Tree leaf identification - fall colors

Tree leaf identification in fall, is one of a variety of changing colors anda great time to be out in the field.

Having looked at a number of guides, I have found one which meets the criteria, of being useful in the field and with enough information to be of value at home.

Fall Color Finder: A Pocket Guide to Autumn Leaves is a superb pocket guide for fall leaf identification. The identification system is step by step with leaf diagrams and ordered pairs of identifying characteristics. A process of elimination keeps the features that best match a particular leaf, and a quick comparison can be made with color photographs to confirm identification. Fall Color Finder is a useful guide for getting to know fall leaves.

Beginning with an explanation about changing leaf colors, the book is a great resource for field trips, for collection purposes, leaf identification projects, and personal interest.

Fall Color Finder: A Pocket Guide to Autumn Leaves a great pocket source to aid in tree leaf identification

Tree leaf identification walk Springfield Missouri

Received notification of a tree identification walk in Missouri on 20th October.

Learn to identify common trees by a variety of methods and enjoy spectacular fall color on this guided hike. Ages 12-adult. Registration required. Call 888-4237. at the Springfield Conservation Nature Centre

Tree leaf identification, Sheffield UK

Just had notification of this even in December

Winter Tree Identification

14 Dec
09:00

Can you tell your Oak from your Ash? How to identify trees during Winter. - Includes an informative walk through a local site. - Cost £55

Contact: Tel 0114 263 4335 or email: training@wildsheffield.com
Location: Sheffield Wildlife Trust - Training Department, 37 Stafford Road, Sheffield, S2 2SF

Tree leaf identification I want it computerised

One aspect of tree leaf identification, which can make life a little easier, is to use cd-roms, these have the advantage of taking less space and can be used for more intensive investigation.

One of the beauties of cd-rom based identifiers, is they can contain far more information, without requiring a bookshelf to themselves.

It is also sometimes, helpful to have a guide on a laptop while being out, or when looking at images on a computer, possibly from friends asking for n identification and at times like that, I find being able to use the computer is a handy way of identifying trees.

I have had a look at quite a few different packages and found

this to be a useful tool, for North American tree identification.

The 3-CD set has a simple menu that gives you basic tree information, then becomes more specific by breaking the guide information down and into family, genus and species levels.

There are over 20,000 pictures and full text descriptions of leaves, twigs, fruit, flowers, bark, form, and range maps for 860 species of woody plants. Multiple pictures of important distinguishing features are also provided. Similar species can also be compared side by side, with the most distinguishing features highlighted.

Woody Plants in North America Cds is a useful guide to enhance tree leaf identification both in the field and at home

Tree Leaf Identification Caledonian Forest

Tree leaf identification in the Caledonian Forest is a fascinating and worth while activity.

The Caledonian Forest, used to cover 1.5 million hectares of the Scottish Highlands, with a wide range of plants and animals, it now covers just 1% of that original area. The surviving remnants of the forest are ageing and fragmented, and because of overgrazing, the trees are struggling to regenerate naturally. While the variety of trees in the forest is low, the forest is undergoing a restoration programme, with the aim to expand the forest and bring back extinct species.

Amongst a growing number of other trees in the forest, there are two types of birch. The Silver and Downy.

Silver birch is distributed throughout almost all of Europe and in Asia Minor. Downy birch also occurs throughout much of Europe and in north Asia, and is one of the very few native trees in Iceland.

Both species of birch are widespread in Scotland, with silver birch occurring principally on well-drained, drier soils and downy birch preferring wetter locations. Scotland has a wetter west side than the east, so there is typically a transition between silver and downy as you cross the country.

Birches occur within other forest types and as birchwoods. Prior to deforestation, it is unlikely the Birches were as proportionately as predominant as they are today.

Silver Birch, is the faster growing of the two trees, but both are fast growing pioneer trees, which easily grow in open ground. As pioneer trees, they are typically not long lived, between 60 and 90 years old and are slender trees, reaching a height of 30 metres in the case of the silver and about 20 - 22 metres for the downy.

As young trees, both have a reddish brown bark, which changes as they mature. The downy becoming a greyish white interspersed with horizontal grooves, while the silver, becomes a more prominent white with patches of black.

The leaves of the two trees emerge in April, as bright green, with the colour becoming a duller green in a week or so, changing to Yellow or Brown in Autumn. Silver Birches tend to turn a brighter yellow than the downy, which more typically turns dull, or brownish. The leaves drop towards the end of October

The two species can be distinguished by their leaves, the downy birch being rounder in shape than silver birch, and having a single row of teeth on the margin, while the silver has a double row of teeth. They can also be identified by their twigs, which in silver birch have small white warts, those on downy birch are covered in small hairs or 'down'. Silver birch has an overall drooping, pendulous shape to its branches, whilst the branches on downy birch tend to be more upright. However, intermediate forms exist between the two species, with various combinations of these characteristics, and this can make the identification of individual trees difficult.

Top: Silver birch leaf
Bottom: Downy birch leaf

A great source of information tree leaf identification in Scotland, not just the Caledonian forest, is this guide

A Pleasure in Scottish Trees

Tree leaf identification - Pennsylvania

Just notified of a tree leaf identification event at Montour Environmental Preserve, Washingtonville, Pennsylvania, this Saturday, 30th October.

Beginning at the Environmental Education Center, PPL naturalist Jon Beam will address tree identification techniques. Later, test what you have learned outdoors and identify the native trees on the preserve.

Red maple, American basswood and white pine are just a few of the many types of trees at PPL’s Montour Environmental Preserve. Learn to identify Pennsylvania trees and learn about their natural history at a program from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m.

Red maple, American basswood and white pine are just a few of the many types of trees at PPL’s Montour Environmental Preserve. Learn to identify Pennsylvania trees and learn about their natural history at a program from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m.

Tree leaf identification starting out

When I first considered tree leaf identification as a means to working out, what I was looking at, I was a little sceptical and unsure how I would get on.

I had heard of the terms palmate, obviate, alternate etc, which all sounded like a foreign language and something I would never get to grips with.

To start out, I found it easiest, to use trees I knew, or was able to identify through people I knew and then compare the leaf to the guide. Reading the description and ensuring I understood what they were describing and how it related to what I had in front of me.

Relatively quickly, this foreign language began to make sense and I was able, with confidence, to read a leaf description and relate to what I was looking at, making for more precise and accurate identification than I had done previously.

In almost no time, I too was able to describe a leaf, using the correct terminology, referencing trees and helping friends.

Tree leaf identification, is not contrary to popular conception, something you can only do in the Summer months, it is a year round opportunity. The different coloration of leaves at different times of the year, provide clues as to the plant being looked at and can distinguish similar looking leaves at different times of the year.

Even if you are not particularly interested in identifying to specific level every, or even any trees, by actually knowing what you are looking at, the countryside, or town becomes a more meaningful place.

If you know a little about the trees themselves, their growing patterns, preferred conditions, when looking at a photograph you can gain a far greater impression of what you are looking at. An understanding of the topography and geography of the area in question.

Tree leaf identification, needn't be an obsession, it is a highly valuable education.

For a beginners guide to tree leaf identification, I recommend starting here