FNRM 1101 PRACTICE EXAM 4

Which species provides the preferred wood for saunas because it is rot resistant and non-resinous
so it stays cool to the touch?
a. Platanus occidentalis
b. Taxodium distichum
c. Thuja occidentalis
d. Thuja plicata

c. Thuja occidentalis

Which species has cones that resemble the bill of a duck?
a. baldcypress
b. incense-cedar
c. northern white-cedar
d. western redcedar

b. incense-cedar

Cones of Abies species are typically found at the top of the tree and in the fall of the first year
a. fall off
b. remain for an additional year before falling off
c. break apart leaving a central axis or spire
d. are consumed by tree climbing beavers

c. break apart leaving a central axis or spire

Which genus has globose semi-fleshy cones with peltate scales that become woody when
mature?
a. Chamaecyparis
b. Juniperus
c. Metasequoia
d. Globopeltatium

a. Chamaecyparis

When young, species in the Abies genus typically have bark that is considered smooth, thin, grey
and
a. deeply furrowed
b. fire resistant
c. full of resin blisters
d. flexible for making baskets
e. a favored food source of black beaked parrots

c. full of resin blisters

An eastern spruce with glabrous twigs and cylindrical cones

white spruce

A western mountainous spruce with
sharp needle points that have a pungent smell when crushed

blue spruce

An eastern spruce with globose cones
and pubescent twigs.

black spruce

A spruce of northern Europe with large,
tan cones and 4 angled needles

Norway spruce

An eastern spruce with blunt needle ends,
twigs more or less pubescent and buds
reddish-brown

red spruce

Sitka spruce is an economically important spruce of the Pacific northwest with flat needles and
pubescent twigs.
a. True
b. False

b. False

What is the best way to convey the idea that the wood of spruce has a high strength to weight
ratio?
a. As a Christmas trees spruce hold ornaments well.
b. It is commonly used for sounding boards in musical instruments.
c. People made airplanes out of spruce.
d. Spruce is used as dimensional lumber in building homes.

c. People made airplanes out of spruce.

Spruce do not make particularly good browse for wildlife.
a. True
b. False

a. True

Which spruce is known for its large cones, drooping branchlets and is used extensively in
horticulture?
a. Picea abies
b. Picea omorika
c. Picea pungens
d. Picea sitchensis

a. Picea abies

This conifer of the Northeastern United States is said to have a toothed needle that occurs singly.
It is an extremely shade tolerant, long-lived species and its leader has a characteristic droop - if
you can see it. The genus and species is?
a) Pinus strobus
b) Thuja occidentalis
c) Tsuga canadensis
d) Abies balsamea

c) Tsuga canadensis

The Cupressaceae family contains many tree species. Of those listed below
which combination of species would be described as having decussate leaf arrangements?
a) Thuja occidentalis and Juniperus virginiana
b) Taxodium distichum and Cupressus arizonica
c) Chamaecyparis nootkatensis and Thuja plicata
d) Sequoia sempervirens and Juniperus communis
e) all of the above
f) a and c

f) a and c

One week ago in lecture a species was identified as an aggressive seeder into prairie restorations
and old fields that species is?
a) Chamaecyparis thyoides,
b) Juniperus virginiana
c) Thuja occidentalis
d) Taxodium distichum

b) Juniperus virginiana

Larix laricina and L. occidentalis are some of the most intolerant species in North America.
True or False

True

Juniperus communis is a shrub or small tree that is circumpolar in the Northern Hemisphere.
Furthermore, it is the most widely distributed native conifer in North America and the world.
True or False

True

Abies grandis is the largest of the cascade firs and produces the most timber of the Abies spp.
True or False

False

Around the world conifers are valuable for watershed protection at higher elevations.
True or False

True

apophysis

Portion of a cone’s scale that is
visible when the cone is closed

thorn

sharp modified branch often
terminating a twig

decussate

opposite, 4-ranked, leaf
arrangement with each pair at
right angles to the pairs above
and below it

dichotomous

forking into pairs, 2 paths to
choose from

sterigmata

short projection (peg) on a
conifer twig bearing a single
sessile or petiolate leafProvide the genus that is described as having
sterigmata.

