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