Identifying Hardwood Trees By Their Leaves

Trees that do not lose their leaves each year are called evergreen those that lose them are called deciduous we think of all conifers as staying green all year think pine trees like christmas trees and all trees with leaves as losing them.

Identifying hardwood trees by their leaves.

Tree identification field guide. However there are exceptions. Pennsylvania s forests grow some of the most valuable hardwoods in the world. The shape arrangement complexity texture and pattern of leaf veins will all help you to identify your hardwood tree.

The starting point for most people when identifying trees species is the leaves. Most hardwood trees are deciduous trees which lose their leaves annually like elm or maple. When identifying leaves the first thing to look at is the arrangement of the leaves along the stem. They have rounded or pointed knobs around the leaf.

Softwood comes from a conifer cone bearing or evergreen trees such as pine or spruce. Red and white oaks are just. About 90 percent of all the trees in pennsylvania s forests are hardwoods. When trying to identify a tree by its leaves you can also notice the venation patterns on the leaf as well as its color.

The difference between round and pointed is that round lobed leaves mean that the oak is a white oak and pointed leaves mean the oak is a red oak. Our illustrated step by step process makes it easy to identify a tree simply by the kinds of leaves it produces. Hardwood trees lose their leaves each autumn. At first glance this protective outer coating of a tree s trunk and branches may seem like an unending sea of gray and brown.

Ovate shaped tree leaves can be rounded elongated or taper to a point. The remaining 10 percent are softwoods. Hardwood trees are distinguished from evergreen trees because they lose their leaves when the weather grows cold a mechanism that protects the trees from dehydration when groundwater freezes during the winter. The texture and density of the wood a tree produces puts it in either the hardwood or softwood category.

Needles scales and broadleaf. Oak leaves are easily identifiable because of their lobed leaves. What tree is that. Most evergreens have needles or scales while most broadleaf trees are deciduous meaning they drop their leaves when dormant.

How to identify trees by their leaves. There is much more to identifying tree leaves than just by their shape. Also the margins of these leaves can be smooth serrated notched or lobed. But you can also identify trees by looking at their bark.

There are three basic leaf types. Begin identifying your tree by choosing the appropriate region below.