Identifying cottonwood in winter

Populus deltoides (aka Eastern cottonwood, Eastern poplar)

Several characteristics of the mature Eastern cottonwood (Populus deltoides) make it easy to identify, even at a distance.

• Height -- The Eastern cottonwood is typically very tall, up to 100 feet in height in favorable conditions. The crown can be as wide as the tree's height, if it is not crowded by other trees.
• High crown -- The lowest branches may not be within reach; rather, they may be high overhead. Cottonwoods aren't trees that invite climbing.
• Massive branches -- The limbs usually head off from the trunk in a somewhat upright direction, and they are large and long. If the limbs appear delicate in comparison to the trunk, it's probably not a cottonwood. As the branches grow longer, they tend to arch a little, giving the tree a vase-like shape.
• Rugged and often ragged shape -- The tree has weak wood, and its branches often break in heavy storms. Dead wood is a light gray or nearly white, after the bark falls off.
• Moist location -- The Eastern cottonwood loves any site with damp ground. This includes stream and pond banks, road ditches, moist ravines, floodplains, swamp edges, and any other area with plenty of moisture. It even tolerates standing in water for short periods of time. (Cottonwood also tolerates dryer sites, but often it was introduced to such places, rather than growing there naturally.)

As the observer draws closer to the tree, another distinctive feature becomes evident:

• The rough bark of the trunk and large branches has deep vertical furrows, and its color is ash gray. In contrast, the bark of the twigs is light tan or yellowish brown -- though the twigs may be too high in the air to see them clearly!

And last but not least, look for brown, triangular leaves with long stems and zigzag edges, lying on the ground below the tree. (The word deltoides in the cottonwood's Latin name means triangular, like a river delta.)

I am rather fond of cottonwood trees because so many grew on the grounds of the one-room country school I attended in northern Nebraska. I believe they were Eastern cottonwoods rather than the closely-related plains cottonwood.

Our schoolhouse sat on a low meadow. Water often stood on one end of the playground in winter (we ice-skated at recess), and in spring when the snow and ice melted, the road ditches became little streams. It was a perfect place for cottonwoods.

The cottonwoods grew on three of the four sides of the school grounds. They were great for hide-and-seek. A few of the trunks were so large that several children could hide behind them -- what fun!

My schoolmates and I were upset when our fathers got together one day and cut down one of our favorite trees for hiding. It was old, and they were afraid it was going to drop limbs on the schoolhouse.

I took three of the photographs in this post in Christian County, KY. The little clump of cottonwoods in the top photo grows in a low spot near the Hopkinsville High School. Water collects there whenever there's a heavy rain. I took the two creek-bank photos in eastern Christian County. The stream is the South Fork of Little River, near its origin.

Credit for the great photo looking straight up the cottonwood trunk: USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database / Herman, D.E., et al. 1996. North Dakota tree handbook. USDA NRCS ND State Soil Conservation Committee; NDSU Extension and Western Area Power Administration, Bismarck.

Identifying baldcypress in winter

Another easy-to-recognize tree

I receive so many questions about tree identification that I've decided to write a few articles about some of the most common and easiest-to-recognize species.

The photo above shows a baldcypress in January. After you have gained a little practice in looking at trees and identifying them, you would not mistake this tree silhouette for anything but baldcypress (Taxodium distichum). Distinguishing features in winter include:

• The very strong, very straight trunk
• A lack of major side branches
• Narrow, conical or columnar shape; much taller than it is wide
• A few reddish, needle-like leaves still clinging to the branches.
  

This baldcypress is growing in a location that is higher and dryer than we might expect to see. Although baldcypress does well at water's edge, it will also grow in dryer circumstances when it receives plenty of light and enough moisture. This tree was purchased and planted here, I'm sure, rather than growing from a seed.

When this tree becomes mature, its top will become flatter and it will probably develop a few larger side branches. However, it will still be a fairly narrow tree. Baldcypress may exceed 100 feet in height in ideal conditions, and its spread will typically be about 1/3 of its height.

