How to Identify Tree Leaves
It can easier to identify tree leaves than you think. Whether you are trying to figure out which tree is filling your yard with all of those leaves that need to be raked up in the fall or are a nature buff trying to identify the trees you spot while out exploring the world, there are a few simple tricks you can use to solve the mystery of tree leaves.
How to Identify Tree Leaves – The Narrowing Process
The first step to matching a tree type with a leave is to narrow down the list of possibilities to a specific type of tree. You can do this easily simply by looking at characteristics of the leaf. Here is how to narrow the list of suspects:
- Is the leaf made up of needles? In other words, does the leaf have a stem with a series of needles coming off it? If so, the leaf likely belongs to some type of evergreen or conifer tree.
- Is the leaf scaly? Look for a stem with several, smaller leaf stems coming off it. These smaller stems should be covering in bushy or scaly green leaves – think of the branches of a Christmas tree. If so, the leaf is probably from a cedar tree or juniper tree.
- Is the leaf made up of a single stem that runs up through the body of the leaf, with veins coming off from the central stem? These leaves are the most typical kinds of leaves and are associated with the greatest number of trees. There are two categories of these leaves – simple and compound – and they typically come from hardwood or deciduous trees.
Identify Your Leaf
With the first stage of the process to identify tree leaves complete, you are ready to get a more precise idea of what kind of leaf you have. Here’s how:
Needle Leaves
Leaves made up of series of needle bundles, each of which is attached to the stem at a different point, are usually pine trees or larch trees. Pine trees are evergreen, and they have long, straight needles in bunches of two to five needles per bunch. Larches shed annually and have shorter needles that flare out from the branch.
Scaly Leaves
Scaly leaves that are flat and attached to stems with pine cones or pink flowers come from cedar trees. When you hold up a stem, cedar leaves may look like a fan. If the scaly leaves are full rather than flat and the stems hold blue or purple berries, they come from a juniper tree. Juniper trees also have a distinctive smell (think gin), so giving the leaf a sniff may also help you identify it.
Simple and Complex Leaves
These leaves can be the most difficult to classify, simply because there are so many different kinds. Start by deciding if the leaf is simple or compound. Simple leaves have a single stem/leaf system. Compound leaves have a one stem that has several leaves coming off it – it essentially looks like a stem with several simple leaves attached.
If you have a simple leaf, decide if it is, unlobed (is completely solid all around) or lobed (scalloped edges that weave in towards the stem and back out). If the tree is unlobed, decide if it has smooth or spiked edges. If it has smooth edges, it may be a magnolia, dogwood, persimmon, black gum or water oak leaf. If it has spiked edges, it may be a willow, beech, elm, birch or cherry tree leaf.
If your simple leaf is lobed, decide if the lobed look even or not. If the lobes are uneven, the leaf may be from a mulberry or sassafras tree. If the lobes are even, the leaves may be from a maple, sweet gum, yellow poplar, red oak or white oak tree.
Complex leaves are slightly easier to deal with. If the smaller leaves seem to grow directly from the stem, they are likely from a chestnut or buckeye tree. If the smaller leaves have tiny stems that attach them to the main stem, you may be dealing with leaves from a pecan, honey or black locust, walnut, ash or hickory tree.
Leaf Identification Guides
Once you have narrowed down the possible identification of your leaf, you can use the internet or any number of guidebooks to visually match the leaf exactly to a tree. These websites may also help:
Heather McDonald