How to identify trees

How do you guys do it? Some of you have identified lots of them and some, not so common. So, what is your technique? I have numerous tree books. I also was with a young farmer friend recently and he had a phone app called Picture This and it worked pretty well to identify leaves. Sometimes, the problem is getting leaves because they are way high on standing, living trees! Right now, I gotta figure out which hickory trees I have. Anyway, just wondering how you guys do it because I def want to get better but it is certainly not always easy when consulting books. You have to study numerous aspects of the tree and some of that stuff is rather detailed, tedious. Do you do that? Or reply on an app? If so, which one!

Side question... how common do you think hybrids are? Among oaks, pretty common? That sure complicates things!

My brother knows a young man who is something of a savant with botanical knowledge. I have often thought of hiring that guy to come visit my woodlot.

My bro also told me about a field trip with botanists recently but the scheduling was such that we could not go; it was a few hours away for both of us but he has been to one before and said it was great. It was an annual meeting for a botany group and they do it each year.

 

In dendro class, they taught us to go off many indicators. Tree growth form/structure, size (some species are smaller trees vs other species), bark, limb and twig structure/look, bud, leaves, leaf structure etc. I probably missed a few. Sometimes one of those is the easy button for id. Sometimes you may have to put a few of those together, or 4 of them lead you to different possibilities, but the 5th is what narrows it down. Also, like you stated, sometimes it can be hard, difficult or impossible based on one feature (leaves for instance, esp when there's no leaves on the tree), so you need other factors. If I remeber correctly, they taught us that the buds are the surefire way.

 

Honestly, it's just something that takes time and a good memory. I first started with a tree id book and mixed that with first hand experience. I consider myself pretty good but there are certainly guys in here who are better. As far as that ap, I don't like it. I've seen it used and feel it had about 50% accuracy and on top of that, it doesn't give you the skills needed to identify them on your own.
I do believe oak has many hybrids and at a certain point, I just give up. Knowing the difference between white vs red is enough for firewood purposes.

 

This, especially amongst those two groups of folks you mentioned..

 

I use picture this.
It’s faster and easier than looking up trees in my tree book
Just take a picture of the bark

 

People here are wicked smaht!! Smahter than me!

 

I have to credit FHC for probably half of what little skills I have in identifying trees. Any time someone posted a wood ID, I'd really study the subtle details and pay attention to the people that actually knew what they were looking at, and try to see what they were seeing. Repetition drives things home for me. Also I found this comprehensive book to be extremely helpful:



The apps I've found to be very hit or miss so I steer clear of them completely now. When an app spits out the answer, even if correct, chances are slim that information gets stored in the brain long-term IMO. A lot of times just knowing what something is NOT comes in very handy when narrowing down the possibilities. Google is a helpful tool. "What trees have alternate branching, compound finely serrated leaves, flowers that look like____, etc" and go from there. When it comes to species that hybridize (like oaks) even professionals struggle sometimes. I don't think we're ever really done learning...

 

I have the PictureThis app and am overall satisfied with it (for my purposes). It is handy when I don't have easy access to my tree book, but like others have said it can be hit or miss. Had it misidentify what was obviously black locust as ash, but that was because of where I took the picture. (Both those pictures are the same tree)

 

People know I know trees. They send me random texts sometimes asking for ID. I'm not an expert by any means (I did stay at a holiday inn express one time though), but am pretty solid on the native local stuff. Many times I can't make a decisive call from material provided. I've explained many times that there is no definitive 'look' as far as tree bark is concerned. (omitting the completely obvious) I used to know my spacings and bud stuff but it's mostly been forgotten due to lack of use. Have attended a few 'Tree I.D.' seminars put on by local entities. Very helpful in the early going.

Look into a class/workshop/woodswalk.

