ASH

Ashes in general
- distinctly opposite branches, more obvious than the maples
- bark has a diamond-like pattern
- flexible in the wind due to strength and pliability of wood (e.g. tool handles and hockey sticks)

Black Ash
- grows in wet areas, it likes its feet wet
- lots of space between the terminal bud and the last lateral buds on twigs
- crumbly bark at young age

White Ash
- an upland species
- no space at all between the terminal bud and the last lateral bud on twigs

      With reference to the terminal bud arrangement,
      "Back is slack, White is tight"

Red (Green) Ash
- fuzzy twigs

Blue Ash
- has 4-sided twigs
- grows mainly in the very southernmost areas of Ontario

European Ash
- inky black buds
- an alien species - planted as an ornamental - doesn't appear to be invasive, though

MAPLES

Maples in general
- most are wind pollinated -- some are insect pollinated
- maples have opposite branches, but not as obvious as the ashes
- maples are not very flexible in the wind (Ashes usually have a long single trunk and are  therefore more flexible)
Soft Maples  (Red & Silver Maple)
   - the bark tends to peel off vertically (ie, from the top & bottom of the vertical strips)
   - huge flower buds, visible from afar
   - obvious opposite twigs
   - Red Maples are more common in Ontario than Silver Maples
Hard Maples  (Sugar & Black Maple)
   - the bark tends to peel off horizontally (ie, from the sides of the vertical strips)
   - bark tends to be quite variable, sometime smooth, other times rough
  

Norway Maple
- confused with Sugar Maple
- has huge keys, at almost a 180-degree angle - no other maple has such big keys, very prolific
- large buds (huge)
- a variety of this tree can have red leaves

Sugar Maple
- confused with Norway Maple
- has tiny buds
- the keys hang down
- bark lifts off from the sides (vertical strips)
- leaf has 5 distinct lobes

Black Maple
- grows in wetter areas
- looks wilted
- grayer twigs than Norway and Sugar Maples
- leaf has 3 distinct lobes

Maples hybridize readily, and cause confusion between species.

Silver Maple
- distinctive leaves
- there is some smell to a broken twig

Red Maple
- red buds
- there is no smell to a broken twig

Manitoba Maple
- Male & Female trees
- glacous or whitish-waxy bloom or coating on purple twigs

BUCKTHORN

Common (European) Buckthorn
- has a terminal spine - a straight thorn between buds at terminal end of twig, sticking out at the end of the branch.

Glossy Buckthorn
- this species is rare in Ontario, found mainly in the Guelph and Kitchener areas.

ELM

White Elm
- the huge one we visited (above)
- branches out lower

Rock (or Red or Slippery) Elm
- branches out higher, about 2/3 of the height of the tree
- rarer
- resembles oak tree, it doesn't look like the classic elm shape

Dutch Elm disease - this is a fungus that clogs the tree's pores, prevents water from rising up inside the tree.  Transferred by bark beetles

BASSWOOD

- many shoots come up if cut down
- bulbous red shiny buds - you can eat the buds
- very chunky trunks
- pollinated at night by moths, eben though the flowers attract bees, they cannot get their mouthparts into the flower.  Only moths have the mouthparts to get inside.
- very soft bark - you can shove a pencil into it
- chocolate coloured just under bark
- wood is very soft, very good for wood carving

PINES

White Pine
- 5 needles in a bunch, shorter
- cone is long and skinny - the only one in Ontario like this

Red Pine
- 2 needles in a bunch, long
- more happy in the north, although they will grow in the south
- needles are much longer than white pine needles
- needles break easily (test by wrapping around your finger)
- cone is more compact and round (compared to white pine)

Austrian Pine or Black Pine
- 2 needles, long
- needles twisted around finger will not break - as opposed to red pine (above)

Pitch Pine
- 3 needles in a bunch, shorter
- only in eastern Ontario

Scots Pine
- needles short
- golden brown top
- alien species
- needles almost always curl around each other
- compare Jack and Scots pine

Jack Pine
- needles short
- needles diverge from each other
- compare Jack and Scots pine

Swiss Mugho Pine
- alien species
- grows horizontally

SUMACS

Staghorn Sumac
- are Male & Female trees
- the female trees have the berries in the familiar "staghorn" shape
- male trees have the branches that look like staghorns in velvet

Poison Sumac
- leaves affect us like poison ivy does
- rare in Ontario
- grows in wet areas

CHERRY

Cherry trees in general
- All cherries have a sweet almond smell when you scratch the twig
- Cherries are susceptible to a black fungus, that grows in bulbous growths around the branches.  This will eventually kill them.  The fungus may be native to North America.