The photo at left gives a closer look at the trunk of a baldcypress. Here you will find a few more clues to identification:

• Bark often has reddish-brown tones. (Baldcypress is a member of the redwood family).
• Bark peels (exfoliates) vertically in narrow shreds
  
• Reddish, dried leaves lying under the tree. (When in doubt always look for a leaf!) 
• Also look for baldcypress fruit on the ground or still on the branches -- hard wooden cones about the size of a ping-pong ball or smaller and covered with largish scales.
  

Ten easy-to-identify trees of Kentucky

Trees every Kentuckian should know

In response to Rick Marsi's list of the "Top 10 Southern Tier Trees You Should Know", here's my list of ten trees that I think every Kentuckian should be able to recognize. Why? Because as well-rounded citizens of the Commonwealth, everyone should know by sight a few of their state's native trees.

The trees in my list are fairly unmistakable, with a little study. Start with these ten, learn a few more, and soon your friends will think you're a tree expert.

1. Baldcypress  

(Taxodium distichum)-- Easily identified by a strong, mostly-straight trunk, fine feathery foliage that is shed in autumn, and the knees and buttresses they develop when grown by or in water. This icon of the South is one of North America's longest-lived trees, commonly living 400 to 600 years old and sometimes twice that. 

2. Beech  

(Fagus grandifolia)-- Smooth, silvery-gray bark and (in winter) dead leaves that persist on the tree into mid-winter make the beech easy to recognize. If in doubt, look for other beech trees nearby; it is rare to see a single beech tree because beech trees send up suckers.  Beechnuts are a highly valuable wildlife food. The museum of the Filson Historical Society in Louisville, KY,  has a section of a beech tree trunk on which is carved, "D. Boon Kilt a Bar, 1803."  It was probably carved by someone else as Boone was living in Missouri by then.  .

3. Shagbark hickory  

(Carya ovata)--Easily identified by its unique, peeling bark. If in doubt, check for a large compound leaf with 5 leaflets. Hickory nuts are also a highly valuable wildlife food. Hickory lumber played an important part in American history -- it was the preferred wood for wagon and buggy axles and wheels. It is one of the best firewoods, producing long-lasting coals, few sparks, and a lot of heat.

4. Virginia pine  

(Pinus virginiana) -- Easily identifiable by the many small cones which the tree never seems to completely shed, the short, two-per-bundle needles, and often, an overall "scraggly" appearance. In my part of Kentucky, Virginia pine is found on dry, rocky ridges where it doesn't have much competition for sunlight. It is valuable as a pioneer species in areas that have been eroded or burned. It is also grown and marketed as a Christmas tree. The pine seeds are an important food for small mammals and birds; larger mammals graze the branches, especially in winter.

5. Sycamore  

(Platanus occidentalis)-- These giants of the lowlands are easily identified by their very large leaves and the white bark of their upper branches. Young sycamores often have mottled, peeling patches of bark on their lower trunks with the bark becoming white at the top of the tree.  In late summer through mid-winter, look for dangling seedballs, which give the tree its nickname, "button-ball tree".

6. Persimmon  

-- (Diospyros virginiana)  Easily identified by its unique, dark-colored bark which is broken up into small rectangular blocks so the trunk of the tree appears to be covered with wooden alligator skin. In autumn, look for orange fruit about the size of a ping-pong ball. Persimmons are greatly enjoyed by most wild animals and birds.  The seeds in the persimmons can be cut open and "read" to predict the severity of the next winter, according to folklore. Early settlers developed many recipes for persimmons and also used persimmon juice, bark, and twigs in various medicinal brews.

7. Eastern redbud  

(Cercis canadensis) -- A small tree of the forest understory, easily identified by pink-to-lavender blooms that burst out from the branches and trunk before the leaves appear in spring. Toothless leaves are dark green and more or less heart-shaped.  and older trees often have several trunks. Pea-like pods form on the branches and trunk in mid-summer and persist on the tree through mid-winter. Notable for its beauty, not for its wildlife value.

