark often gets scarred up and sometimes disfigured with a fungal disease. Branching is alternate, with branches reaching out horizontally, particularly in young trees, which tend to grow in clusters around mature specimens. Lastly, beech buds are cigar-shaped and about an inch long, with sharp points. You can't miss the buds as a distinguishing feature.

Identifying a tree is best done if you can find a couple of attributes to compare. So, for example, many oaks hold onto a few leaves in winter as the beeches do, but their leaves are not oval, leaf buds are never long and cigar-shaped, nor do they have smooth gray bark the color of an elephant.

If you wish to learn the names of other trees, an excellent book is "A Guide to Nature in Winter" by Donald Stokes. It is covers most living things in the winter landscape, from bugs and birds to animal tracks and trees. It explains much about how a given species fits into the overall ecosystem.

So strap on some snowshoes, and go have a look. There's no point in living in the northeast if you don't enjoy the winters, and our winter landscape is truly lovely.

Henry Homeyer is the Vermont/NH associate editor of People, Places and Plants magazine. His web site is www.Gardening-Guy.com