FFA California Forestry Plant ID

Narrow, pointfed fir, needles flat, flexible, light-blue with white bands on both (Concolor), cyndrical, upright cones

Narrow, pointfed fir, needles flat, flexible, light-blue with white bands on both (Concolor), cyndrical, upright cones

White Fir

Needles like hockey sticks

Red Fir

multicolored and different length needles

Grand Fir

Twigs hairy and green

Leaves, pinnately compound

With 3-5 leaflets

California Box-elder

Chamise

The leaves are dark green, palmately compound with five (rarely seven) leaflets. Each leaflet is 6–17 cm (2.4–6.7 in) long, with a finely toothed margin and (particularly in spring) downy surfaces

California Buckeye

White Alder

leaf margin slightly rolled under

Red Alder

Leaves serrated: teeth features numerous, closely set, small and stiff egg-shaped, grey-green leaves, somewhat jagged on the edges and covered in a waxy coating

Coyote Brush

Paper Birch

More full

Incense Cedar

Leaves: Simple, alternate, evergreen. Lanceolate; 2"-5" long; stiff and leathery; green above and golden below; smooth margins.

Golden Chinkapin

Smooth margin

Buckbrush

Deciduous: leaves 1-3 inches, alternative, oval, lighter on underside. Not waxy like other ceanothus

Deerbrush

The bark is gray-white, waxy, and somewhat hairy, especially when new. The twigs harden into sharp-tipped thorns as they age. The evergreen leaves are alternately arranged, oval in shape and up to about 4 centimeters long. The edges are smooth or lined with tiny hairy teeth. The flower cluster is a long, stalked cluster of flowers in shades of blue, lavender, or white.

Chaparral Whitethorn

Western Redbud

The leaves are distinctive in that they have smooth edges from the base to about half way up, then are wavy or toothed to the rounded tip. The shrub's white flowers are small, clustered, and mildly scented. The fruit is tubular, with a distinctive curly light thin feather-like extension going out 2 to 3 inches. The wood of the shrub is extremely hard and reddish

Mountain Mahogany

Sierra Mountain Misery

More delicate, smaller needles

Port Orford-Cedar

parallel veins

Pacific Dogwood

Needles are 4-6 inches in length and shiny green, twisted, but flimsy and skinny

Monterey Cypress

fuzzy underside of the leaves. The leaves are tough and leathery, simple, long (3 to 4 inches), and slender (lanceolate), often sticky with resin, with alternate arrangement along the stem

Yerba Santa

Oregon Ash

Green above; lighter beneath, leaf thick or leathery, alternate, evergreen, usually palmately compound with three rounded lobes, covered with fuzzy stellate hairs

Flannel Bush

Leaves, simple, alternative, 2-4 in. finely serrated edges,leaves lighter underneath

Toyon

California Juniper

tertiary veins look like abs on a body builder, bodybuilders are tan

Tanoak or Tanbark Oak

Bush or Tree Lupine

Oregon Grape

has deep green sticky leaves 3 to 7 centimeters long

Monkey Flower

more spiky than firs

Sitka Spruce

More pointy than maple

California Sycamore

Riparian, looks like aspen flatter bottom, more triangular, more serrated edges leaves having fewer, larger serrations on the leaf edge

Fremont Cottonwood

Quaking Aspen

Douglas Fir

Bracken Fern

California Coastal Live Oak

White on underside

Canyon Live Oak

Blue Oak

California Black Oak

Valley Oak

Yellowish/green underside: Younger leaves, closer to base: serrated

Interior Live Oak

Leaves alternate, simple, 4-6 cm long, oblong-elliptical to oblong-ovate, usually a rounded base, margins finely serrate to entire, sometimes rolled under (revolute), dark green above, paler and smooth or pubescent below, pinnate venation, 8-12 vein pairs, lower veins rust colored

Coffee Berry

Deciduous shrub, 10 ft (3 m), compact, upright.  Leaves 3-9 cm long, elliptic or oblong-lanceolate, upper side glossy green, underside pubescent; in fall leaves may turn yellow, scarlet or crimson. Leaves form circle at end of stem

Western Azalea

California Wild Rose

The sizeable palmate leaves measure between 10 and 20 cm (4” to 8”) across with five lobes that are somewhat reminiscent of a maple leaf. Fine hairs are on both of the leaf, making it soft to the touch. Looks similar to maple leaf, but hairy

Thimbleberry

Blue Elderberry

Giant Sequoia

When pull needles , peels bark

Coastal Redwood

Looks like redwood but not peely stems

Western Yew

Not as fluffy and full as incense cedar: more like a christmas tree shaped leaves

Western Red Cedar

Looks like redwood, but has very sharp points at the leaf tips

California Nutmeg

Looks more like fir..needles all directions

Mountain or Western Hemlock

California Bay Laurel

Giant Chain Fern

The leaf has fine teeth, unlike the other cottonwoods

Largest cottonwood.

Black Cottonwood

Black Walnut

Pacifica Madrone

Big leaf maple

2 (3-6.5 inches)

Bishop Pine

1

Single leaf pinyon

2 (1-3 inch)

lodgepole pine

3 (up to 10 inches)

Ponderosa Pine

3 (4-6 inches)

Monterey Pine

3 (3-7 inches)

Knobcone Pine

3 (up to 10 inches)

Jeffrey pine

3 (up to 10 inches)

Grey pine

3 (up to 12 inches)

Coulter pine

5 (2-4 inch)

Sugar Pine

5 (2-4 inches)

Western white pine

5 (up to 11 inches)

Torrey pine