Provide the genus that is described as having
sterigmata.

Picea

aril

fleshy appendage growing from
the point of attachment of a seed
and often covering the seed

Provide the genus that is described as having
arils:

Taxus

whorled

cyclic arrangement - 3 or more
per node

Range map: Juniperus communis

D

Range Map: Juniperus scopulorum

C

Range Map: Juniperus virginiana

A

Range Map: Thuja occidentalis

B

Moisture Gradiant: Acer rubrum, Picea mariana, Pinus banksiana
Position A:

Picea mariana

Moisture Gradiant: Acer rubrum, Picea mariana, Pinus banksiana
Position B:

Acer rubrum

Moisture Gradiant: Acer rubrum, Picea mariana, Pinus banksiana
Position C:

Pinus banksiana

What is the name of the biggest by volume tree in the world?

Sequoiadendron giganteum

From our lecture materials provide the scientific names of a tree AND its respective
endangered or threatened animal that depends on them for survival

(tree) Sequoia sempervirens (associated animal) marbled murrelet or northern spotted owl

white spruce has a ____ twig and black spruce has a ____ twig

1. glabrous 2. pubescent

white spruce has a ____ site and black spruce has a ____ site

1. upland 2. wet

white spruce has ____ cones and black spruce has ____ cones

1. oval 2. round

What is the name of the genus that is often used for the tops of cellos, violins, violas and
double basses because of its superior acoustic wood qualities?

Picea

What is the common name of the species that is generally regarded as the tallest tree in North
America?

(coastal) redwood

Provide the common name for this tree of the south that inhabits permanently wet soils. It is a
large tree (averaging 120 feet tall and 4 feet in dbh) has a buttressed base, and is considered
deciduous with grey, shallowly furrowed, fibrous bark, nearly globose fruits roughly the size of a
golf ball with 8-10 peltate scales that mature and shatter in a single season.

baldcypress

Populus tremuloides is intolerant and the most common species in Minnesota. Name three
tolerant species native to Minnesota that are likely to become established under Populus
tremuloides.

Acer saccharum
Picea glauca
Abies balsamifera

The next three questions are based on the online videos you watched. Three of the sites
represented three different forest types that all had a thick sand layer underlying different surface
soils. What soil type was above the sand layer for each forest type?

Acid Peatland:
A. Clay and silt
B: nothing - no additional soil above the sand
C. Sphagnum moss
D. Fudge pudding

C. Sphagnum moss

The next three questions are based on the online videos you watched. Three of the sites
represented three different forest types that all had a thick sand layer underlying different surface
soils. What soil type was above the sand layer for each forest type?

Fire Dependent:
A. Clay and silt
B: nothing - no additional soil above the sand
C. Sphagnum moss
D. Fudge pudding

B: nothing - no additional soil above the sand

The next three questions are based on the online videos you watched. Three of the sites
represented three different forest types that all had a thick sand layer underlying different surface
soils. What soil type was above the sand layer for each forest type?

Mesic Hardwood
A. Clay and silt
B: nothing - no additional soil above the sand
C. Sphagnum moss
D. Fudge pudding

A. Clay and silt

Totem poles have traditionally been made from the wood of western redcedar, Thuja plicata.
True or False

True

Match the species with its economic or ecological use.
Alaska-cedar
Atlantic white-cedar
eastern redcedar
bears
Port-Orford-cedar

A. aromatic wood used for closets, chests, shoe trees,
hangers and potpourri.
B. durable wood used for decks, shingles, shipbuilding.
C. girdled trees a source of spring nourishment for brown
D. house and temple construction in Japan as a replacement
for the Japanese species, Chamaecyparis obtusa.

