Dendrology - Broadleaves

Red Alder (Alnus rubra)

• Leaves: simple, alternate, deciduous, egg shaped margins are doubly serrated and rolled over

• Fruit: small woody cones

• Bark: smooth gray and blotchy

white alder (Alnus rhombifolia)

• Leaves have single row of teeth and may appear wavy, edges not revolute

• Bark near ground is platy, scaly, breaks into ridges

• found along streams

Big Leaf Maple (Acer macrophyllum)

• Leaves, simple, opposite, deciduous. Very large (6-12”), palmately lobed

• fruit is double samara in long closures, hairy seeds

Vine Maple (Acer circinatum)

• Under 20’ tall

• leaves: simple, opposite deciduous with 5-7 lobes, circular outline, bark smooth with greenish tinge

• fruit is double samara that is about opposite resembling an airple propeller

Pacific madrone (Arbuus menziesii)

• Leaves simple, alternate and evergreen. Oblong 3-5”, thick and leathery. Dark green above and light green below. Edges are smooth or finely serrated

• Fruit: small (pea sized) round, orange-red berry like fruit with pebbly texture

• bark flakes off in sales or strips, outer bark is orange or reddish brown, inner bark may be bright green

• usually curved form

Birch (Betula); paper birch (Betula papyrifera)

• Bark: paper like and distinctive horizontal markings called lenticels, whitish

• Leaves: Simple, alternate, deciduous, egg shaped 4-6” long with doubly serrated margins

• Fruit: tiny, winged nuts borne in disintegrating cone about 1” long

• Growth: fast, but short lived

cherry/ plum (prunus); bitter cherry (Prunus emarginata)

• leaves, glands on base of leaf, simple, alternate, decidious

  • shape elliptical about 1-3”

• bark : thin, reddish brown with large horizontal lenticels tenss to break and curl horizontally

• fruit small, bright red “juicy”

black cottonwood (populous trichocarpa)

• leaves : 5-6” long, ovate to ovate Lancelot

• fruit 1/3”-1/2”, 3 valved pubescent

• things exhale a fragrant odor when crushed

• bark: tawny yellow to gray and smooth on young stems

Quaking Aspen (Populous tremuloides)

• leaves: simple, alternate, and deciduous. Ovate to round 2-3” in diameter. Green above and paler below with rounded teeth, a flat flexible leaf stem allows the leaf to move in slightest wind

• Bark: greenish white sheen young and more furrowed and darker with age

Willow (Salix); Scouler willow (Salix scouleriana)

• 90 diff types that interbreed

• grow mostly as shrubs

• leaves tend to be narrow

• fruit seeds are very tiny

• sprout from twigs buried in soil

Oregon Myrtle (Umbellularia California)

• leaves: simple, alternate, evergreen, pungent odor when crushed. Dark green above paler green below

• fruit: size and shape of a large olive, purple with yellow stalk when ripe

• bark: smooth and gray brown when young

Pacific Dogwood (cornus nutalli)

• leaves: simple, opposite, deciduous ovate, veins curve down toward tip

• flowers tiny whitish flower

• fruits: flattened reddish berries in dense clusters

• bark is thin gray and smooth

Oregon Ash (Fraxinus latifolia)

• leaf pinnately compound: opposite, deciduous. Leaflets are roughly elliptical with smooth or slightly serrated margins

• fruit is a single samurai that may hang in clusters. Shaped like a cnaoe

• Bark moderately thick, grayish brown

Hickory (Carya); shagbark hickory (Carya ovata)

• leaves compound, 10-14” long, usually 5 ovate lanceolate to obovate leaflets

  • margin finely serrated, dark yellow green

• fruit 1-2.5” with reddish brown to nearly black husk

• bark peely and gray

Chestnut (Castanea); American Chestnut (Castanea dentata)

• leaves 5.5-8” long about 2” wide, oblong lancolate, margin coarsely and sharply serrated, dull yellow green glaborous

• frut: 2-2.5” in diameter covered in harp branched spines, nut

• bark is dark brown and shallowly fissured into broad flat ridges

horse chestnut (Aeschylus hippocastanum)

• leaves palmately compound, 7 obovate leaflets

• fruit: spiny capsular

Golden Chinquapin (Chyrsolepsis chrysophylla)

• leaves: simple, alternate, evergreen. Lancolate 2-5” long stiff and leathery. Green above and golden below. Smooth margins

• fruit: sharp, spiny burr with 1 or 2 triangular nuts that are edible

• flowers are puffy white and stick out like spikes that hav ea musky odor

• bark is deeply furrowed and ridged

Catalpa (Catalpa); northern Catalpa (Catalpa speciosa)