8. Eastern cottonwood  

(Populus deltoides)-- Easily identified by its leaves, fruit, bark, and form. Cottonwood leaves are shiny, toothed, and triangular ("deltoides").  The fruit, a dangling string of miniature pods, is the source of the name "cottonwood".  When ripe, the pods burst open,  releasing cottony seeds into the wind. The bark is deeply-furrowed, coarse looking and gray-brown in color. A mature cottonwood has massive branches and trunk, and may reach 100 feet in both height and spread. Loves moist areas. Do children still blow through a folded cottonwood leaf to make it whistle, or is that a forgotten art? I taught my children, and I certainly intend to teach my grandchildren, should I be so blessed.

9. Sassafras  

(Sassafras albidum)-- An understory tree that is easily recognizable by its oddly-shaped toothless leaves. On a single tree, some leaves will be mitten-shaped, some will have three "fingers" and some will be oval. The sassafras is one of the first trees to show autumn colors.  Sassafras tea was once considered a good remedy for many ailments, and root beer was made by fermenting sassafras root with molasses.  (See "Sassafras, the root beer tree".)

10. Southern magnolia  

(Magnolia grandiflora) -- Easily identified by its large, dark-green leaves which are  leathery, oval-shaped, toothless, and simple. Noted for its large, fragrant, white blossoms, this big tree is  another icon of the South. In Kentucky, we're at the northern edge of its range.

11. White Oak  

(Quercus alba) -- Even in winter the white oak is easy to recognize by its rugged, strong appearance and its light-gray ("white"), finely furrowed bark. In maturity, it is a large tree as wide or wider than it is tall. It has large branches (often, nearly horizontal), and a stout trunk. The white oak can live 300-500 years or more, and it deserves recognition for that fact alone. It's also a highly valuable wildlife tree. In Kentucky, it's impossible to estimate how many gallons of whiskey have been stored in white-oak barrels, how many cabins had white-oak planks on the roof, and how many hand-dug wells were lined with white oak.

Oops, looks like I have eleven instead of ten. I miscounted and now I can't make up my mind which one to leave out!

How to identify common tree leaves

Leaf shapes and characteristics of five common types of trees

In human families, the members often resemble each other. Trees are much the same. When you learn the general appearance of one tree's leaf, you can often recognize its relatives.  You can say, "That leaf looks like a willow," just as you might say, "That boy looks like a Johnson."

And keep in mind that there are always exceptions -- some leaves don't look exactly like their relatives in every detail.

Here are some generalizations that will help you recognize five common tree families:

Maples

Long-stalked, toothed, broad leaves, shaped somewhat like a hand with the fingers spread ("palmate lobes").

Left: Sugar maple
Right: Red maple

Willows

Long, slender leaves, arranged alternately on long thin branches. The trees are usually found in wet areas.

Left:  Black willow

Right: Pussy willow

Poplars

Broad, shiny leaves with a heart shape, toothed edge, and bright green color. Long slender stems allow the leaves to dance in a breeze.

Left: (Bigtooth aspen)

Right: (Plains cottonwood)

Image credit for Plains cottonwood: USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database / Britton, N.L., and A. Brown. 1913. An illustrated flora of the northern United States, Canada and the British Possessions. Vol. 1: 591.

Oaks

Oak leaves vary greatly in shape from one species to the next. Even a single oak tree may show a lot of variation in leaf shape! Some species of oaks have bristles at the ends of the leaf lobes; some do not. However, one thing that can be said about most oak leaves is that they are leathery in texture. Also, many of them are a little lighter and duller in color on the underside. Look on the ground under the tree for evidence of acorns.

Left: Pin oak

Right: Bur oak

Elms

Elms usually have oval leaves up to 3 inches in length, pointed on one end, with a sawtooth edge and a short stem. The veins are V-shaped and regularly spaced, almost like a feather, and the leaves are rough on the underside. The bottom of the leaf is usually uneven or unequal where it joins the stem.

Left: American elm

Right: Winged elm

Sycamore bark

A good example of "peeling" bark

 

I saw these two young sycamores today, 

growing in the woods along the road.

Isn't their peeling bark interesting?

These two trees are growing so close

to each other that I wonder if their

trunks might eventually grow together.

The image above shows the same two trees,

higher up on their trunks, and the image

below shows some of their crowns.