C Alaska-cedar
B Atlantic white-cedar
A eastern redcedar
bears
D Port-Orford-cedar

Which of the following is an important commercial species in the western United States and
Canada representing over 50% of the standing timber?
a. mountain hemlock
b. Douglas-fir
c. eastern hemlock
d. western larch

b. Douglas-fir

Which species is known for having chestnut brown pointed buds with imbricate scales and cones
with exserted bracts?
a. European larch
b. tamarack
c. mountain hemlock
d. western hemlock
e. Douglas-fir

e. Douglas-fir

Which species is known for having two distinct varieties i.e. coastal and mountain?
a. Larix occidentalis
b. Larix decidua
c. Pseudotsuga menziesii
d. Tsuga mertensiana

c. Pseudotsuga menziesii

Which genus is likely to be identified by a drooping leader?
a. Abies
b. Larix
c. Pseudotsuga
d. Tsuga

d. Tsuga

Western larch suffers from Swiss needlecast disease.
a. True
b. False

false

Western hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla) is exceptionally tolerant and grows fast like a pioneer
species.
a. True
b. False

true

Which of the following statements is true regarding a species’ elevational range.
a) Elevation increases with increasing latitude
b) Elevation increases with decreasing latitude
c) Elevation decreases with decreasing latitude
d) There is no correlation between elevation and latitude

b) Elevation increases with decreasing latitude

Baldcypress, coast redwood, and giant sequoia all have cones with what type of scales?
a) aril
b) dimorphic
c) glaucous
d) peltate
e) stomatiferous

d) peltate

What is the tallest tree species in the world?

Sequoia sempervirens

This species provides winter yarding areas for deer, is tolerant, and can live to over 400 years of
age. The wood is rot resistant and considered the premier wood for sauna interiors. It is also a
preferred browse species for deer during winter.

Thuja occidentalis

Name the genus that is preferred for making sounding boards in musical instruments because of
its superior acoustic resonance.

Picea

Name the tolerant, understory tree or large shrub from the Pacific northwest with flexible, softpointed needles, male cones on the underside of the twig, a fleshy red aril, and bark that was
once the only source of taxol, a chemical used to successfully treat ovarian cancer.

Taxus brevifolia

Which tree species was used to make totem poles by native Americans in the Pacific Northwest
and is currently prized for its decay resistant wood?
a) western hemlock
b) Fraser fir
c) Sitka spruce
d) western redcedar
e) Ponderosa pine

d) western redcedar

Which of the following is a trait of baldcypress but not dawn redwood?
a) persistent branchlets.
b) cylindrical cones with peltate scales on long peduncles
c) alternate arrangement of branchlets.
d) native habitat near water and moist soils.

c) alternate arrangement of branchlets.

What makes concolor fir (Abies concolor) a good candidate for ornamental or horticultural
plantings?
a. it is the most drought resistant of the western firs
b. smooth, light grey bark when young
c. longer than average needles for a fir
d. needles smell of tangerines when crushed
e. all of these traits

e. all of these traits

Which species looks like a smaller version of western redcedar?
a. baldcypress
b. giant sequoia
c. incense-cedar
d. northern white-cedar
e. redwood

d. northern white-cedar

Redwood, Sequoia sempervirens, is the largest tree by volume in the world.
a. True
b. False

False

Which species is important because it often represents the majority of the tree cover in a given
area providing much needed shelter, nesting sites and food in the form of winter browse and
semi-fleshy green to blue-black cones?
a. common juniper
b. dawn redwood
c. eastern redcedar
d. Rocky Mountain juniper

d. Rocky Mountain juniper

The following three species have a conservation status of threatened or endangered. Match each
to its chief threat
Fraser fir
Port-Orford-cedar
dawn redwood

A. habitat destruction by agriculture
B. a sapsucking insect
C. a root rot fungus

B Fraser fir
C Port-Orford-cedar
A dawn redwood

What do western larch, western hemlock, and noble fir have in common?
a) Each is the most important North American timber species in its genus.
b) They are never associates of Douglas-fir.
c) All have ranges that are restricted to the Pacific Northwest and northern
California.
d) All have seeds that are cached by Clark’s nutcracker.
e) All are shade-tolerant.

a) Each is the most important North American timber species in its genus.

At the time of the Public Land Survey in Minnesota, in the second half of the 19th century,
tamarack was the most frequently recorded bearing tree and quite common in uplands. Why is it
now relegated to lowland habitats like bogs in our state?

Introduced larch sawfly defoliates and kills trees on upland sites it does not
survive well in wet duff so larch on lowland wet sites survive.

