Key to Trees and Shrubs This key is not complete. Its purpose is to help you identify the most common trees and shrubs found in Rosemount. Description Go Diagram To • Coniferous (plants with 1 2 needle-like or scale-like leaves)
2
3
4
5
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Deciduous (plants with broad leaves)
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Leaves in forms of scales or awls
3
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Leaves in form of needles or linear
4
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Leaves in form of scales
White cedar
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Leaves in form of awls
Eastern red cedar
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Needles in bundles
5
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Needles are single, not in bunches
9
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Needles in groups of 2 – 5 per bundle
6
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12 or more needles per bundle
15
Larch (tamarack)
6
7
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Needles are 10 or more centimeters long
7
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Needles are less than 10 centimeters long Needles are easily broken
8
• •
Norway pine
Needles are bendable, don’t break easily Needles are twisted
Ponderosa pine
Jack pine
Scotch pine
8
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9
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Needles are not twisted Leaves are needle-like and stiff
10
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13
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Leaves are linear, flattened, soft Twigs have short, dark hairs
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Twigs are not hairy
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Needles smell “skunky” when crushed
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Needles do not smell “skunky” when crushed Needles very sharp, have a bluish color
10
11
12
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13
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White Spruce
12 Blue spruce Norway spruce
14 Balsam fir
Hemlock
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Fine, irregular teeth on margins Opposite/whorled
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Alternate
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15
11
2 silvery lines on bottom, has “Christmas tree” smell Smooth margins
•
14
Slightly pointed tips, shiny dark green 2 white lines on bottom
Black spruce
Douglas fir
16 32
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Compound
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Simple
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3-7 leaflets
18
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5-13 leaflets
19
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Irregular teeth
Boxelder
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Teeth regular
American elder
19
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5-9 leaflets
20
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7-13 leaflets White underneath
Black ash Green ash
Green underneath Whorled
White ash
21
• •
16
17
18
17 21
20
Catalpa
22
23
24
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Opposite
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Lobed
22 23
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Not lobed
29
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Smooth/wavy margins
24
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Coarsely toothed margins
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Usually 5 lobes, light green color
Sugar maple
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Usually 3 lobes, dark green color
Black maple
25
25
26
27
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5 lobes
26
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3 lobes (rarely 5)
27
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Shallow crotches
Norway maple
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Deep crotches that come to a sharp point Lobes similar sizes, hairy underneath
Silver maple
•
28
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Middle lobe much larger than side lobes, not hairy underneath Dull green, small teeth
29
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Light green, large teeth Teeth
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No teeth
•
5 – 13 centimeters long, winged or grooved leafstalks
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Oval-shaped, distinctive rounded veins, 2.5 – 6 centimeters long Veins parallel to edges, not heart shaped
•
30
31
•
32
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Heart shaped Simple
28
33
Compound
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Lobed
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Not lobed
Mountain maple
Red maple
30 31 Nannyberry
European buckthorn Dogwood Honeysuckle
33 58
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Amur maple
34 40
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Palmate lobes
35
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Pinnate lobes
36
35
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White, wooly hairs on bottom of leaf
White poplar
Green below Pointed lobe tips
Gooseberry
36
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Rounded lobe tips
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10 – 23 centimeters long, 7.5 – 15 cm wide, 7 – 11 lobes, bristle tipped lobes, wavy crotches cut halfway to center vein
Northern red oak
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7.5 – 13 centimeters long, 6 – 10 centimeters wide, 5 – 7 lobes, long bristle tips, deep crotches cut nearly to center vein Crotches nearly uniform in depth
Pin oak
34
37
37 38
38
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39
39
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Crotches very irregular Uniform, fingerlike lobes
Bur oak White oak
40
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Shallow crotches Fan-shaped leaves with parallel veins
Swamp white oak Ginkgo
41
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Not fan-shaped Equal base
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Unequal base
41 48
42
42
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Heart-shaped, leaf stem longer than 4 cm
43
•
44
43
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Leaf not heart-shaped, leaf tem less than 1 cm long Leaf 7.5 – 18 cm long
44
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Leaf 4 – 6 cm long 1 main vein
45
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3 main veins 7.5 – 18 cm long
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2 – 10 cm long
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Very rough above and rough or fuzzy below
Slippery elm
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American elm
Siberian elm
46
47
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Smooth to slightly rough, often fuzzy below 5 – 10 cm long
48
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2 – 5 cm long Double teeth
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Single teeth
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Irregular shape, sunken veins on top, often soft hairs
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Regular shape
50
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2.5 - 8 cm long, triangular shape
51
• •
5 – 13 cm long Nearly straight parallel side veins, short, hairy leafstalk
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Rounded lateral veins
49
American basswood Little leaf linden
45 Hackberry
46 47
Rock elm
49 53 Speckled alder
50 River birch
51 Ironwood
52
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5 –9 lateral veins on each side of main vein, nearly hairless underneath
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9 – 11 lateral veins on each side of main vein, rounded base, often hairy Leaf stalk > 4 cm
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Leaf stalk < 4 cm
54
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Leaf stalk round (you should be able to easily roll it between your fingers)
55
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Leaf stalk flat Leaf nearly round
56
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Leaf distinctly triangular Large teeth
Eastern cottonwood Bigtooth aspen
57
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Small teeth More than 3 times longer than it is wide
Quaking aspen Willow species
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Black cherry
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Less than 3 times as long as it is wide Has thorns
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Does not have thorns
59
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Leaflets smooth, no teeth
60
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Leaflets have teeth Lemon-like smell when crushed, often has small thorns on bottom side of leaf stalk and veins
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No lemon-like smell when crushed Leaflets 3.5 – 5 cm long, may have thorns
52
53
58
61
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Leaflets less than 3 cm long, some bipinnately compound
Paper birch
Yellow birch
54 57 Balsam poplar
55 56
59 62 60 Wild rose Common prickly ash
61 Black locust Honeylocust
62
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Doubly compound, fruit a large, flat pod Kentucky coffeetree
63
64
65
66
67
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Not doubly compound
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5 – 11 leaflets
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9 – 31 leaflets
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20 – 36 cm long, five elliptical leaflets, upper three much larger than lower two
Shagbark hickory
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15 – 25 cm long, no marked difference in size of leaflets
Bitternut hickory
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< 25 cm long
66
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> 25 cm long
67
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Sharply toothed
American mountain ash
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Finely toothed, whitish hairs on underside of leaves Finely toothed
European mountain ash
• •
68
•
•
63 64 65
68
Sharply toothed, velvety twigs, lateral bud hidden by base of petiole, sap milky 14 – 23 leaflets, leaves smooth underneath, nuts single or in pairs, with husks nearly round
Staghorn sumac
11 – 17 leaflets, leaves downy underneath, nuts generally in clusters of two to five and egg-shaped
Butternut
Black walnut