At the top, their bark is quite white.

American Sycamore (Platanus occidentalis)

What kind of a maple is it?

Hybridization of maple species

Usually, a positive identification of a maple tree can be made with a tree field guide and a close look at the bark and leaves of the tree.

However, if you're really perplexed about the identification, you might be looking at a hybrid maple, a cross between two different maple species. This can happen in areas where two maples species bloom simultaneously. It occurs commonly enough that an entire chapter of the book, Maples of the World, is devoted to hybrid maples.

Black and sugar maple hybrids

In the eastern United States, hybrids of black maple (Acer nigrum) and sugar maple (Acer saccharum) are common, according to the U.S. Forest Service Sylvics Manual and other sources.

The black and sugar maples have crossed and backcrossed so many times that the two species are nearly indistinguishable in some areas. In other areas, the black maple still retains its own unique characteristics.

There appear to be two broad populations of black maple with respect to its hybridizing with sugar maple. One is in the western part of its range, where it maintains its identity and shows little tendency to cross with sugar maple. The second population is in the eastern section, where it hybridizes readily with sugar maple. (Source: U.S. Forestry Sylvics Manual)

Red and silver maple hybrids

George Ware of the Morton Arboretum writes "Natural hybridization between red and silver maples is fairly common in the swamp and streamside forests of eastern Wisconsin and eastwood to New England " (source: pdf). Hybridization is also reported in southern Canada. In these regions, red and silver maples bloom at the same time, and the trees grow in similar habitats.

Because the blooming periods of silver and red maple overlap, there is a possibility of natural hybridization between them. Under controlled artificial conditions, the two species hybridize easily, producing prolific seed sets. The hybrids are intermediate between their parents in leaf characters. Their growth was much faster than that of red maple seedlings but did not equal that of silver maple. Source: U.S. Forest Service Sylvics Manual

In fact, red/silver hybrids have a name -- Acer x freemanii or Freeman maple -- and a number of named cultivars, including  Jeffersred (patented as "Autumn Blaze"), Armstrong, Celzam (patented as "Celebration:), and others. The name Acer x freemanii is pronounced "Acer hybrid freemanii".

Related: A comparison of the leaves of red, silver, and Freeman maples

Dogwood: Beautiful In Winter

A great ornamental tree, even in January

Dogwood in January, Christian County, KY

Even in winter, the flowering dogwood (Cornus florida) is a beautiful tree. Its branching pattern is attractive. A typical dogwood is somewhat flat on top with several tiers of branches that stretch out horizontally. The tips of the twigs are turned up to the sunshine.

The dogwood's bark is gray with a segmented pattern. It looks as if it were made up of many small rounded or squarish tiles fitted together. The distinctive bark is a good clue of the tree's identity anytime, but especially so when the tree has no leaves.

The pattern and color of a tree's bark, the angle of the twigs, and the arrangement of branches may seem like insignificant details. However, when winter reduces a tree to its essence, the tree's framework is its prominent feature.

In January, it's a joy to see a graceful dogwood tree silhouetted against the winter sky.

In late autumn and early winter, this little tree was covered with red berries. They're all gone now -- eaten by birds and other wildlife. Dogwood berries are a great favorite of wild creatures.

And of course, the tree will put on new leaves next spring, followed immediately by its showy and distinctive blossoms.

I must add a few words of caution, though. In nature, the dogwood is an understory tree in the forest. For the dogwood to survive in an open, sunny setting, like my neighbor's pretty little tree in the photo above, it needs water during dry spells. He does have it planted in a well-drained spot -- that's good.

The dogwood doesn't like compacted soil. This tree seems to be doing all right along a ditch beside a rural blacktop road, but dogwoods aren't recommended if the ground has suffered a lot of heavy traffic. They also don't like heavily polluted air or constant bright light at night.

A large dogwood tree may be 40 to 50 feet tall and about as wide as it is tall. When choosing a planting site, it's important to allow plenty of room for the tree to widen as it grows.