Red (Pin) Cherry
- the only cherry that has a clustered terminal bud, like an oak (in general - choke and black cherry can have terminal cluster as well)

Choke Cherry
- light leading edge on the bud scales

Black Cherry
- dark leading edge on the bud scales
- the only one that is a full size tree although some choke cherry plants can reach tree size
- only in southern Ontario
- bark resembles burnt corn flakes ("bc" = black cherry; "bc" = "burnt cornflakes")
- bark gets more like this as tree gets older (but is smooth when young)
- heartwood is dark (from the tannin that it concentrates from the soil)

Pin Cherry
- orange lenticils - these are spots on the trunk through which the tree breathes

PRICKLY ASH

- a shrub with lots of thorns
- this is not actually an ash at all
- "toothache tree" - parts of this tree are a painkiller
- there is a caterpillar that feeds solely on this tree
- thorns opposite

BEECH

American Beech
- long buds
- has a "pagoda tree" look
- retains leaves in the winter, especially younger trees.
- very smooth bark

OAK

Oaks in general
2 Groups:
White Oaks
   - more flakey bark
   - rounded leaves
   - rounded buds
Black (Red) Oaks
   - rigid bark
   - sharp pointed leaves
   - sharp ended buds

Black Oak
- parallel lobes on leaves
- fuzzier buds

Red Oak
- lobes not parallel
- buds not fuzzy
- strong bark

Bur Oak
- corky ridges on twigs & branches (cork comes from oak bark in the Mediterranean)
- strong hair on the tip of the twig

WALNUT

- distinctive buds
- walnuts "poison" the ground by sending out some sort of chemical from the roots - this prevents many other plants from growing under them

Black Walnut
- smooth buds
- really round nuts

Butternut
- little mustache over the bud
- nuts are more oblong

POPLAR

Carolina Poplar
- cross between Lombardy Poplar and Eastern Cottonwood
- branches are at a 45-degree angle

Large-Toothed Aspen
- branches are not at 45-degrees
- orange cast on green bark
- distinctive large teeth on leaves

Trembling Aspen
- corky black splitting bark

Balsam Poplar
- big sticky buds - pointed, balsamy smell, pungent
- diamond-shaped leaf

BIRCH

Gray Birch
- upside-down triangles under branches

Yellow Birch
- grows in damp areas - likes its feet wet
- twigs have a wintergreen flavour when chewed
- has plump catkins
- golden bark

White Birch
- smaller catkins, that hang down

CRANBERRY

Highbush Cranberry & European Cranberry
- very similar
- berries from both are edible

IRONWOOD

- very hard wood
- bark in long vertical flakes

EASTERN HEMLOCK

- white lines underneath needles - these are stomata - tree breathes through these
- purple edges to cut bark
- wood is virtually impermeable to insects

BALSAM FIR

- resembles Eastern Hemlock, but bark is different - Balsam Fir has sap bubbles
- needles are longer than Eastern Hemlock

HAWTHORN

- There are about 100 species of these in Canada, very difficult to tell apart

HICKORY

Bitternut Hickory
- unique bright sulfur coloured buds, long & pointed

Shagbark Hickory
- long flakes of bark, very shaggy

Pignut Hickory

DOGWOOD

- veins on leaves are almost always parallel to the central vein
- Q: How do you tell that it's a dogwood?  A: By its bark.  :)

Red Osier Dogwood
- bark very red

GRAPES

- a cut grape vine will supply a lot of drinkable sap that is like water (be careful not to confuse it with Canada Moonseed)

Wild Grape, Summer Grape, Fox Grape

ELDERBERRY

Red Elderberry
- towering flower and berry cluster
- big big buds
- dark (reddish) pith
- not edible

Black Elderberry
- flat-topped flower and berry cluster
- tiny tiny buds, almost invisible
- edible