Download - Identifying Broadleaved Trees in Winter
Identifying Broadleaved Trees in Winter
Photo Suzanne Sancisi-Frey, Forest Research
Suzanne Sancisi-Frey, Forest Research
Identifying winter trees
• Some features that can be used to identify winter trees are:
• Buds – these can change between the
autumn and spring • Twigs • Bark (this not a great ID feature for many
trees as can vary with age) • Leaf scars • Fruits and seeds (autumn) • Growth form of tree and branching pattern • Use as many of the features as possible
don’t rely on just one • Look at a number of twigs/buds from the
tree you are trying to identify – not just one or two
Fruits and seeds
SSF FR
Sycamore
Norway maple
field maple
ash
Ash keys
Remnants of ash keys
Plane fruits
Sweet chestnut
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Buds and Twigs
• Bud arrangement:
alternate, opposite or spiralling
• Bud shape
e.g. oval, conical, pointed or blunt
• Bud colour
• The presence or absence of hairs on buds
• The presence or absence of bud scales
• The size of buds in relation to the twigs
• The shape and colour of twigs
• The presence or absence of leaf scars
• Presence or absence of hairs on twigs
Bud arrangement
Terminal bud single Terminal buds clustered
buds opposite
buds alternate
buds spiralling
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Buds and twigs
Terminal bud
Leaf scar
Lateral bud
Leaf stalk
Last years
growth
Lenticels (Small bumps; gas exchange)
Leaf scar
Bud scales
Bud scale scars
All photos Suzanne Sancisi-Frey, Forest Research
Hand lenses
• X 10 is usually enough
• X 20
• Swanky ones with lights
• Phonescopes
Hold lens to eye - move subject towards it
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Glossary
• Adpressed – Held tightly against the twig • Alternate – An arrangement of buds on a twig
when individual buds are spaced along the twig at regular intervals alternating either side
• Bud scales – Leafy plates which form a protective covering on a bud
• Catkins – flowers of alders, birches and hazels • Crocodile back – gnarled appearance of twigs
from trees such as elm, field maple and liquidamber
• Lateral buds – Buds present on the sides of a twig • Leaf scar - a mark just below the bud left on a
twig when the leaf falls • Lenticels – gas exchange structures; can be spots
or lines • Opposite - An arrangement of buds on a twig
when individual buds face each other on opposite sides of the twig forming individual pairs
• Spiralling - An arrangement of buds on a twig when individual buds are spaced along a twig at regular intervals in a spiralling pattern
• Terminal bud – The bud growing right on the end of the twig
Your answers number Tree species
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• Terminal buds in groups
Oak (Quercus robur and Q. petraea)
• Buds spiralling
• Buds orangey colour with many bud scales
• Fruits/seeds – Acorns in acorn cups
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SSF FR
• Q. robur – acorns on stalks, leaves sessile
• Q. petraea – acorns
sessile, leaves on stalks
30 m tall
Bark - regular network of vertical furrows
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Ash (Fraxinus excelsior)
• Black, opposite/offset buds on green or grey twigs
• Ends of shoots curl upwards
• Fruits are single keys in bunches
Ad
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Hill
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30 - 42 m tall
All photos Suzanne Sancisi-Frey, Forest Research
Horse chestnut (Aesculus hippocastanum)
• Buds are opposite, large, brown and sticky
• Large leaf scars in a horse shoe shape incl. studs
• Fruits - conkers within fleshy green spiky cases
Adrian Hill knowing and drawing trees
30 m tall
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• Buds alternate and sit on ‘shelves’
• Buds yellow/green to pinky brown
• Twigs have light coloured and noticeable lenticels - looks warty
• Young shoots are angular with ridges
• Fruit/seeds – Spiny fruit case with sweet chestnuts within
Sweet chestnut (Castanea sativa)
Adrian Hill knowing and drawing trees
30 m tall
Bark can spiral as shown in drawing above
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Beech (Fagus sylvatica)
• Buds alternate, pointed and brown with large scales
• Twigs have a zig zag shape, hairy, lenticels, purpley brown
• Seeds (beech nuts) within a hairy, 4 lobed seed case