Photo of the dogwood bark: W.D. Brush @ USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database

Identifying pines

Some native pines of the United States, listed by the number of needles per bundle

One of the first steps in identifying pine trees is counting the number of needles per bundle. Then, notice the average length of the needles. Look at the type of bark the tree has. Pay attention to the size and shape of the pine cones on or beneath the tree. Observe the height and general shape of the tree. Finally, consider the location in which the tree is growing. These are clues that you can take to a field guide to help identify the tree.

Here are a few of the native pines of the United States, listed by the number of needles per bundle they have. I've also noted their natural range (in very general terms). Their Latin names are linked to a tree identification page at the Virginia Tech Dendrology website.

Two needles per bundle:

Pinus clausa -- Sand pine (Florida, needles 2 to 3 inches long)

Pinus contorta -- Lodgepole pine (Northwestern U.S., needles 1-1/2 to 3 inches long)

Pinus echinata -- Shortleaf pine (Southeastern U.S., bundles of either 2 or 3 needles on the same branch, needles 3 to 5 inches long, sometimes called "yellow pine")

Pinus edulis -- Pinyon pine (Southwestern U.S., needles 1 to 2 inches long)

Pinus elliottii -- Slash pine (Gulf coast, usually 3 needles, sometimes just 2 needles per bundle)

Pinus glabra Walt. -- Spruce pine (Gulf coast, needles 1-1/2 to 4 inches long)

Pinus jeffreyi -- Jeffrey pine, needles 5 to 11 inches long, usually 3 needles per bundle, but sometimes 2)

Pinus muricata -- Bishop pine (California coast, needles 4 to 6 inches long)

Pinus resinosa -- Red pine (Northeastern U.S., needles 4 to 6 inches long)

Pinus taeda -- Loblolly pine (Southeastern U.S., needles 6 to 9 inches long, usually 3 needles per bundle, but sometimes 2)

Pinus virginiana -- Virginia pine (Appalachian states, needles 1-1/2 to 3 inches long)

Three needles per bundle:

Pinus attenuata -- Knobcone pine (west coast, needles 3 to 7 inches long)

Pinus coulter -- Coulter pine (California, needles 8 to 12 inches long)

Pinus echinata -- Shortleaf pine (Southeastern U.S., bundles of either 2 or 3 needles on the same branch, needles 3 to 5 inches long, sometimes called "yellow pine")

Pinus elliottii -- Slash pine (Gulf coast, usually 3 needles, sometimes just 2 needles per bundle)

Pinus jeffreyi -- Jeffrey pine, (California and Oregon, needles 5 to 11 inches long, usually 3 needles per bundle, but sometimes 2)

Pinus palustris -- Longleaf pine (Southeastern U.S., needles 8 to 18 inches long)

Pinus ponderosa -- Ponderosa pine (western half of U.S., needles 5 to 10 inches long, usually 3 needles per bundle, but sometimes 2 or 4)

Pinus rigida -- Pitch pine (Appalachian states and east coast, needles 2-1/2 to 5 inches long)

Pinus serotina -- Pond pine (Southeastern Atlantic coastal states, usually 3 needles per bundle, but sometimes 4)

Pinus taeda -- Loblolly pine (Southeastern U.S., needles 6 to 9 inches long, usually 3 needles per bundle, but sometimes 2)

Four needles per bundle:

Pinus ponderosa -- Ponderosa pine (western half of U.S., needles 5 to 10 inches long, usually 3 needles per bundle, but sometimes 2 or 4)

Pinus serotina -- Pond pine (Southeastern Atlantic coastal states, usually 3 needles per bundle, but sometimes 4)

Five needles per bundle:

Pinus aristata -- Bristlecone pine (southwestern U.S. mountains, needles 1 to 1-1/2 inches long)

Pinus flexilis James -- Limber pine (western half of U.S., needles 2-1/2 to 4 inches long)

Pinus lambertiana -- Sugar pine (west coast, needles 2 to 4 inches long)

Pinus monticola -- Western white pine (western states, needles 2 to 4 inches long)

Pinus strobiformis -- Southwestern white pine (Arizona and New Mexico, needles 2 to 3 inches long)

Pinus strobus -- Eastern white pine (Appalachian states and northeast U.S, needles 3 to 5 inches long)

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