When trying to identify a tree, looking at its "leaf" is a major way to determine what species of tree you have. Knowing the difference between a "broadleaved" bladed leaf of a hardwoodand a "needle-like" leaf of a conifer is important and is fundamental in the process of tree identification.
So, knowing that you have a needled tree and that they can grow singly or in bundles, clusters or sheaths of needles will be a big help in tree species identification. If a tree's foliage is a needle or group of needles, then odds are you are dealing with a coniferousevergreen. These trees are considered to be conifers and may be members of the genera and species that include pine, fir, cypress, larch, or spruce families.
Identification Basics
To figure out what kind of tree you are trying to identify, take a look at the following groups of trees. How a tree's needle is arranged on a twig is of major importance in matching them with the correct arrangement of needles.
Use the following images for illustration. Some needles are fastened in bundles attached to the twig, some are attached as whorls to and aroundthe twig, and some are singly attached aroundthe twig.
Trees With Clusters or Bundles of Needles
Leaf clusters or bundles—botanically called fascicles in pine—are present on both pine and larch twigs.The number of adult needles per fascicle is importantfor the identification of these coniferous species, especially the pines.
Most pine species have fascicles of 2 to 5 needles and are evergreen. Most larches have multiple clusters of needles in whorls. Ifyour trees have clusters or bundles or fascicles of needles, they will probably be either pines or larches.
Trees With Single Needles
There are many coniferous trees that havesingle needles directly and singly attached to the twig. These attachments can be in the form of wooden "pegs" (spruce), can be in the form of "direct" cups (fir) and in the form of leaf stalks called petioles (bald cypress, hemlock, and Douglas fir).
If your trees have single needles directly and singly attached to the twig, they will probably be spruces, firs, cypress or hemlocks. Read on for more specific identification tips.
This tree looks like a needled evergreen in summer, but is deciduous and loses needles in winter, hence the name. Leaves are "narrow, flat, alternate, spiral around the stem, and do not have any banding." Foliage turns reddish-brown in fall.
Cedar
There are various types of cedars, but all have flattened sprays of scale-like leaves that grow on or around the twigs. The leaves are intersect with each other (known as "decussate"), less than a half-inch in length, and can be prickly in some species.
Douglas Fir
Native to coastal areas of North America, these firs have needles that are upturned and not whorled. Needles are "singly wrapped around the twig and between .75 to1.25 inches long with a white line underneath." They are deciduous, falling off in winter, and not prickly.
Hemlock
The needles have two white "racing stripes" on the underside. They're attached singly to the twig, giving the leaf a flat look. Each needle attaches to the twig with a tiny stem, so remember, "Hems have stems."
Larch
Larches have buds with clusters of soft, flat needles. They're also deciduous, losing needles in winter after first turning golden yellow. The leaves grow in tufts, also known as "spur shoots," off branches, with each tuft reaching two inches in length and having up to 30 needles per tuft.
Pine
As mentioned before, pine needles occur in fascicles of 2, 3, or 5 per bundle. In hard pines, the base of the bundle is wrapped in a paper-like substance that lasts for the fascicle's life. In soft pines, this wrapping is lost during the fascicle's first growing season.
Spruce
Spruce stand out because its needles grow out of "sterigmata," or little projections on the stem that are best seen closest to the tree's trunk. These grow singly, not in clumps. Spruce also have a four-sided needle.
Classic spiky needles are found on many conifers, including pine, spruce, and fur trees. Scale-like leaves are found on trees such as the red cedars that grow along eastern North America. Flat leaves are found on yew
yew
Taxus is a genus of coniferous trees or shrubs known as yews in the family Taxaceae. Yews occur around the globe in temperate zones of the northern hemisphere, northernmost in Norway and southernmost in the South Celebes. Some populations exist in tropical highlands.
Spruce and fir trees have their needles attached individually to the branches. To tell spruce and fir trees apart, it helps to know that spruce needles are sharply pointed, square and easy to roll between your fingers.Fir needles, on the other hand, are softer, flat and cannot be rolled between your fingers.
Conifers, or cone-bearing trees, evolved to have needles that retain more water and seeds that could hang out until there was enough moisture to take root. It may not seem like it, but needles are leaves.
The concentric architecture of conifer needles is the effect of its xerophytic lifeform and dramatically different from that of broad angiosperm leaves. The photosynthates produced in the outermost mesophyll have to pass radially through an endodermis-like bundle sheath into the vascular tissue.
What is a coniferous forest? A coniferous forest contains evergreen trees that bear cones. Elegant pines grow in this biome, along with spruce, fir, and tamarack. In much of the northern forest, the conifers mingle with deciduous trees, particularly aspen, birch, sugar maple, and basswood.
The Bald Cypress Tree is a conifer so it has needles instead of leaves. These needles can be 0.5 to 0.8 inches long and are arranged spirally on the twigs giving them a feathery appearance.
The white fir is perhaps the easiest true fir to identify because of its flat, bluish-to-silvery-green needles that extend from all sides of the branch and curve outwards and upwards. The needles measure between 1.5 to 3 inches in length.
Coniferous trees have needle-shaped leaves, because it is easier to freeze flat broad leaves. Hence, if the leaves are small, then it becomes difficult to freeze them.
If a tree's foliage is a needle or group of needles, then odds are you are dealing with a coniferous evergreen. These trees are considered to be conifers and may be members of the genera and species that include pine, fir, cypress, larch, or spruce families.
Conifers have woody trunks and stems. They may be low shrubs or very tall trees. Their leaves often look like needles, but some types have leaves shaped like scales, blades, or wedges. A waxy coating keeps the leaves from losing water.
The needles of pines and many other conifers have resin canals with complex epithelia. There are several layers of epithelium cells, the innermost layer consists of parenchyma cells with prominent nuclei, the outer layers are cells with thick walls.
Coniferous trees bear cones and have needles or scales that do not fall off. Another common name for these conifers is evergreens, although not all evergreens are actually conifers (i.e. some tropical trees and shrubs). There are about 20 species, however, that straddle both worlds and are dubbed deciduous conifers.
The most definitive feature of pines is that the needles occur in clusters of 2, 3 or 5. A cluster of pine needles is called a fascicle. One subgroup of pines are the hard pines and include Scotch pine (Pinus sylvestris), jack pine (P. banksiana), black pine (P.
description. North American coniferous forest is dominated throughout by white spruce, black spruce, and balsam fir, although lodgepole pine and alpine fir are important species in the western section.
Conifers have woody trunks and stems. They may be low shrubs or very tall trees. Their leaves often look like needles, but some types have leaves shaped like scales, blades, or wedges. A waxy coating keeps the leaves from losing water.
The needles are short and soft to the touch, while its cones hang down from branches like Christmas decorations. Cedar is another coniferous tree but typically grows shorter than Douglas fir at around 20-80 feet in height. It has thin bark with a reddish-brown hue that flakes away at the slightest touch.
Spruce needles are generally stiff and sharp; about 1" long. Each spruce needle springs from a tiny, woody peg. Most spruce cones have papery thin scales. Most spruce bark is thin and flaky.
What To Expect When Inspecting (Conifers in the Fall) As with deciduous trees, fall is the time of year for needle drop. Not all conifers lose their needles every year, but there are a couple of general rules of thumb for how frequently this will occur with each species.
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