Walks in the Woods – Byron Almquist – Louisiana Master Naturalists of Greater New Orleans

 

Some trees have distinct bark and some do not. Some trees have distinct leaves. Some trees have a distinct structure. Pines? Gtfoh
The best way I know is to study leaves/needles and bark in real life. Apps will get you in the ballpark at best. Some I’ve used are a joke, because I’ve tested them on known trees.
The variance in lower trunk White Oak bark is incredible imo. I have this opinion because my yard is full of them and I see them everyday. Some are obviously gray and scaly and some could pass for something completely different if I couldn’t see the leaves and scaly bark higher up.
I have gone on tree id tours with “experts” that could not answer my questions correctly.
If there’s not a leaf on a Southern Red Oak there’s no way I could Identify it. Sometimes I need leaf and bark to confirm. My yard is full of white and black oak. Why don’t they hybridize? I am skeptical of Oak promiscuity. Maybe they were too lazy to corrrectly id it. Has a dna test confirmed it? For example I see white oaks everywhere but no post oaks. How are they hybridizing with no post oaks around? Is there a Northern Southern Red Oak hybrid somewhere? Where is the White and swamp white hybrid? Where’s the white and overcup hybrid? Where’s the Shumard and Nuttall hybrid? Where’s the laurel and water hybrid?….

 

That's awesome, I'd be all over that if I weren't in the opposite end of the state! I will check locally.

I am better at this that just about anyone I know and I don't know that much, lol. I have had an interest in tree I.D. since the boy scouts; I know quite a few but I sure admit there are a bunch I don't. Or just know 'hickory' when there are several species!

BTW... the logger guys I know around here, I do not know a single one who is good at knowing the trees. Including a couple of millionaires. I don't think they ever dug into it, too busy making a living. I just was always curious about nature.

 

White and black won't hybridize because they're in different families. White is in the white group, black oak is in the red oak family. The only wild white oak hybrid I've ever seen is a Saul's oak which is chestnut oak X white oak. In my backyard I have red and black oaks. One is definitely a red, one is definitely a black, but another one looks like a cross between red and black. The bark is rougher than regular red, reaching to the canopy like a a black oak does. But the bark isn't as rough as all the black oaks I've seen. I suspect we don't see many hybrids around due to predation. Oaks will make thousands of acorns, but very few sprout into trees that mature. I think the vast majority of potential hybrids (acorns that were pollinated by a different species within that family) feed the squirrels, turkeys and chipmunks.

 

I'm decent at doing ID on the local oaks and I have seen some where the leaves did not make sense, it looked like a blend of two species. I assumed it was a hybrid. It was like 'what the heck is THAT!'

 

The best is when there is a fungus on the bark and the app will only identify the fungus

 

One of my hobbies. If it was easy, then there would be no challenge. Some ID's take years since both a leaf and an acorn are needed (no acorn years for oaks, pin oak versus scarlet oak).

The farther south you live, the greater number of specie per county.

I am up to 34 in my home county and another 33 east of the Mississippi.

I use several books. ID's vary by bark, flower, leaf, some are smell (birches with/without wintergreen smell)...

An interesting challenge: a five needle bunch, 5-7" needle, 3" cone length, cones stay on tree (no drop), pine, 25' tall, North Oregon coast, sand dune, within 100 yards of the ocean beach? Could be a transplant from a small variety of pine located on an island off the coast of California.

Recent additions: shingle oak, post oak, and northern catalpa, all out of county.

 

Virginia Tech also has a great app that is region specific. VTree is its name and a go to if you have a phone connection.

 

Ive had a strange (to other people) fascination with trees since I was in diapers. When I learned to talk I would waddle from tree to tree in the front yard and name them. Take a ride with me and I'm always checking out trees!

If I cant ID it, I take a pic and post here. It amazes me how many trees I've learned of since being a member here. Black locust was unknown to me prior to being an FHCer. Now look at me. I can spot one from a mile away regardless of the season.

I don't use any phone apps or reference books

 

Im not smart, I just know lots of stuff!

 

I love identifying trees and using that book so much that I have my AP Environmental Science students use it for their last assignment of the year. I take them out to various locations on campus and they have to properly identify 15 different trees, take pictures for confirmation, and do a short write up for each one. They cover topics like, habitat, soil preference, full size, current and pass uses for the tree. Most of them struggle at first as they think there are just pine trees and ones that lose their leaves. haha