• Leaves: large, ovate to oval, mostly entire

• flowers: big white and showy

• max height of about 120’

beech (Fagus); American Beech (Fagus grandifoia)

• leaves: deciduous 2.5-6”long, 1-2.5” wide, elliptical to oblong ovate. Margin is remotely serrate with sharp incurred teeth. Glabrous above and below. Veins parallel. papery texture

• Flowers appear after leaf unfolding in the spring

• Fruit is edible nut

• Bark thin, smooth, light blue gray in color

• tree is one of the most common trees in earster hardwood forest

honeylocust (Gleditsia tricanthos)

• leaves: pinnate and bipinnately compound with 15-30 newly sessile leaflets. Leaflets are 1-2” long and .5-.75” wide with ovate shape. Glabrous dark green lustrous above, dull yellow green belwo

• twigs with thorns 2-3” long

• fruit is reddish brown

Walnut (Juglans); black walnut (jugulars nigra)

• leaves: compound with 15-23 leaflets, sessile attachment

• fruit : solitary or in cluster. Thick semi fleshy, yellow green pubescent husk

• bark is brown to grayish forming roughly diamond shaped patttern

basswood (Tillia); American Basswood (Tillia Americana)

• leaves: simple, alternate, deciduous, 5-6” long broadly ovate, coarsely serrate, dark green paler green below

  • unequal base

• flowers: regular, in a loose cymes, fragrant, 5 petals, 5 sepals

Oregon white oak (Quercus garryana)

• leaves: simple, alternate, deciduous, pinnately lobed with 7-9 rounded lobes, leaves 3-6” long and 2-5 wide

  • shiny on top, light green on the bottom

• fruit is an acorn with shallow cap about 1” long

• twigs, pith is star shaped

• bark: Grayish that may be shaggy or have shallow ridges and fissures

• short petiole

Canyon live oak (Quercus chrysolepis)

• leaves: 2 distinct types on the same tree; all are simple, alternate, evergreen, about 1-4” long. some have smooth edges and some are spiked like holly

• fruit is acorn .5-2” long with a variable cap

• twigs are slender, pith is star shaped

California black oak (Quercus kelloggii)

• leaves: simple, alternate, deciduous. Pinnately lobed with 7 pointed and bristle tipped lobes

• fruit acorn with a deep cap 1-2” long

• bark is dark with irregular plats about 1”thick

Tanoak (Notholithocarpus densiflorus)

• not a real oak, but has some characteristics

• leaves: simple, alternate, evergreen. Thick and leathery 3-5” long with bluish white fuzz underneath, margins are smooth or toothed

• Fruit: acorns with spiked caps

• bark is thin with flattened ridges or plates

Yellow poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera)

• also known as tulip tree

• leaves: simple, alternate, deciduous, 4-6” long, 4 lobes

• flowers: perfect, yellow-green cup shaped 1.24-2” long

• fruit: large erect cone

• bark: smooth and dark green on young seems, becoming thick ash gray and furrowed on older trees

Sweetgum (Liquidambar styraciflua)

• leaves: alternate, simple, deciduous, star shaped with 5-7 palmate lobes, 4-7” long, bright green above and paler below

• fruit about 1.5 in diameter with globose shape with little spikes

• bark is thick, gray brown and deeply furrowed

Sycamore (Platanus); American sycamore (Platanus occidentalis)

• In eastern US one of the largest hardwood trees

• leaves: alternate, simple, deciduous, broadly ovate with 3-5 lobes, 4-7” long, coarsely toothed, bright green above and paler and hairy along the veins below

• fruit: multiple blobs fruit 1-1.25” in diameter

• bark: red brown

Apple (Malus); Oregon crab apple (malus fusca)

• leaves: simple, alternate, deciduous, egg shaped, 1-4” long, margins serrated or lobed and serrated

• fruit: small apples .25-.75” diameter, yellow to red

• twigs: no thorns but branch ends sharp

• flowers: look like apple blossoms, white flowers in clusters

Black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia)

• Leaves: deciduous, alternate, pinnately compound, 8-14” long with 7-21 leaflets. Leaflets 1.5-2” long, dark blue green above and paler below, entire

• twigs: Armed with spines about .5” long. Red brown in color

• fruit: smooth dark brown legume 2-4” long

• bark is red brown to nearly black, deeply fissured into rounded scaly ridges

Magnolia (Magnolia) ; southern magnolia (Magnolia grandiflora)

• leaves: persistent 2 years, narrowly oval to ovate 5-8” long, margin entire, thick nd leathery, bright green above and at maturity red - wooly below

• flowers: white, showy and fragrant 6-8” in diameter with 6-12 large petals

• fruit: cone like aggregate of follicles