Ad
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draw
ing trees
30 m tall
Smooth, grey bark
Beech nut cupules
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• Buds alternate, long, bluntly pointed and held against the twig or slightly curled
• Twigs brown and slightly hairy
• Fruits/seeds – ribbed nutlets hanging in clusters
• Bark smooth, grey and fluted
Hornbeam (Carpinus betulus)
Adrian Hill knowing and drawing trees
Forestry Commission
20 m tall
Sycamore (Acer pseudoplatanus)
• Buds are opposite, green and egg shaped with a pointed end. Single terminal bud
• The edges of the bud scales are purple and lined with fringe of ‘golden eyelashes’
• Twigs paired - green when young then light brown
• 2 winged fruits at 90 degrees to each other with plump rounded seeds
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30 m tall
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Field maple (Acer campestre)
• Buds opposite, brown with white hairy scale edges
• Twigs light brown, slender, straight, slightly hairy, crocodile back when older
• Fruits 2 winged set at 180 deg to each other with flat seeds. In bunches
Photo FC booklet No 20 9 m tall
All photos Suzanne Sancisi-Frey, Forest Research unless otherwise stated
Norway maple (Acer platanoides)
• Buds opposite, deep red/brown but not hairy
• Terminal bud can be paired
• Twigs light brown, thin and hairless when young
• Fruits in bunches 2 winged with flat seeds. Look like a droopy moustache!
FC J
oh
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illia
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18-21 m tall
Bark lightly fissured
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Silver birch and downy birch (betula pendula + B. pubescens)
• Whitish bark with black diamond shaped cracks
• Buds alterrnate, small, shiny, pointed
• Slender purple twigs with catkins • Weeping habit for silver birch • No weeping for downy birch • Warts but no hairs on twigs for
silver birch • Hairs but no warts on twigs for
downy birch • Birch species can hybridise
Forestry Commission
Adrian Hill knowing and drawing trees
12-18 m tall
Catkins
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Diamond shaped cracks
Common Walnut (Juglans regia)
• Buds spiralling/alternate, oval purple/black and velvety
• Large distinctive horseshoe/heart shaped leaf scars
• Twigs green/bronze when young dark brown later
• Central pith is segmented • Fruits/seeds – walnuts
within green, fleshy husks
Ad
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30 m tall
Segmented pith
All photos Suzanne Sancisi-Frey, Forest Research
London plane (Platanus x acerifolia)
• Buds alternate, conical/rounded and red/brown
• Leaf scar almost entirely circling buds
• Twigs olive green grey when young becoming twisted later
• Fruits/seeds – stalked, spherical, with individual seeds and bristly hairs visible
Plane Fruit clusters in winter
Forestry Commission
Ad
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Hill
kn
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30 m tall
Bark mottled and peeling in patches
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Rowan (Mountain ash)
(Sorbus aucuparia)
• Buds alternate, dark purple, long, slender and hairy with one sided point. Lateral buds often on short stalks
• Fruits bright red and look like miniature apples size of holly berries
• Twigs grey or brown, upward growing, smooth, can have long hairs
FC J
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15 m tall
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Lime (Tilia spp)
• Buds alternate, red/purple and bluntly rounded
• Twigs very red (when young), smooth and waxy/shiny looking.
• Lenticels noticeable • Fruit clusters of green or
brown capsules with single brown wing (bract)
Ad
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All photos Forestry Commission
Elder (Sambucus nigra)
• Buds opposite, red/brown ragged/untidy looking
• Twigs yellowish brown with obvious lenticels
• Twigs often brittle and containing white pith
Photo Suzanne Sancisi-Frey, Forest Research
Photo Forestry Commission
Pith
Lenticels
How did you do? number Tree species
1 Horse chestnut
2 Sycamore
3 English oak
4 Rowan / mountain ash
5 Ash
6 Field maple
7 Lime
8 Silver or downy birch
9 Elder
10 Common walnut
11 Sweet chestnut
12 Plane
13 Norway maple
14 Beech
15 Hornbeam