This member of the Cupressaceae forms dense, pure stands in freshwater bogs and swamps. Its
needles turn brown after a year but are retained on the tree. Like many lowland species, its
shallow, broad, interlocking root system makes it susceptible to windthrow. Its decay-resistant
wood is valued for posts and construction. Charcoal from its wood was also once used to make
gunpowder. After a period of overharvesting, lumbermen began mining well-preserved timbers
of dead trees from great depths in the bogs where the species grows.

Chamaecyparis thyoides

Needle / Twig comparisons of Picea vs Abies

Picea: mostly 4 sided needles attached to twig by sterigma (wooden peg)
Abies 2 sided needles attached by suction cup device

Bud comparisons of Picea and Abies

Picea: ovoid
Abies: Globose

Global distribution comparison of Picea and Abies

Picea: generally similar except Picea covers more of Scandanavia, northern
Asia and northwest North America
Abies: can be found farther
south into Central America

Wood quality comparison of Picea and Abies

generally similar for pulp, paper and dimensional lumber
Picea: superior
for sounding boards in musical instruments

Cone comparisons of Picea and Abies

Picea: Pendant
Abies: erect

At average height and diameter western larch is larger than tamarack
a. True
b. False

true

Eastern hemlock (Tsuga canadensis) is native to Minnesota, prefers moist, cool sites, is very
tolerant, and prefers well-rotted logs as a substrate for seed germination.
a. True
b. False

True

Which species suffers from the non-native sucking insect hemlock woolly adelgid?
a. Tsuga canadensis
b. Tsuga heterophylla
c. Tsuga menziesii
d. Tsuga mertensiana

a. Tsuga canadensis

Species in the genus Abies have erect cones with or without exserted bracts that mature in 1 year.
a. True
b. False

True

Match the species to the silhouettes (write in the species name beneath):
Balsam Fir

Match the species to the silhouettes (write in the species name beneath):
Tamarack

Match the species to the silhouettes (write in the species name beneath):
black spruce

Match the species to the silhouettes (write in the species name beneath):
Red pine

Match the species to the silhouettes (write in the species name beneath):
eastern white pine

Match the species to the silhouettes (write in the species name beneath):
eastern hemlock

Match the species to its range map.
balsam fir
eastern redcedar
tamarack
baldcypress

A balsam fir
B eastern redcedar
C tamarack
D baldcypress

Which genus in the Cupressaceae is known for having deciduous needles?
a. Taxodium
b. Sequoia
c. Thuja
d. Calocedrus

a. Taxodium

Which species is circumpolar in distribution?
a. Atlantic white-cedar
b. common juniper
c. dawn redwood
d. eastern redcedar

b. common juniper

Fill in the blanks

This tree hails from southeast United States, is found on extremely wet sites of stagnant water,
has a well buttressed base with 'knees' as a portion of the root system that project above the
water, fruit a globose ball of 8-10 peltate scales that shatters at maturity.
a. Arizona cypress
b. baldcypress
c. giant sequoia
d. incense-cedar
e. western redcedar

baldcypress

Which species is most likely to be found on pasture land in western Tennessee?
a. Chamaecyparis lawsoniana
b. Chamaecyparis nootkatensis
c. Juniperus scopulorum
d. Juniperus virginiana

d. Juniperus virginiana

As a general rule Abies species are tolerant.
a. True
b. False

True

Oftentimes what is the easiest way to identify black spruce from a distance?
a. lack of needles during winter
b. extremely narrow, sharp pointed crown
c. small ball, or tuft of branches at the tip of the crown
d. impossible to tell - one spruce species looks like another

c. small ball, or tuft of branches at the tip of the crown

Based on the online videos you watched about tolerant and intolerant species which of the
following species pairs is most likely to be found growing underneath an aspen overstory?
a. jack pine and balsam poplar
b. sugar maple and northern red oak
c. tamarack and black spruce
d. white spruce and balsam fir

d. white spruce and balsam fir

what is the common name of Picea sitchensis

Sitka spruce

what is the common name of Picea glauca

white spruce

what is the common name of Picea pungens

blue spruce