Woody Plant ID Kathy Smith Extension Program Director – Forestry School of Environment & Natural Resources OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY EXTENSION
Woody Plant ID
Kathy Smith Extension Program Director – Forestry
School of Environment & Natural Resources
OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY EXTENSION
Things To Use:
1. Leaves
2. Twigs and Buds
3. Thorns
4. Fruit & Flowers
5. Tree Form or Shape
6. Location-Site
Leaves
What is a leaf?
What Kind Of Tree Is This?
Broadleaf • Usually deciduous
• Slang = hardwoods
• Angiosperms
• Examples: elm, ash, maple, oak, hickory
Conifers • Needles, Scales, awls
• Slang = softwoods
• Gymnosperms
• Examples: pine, spruce, fir, redcedar
Broadleaf
Leaf Arrangement
Opposite Alternate Whorled
Simple leaves – Compound Leaves
Simple Leaves
Pinnately Compound Leaves
Leaflets
Rachis
Bipinnately Compound Leaves
Palmately Compound Leaves
Leaves Opposite - M A D Buck
Maple
Ash
Dogwood
Buckeye/Horse Chestnut
Whorled Branching
• Northern Catalpa
Northern Catalpa
Leaves Alternate
Oaks – a cluster of buds at the tip of the twig – looks like a fist.
White Oak Family
• Rounded lobes
Red Oak Family
• Pointed lobes with bristles on the tip
Conifer Foliage
Twigs and Buds
ID Terminology
Lucy Braun
Leaf/Bud Arrangement
Opposite
Whorled
Alternate
Terminal
Pseudo Terminal.
Bud Clusters etc.
Terminal Buds
Cluster of Terminal Buds
Lateral Buds
Naked, shedding old scales, retaining old scales
Bud Scales
Flower Buds
Leaf Scars – Bundle Scars
Bundle Scars
Solid Pith Diaphragmed Pith Chambered Pith
Twig color and texture
Lenticles and hairs
Thorns, Spines and Spur Shoots
Bark
Fruit & Flowers
Form
Location/Site