Lacking the buds, look for secondary spines off the main spine which will identify the tree on the right as a honeylocust. The hint to look for blood red buds in winter helps identify it as a hawthorn. The picture of hawthorn thorns below on the left immediately made me think of honey locust but the twig wasn't right. This MDC website lists twigs by a few of their distinctive characteristics.Ī great place to learn some distinctive twigs and test yourself using pictures like those below is at /. To a number of choices such as elm, sycamore, hackberry, redbud, osage An example would be zig-zag twigs, which are easily identified and leads Features such as the presence of thorns, bark color and the shape of buds can put the plant in a group. Once you learn the face (twig or bud pattern) it can be yours forever (or for me as long as I can remember anything). Some young tree species have characteristics that are relatively distinctive. Like seeing a friend in a crowd, familiar features occasionally may pop out, letting you immediately identify a species you are familiar with. Identification is even more challenging when the unknown is small and could be a small tree or a shrub. These distinctive features are present inĪll but the first months of leaf out and the spring growth spurt. Not all trees are that distinctive, especially when young without their typical bark and fruit.įor many trees in wi nter, you have to identify them by their twigs and buds. The sycamore can be identified at a distance by the distinctive white trunk where the bark peels away and by the seed balls hanging from the branches. Shagbark hickory has a bark easily identified by a child once they have seen it. When the leaves leave, I have been left with the knowledge of some distinctive barks, and even that fails me in reliably separating a walnut and some hickories. Leaves not only provide us shade, they also are the main way we identify many trees and shrubs. Lately we have been trying to sharpen our winter tree identification skills.
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