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Some wish to learn to identify trees for purely recreational reasons while others want to
learn to select, plant, and care for trees and understand that identification
skills are critical. It is easier to identify trees and plants in the field than collecting a leaf sample for identification at home. There are often additional clues when we examine plants in their natural environments such as milky sap, odor, or growth habit. If we do take samples to identify at a later date, it is best to collect more than just a leaf. Take leaf, twig and fruit samples (if available). When learning to identify trees, it is best to learn leaf types and patterns, but we should always use several tree characteristics such as bark, buds, fruit, flowers, twigs and leaves. The following websites will help you learn more about identification and contain many images of trees to view, but the best way to learn how to identify trees is walking through the woods or visiting plant collections at arboretums, parks or college campuses. Common Trees of PA - http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/forestry/commontr/ Penn State University Summer Key to Pennsylvania Trees - http://rnrext.cas.psu.edu/PDFs/Summerkeyfortrees.pdf Penn State Natural Resource Extension – Forest Stewardship - http://rnrext.cas.psu.edu/Stewardship.html Morris Arboretum’s Plant Information - http://www.business-services.upenn.edu/arboretum/plantinformation2.html University of Conn Plant Database - http://www.hort.uconn.edu/plants/index.html Northern Trees (a website for tree selection and identification) http://orb.at.ufl.edu/TREES/index.html Illinois Forestry - Urban and Community Forestry - http://web.extension.uiuc.edu/forestry/urban_comm_forestry.html Ornamental Plants Websites listed at University of Connecticut http://www.hort.uconn.edu/plants/link.html Ohio State Unv. Plants Facts Plant Lists - http://plantfacts.osu.edu/plantlist/index.html Ohio State University Plant Dictionary - http://plantfacts.osu.edu/images.lasso Virginia Tech Tree ID Site - http://www.cnr.vt.edu/dendro/dendrology/main.htm Common Trees of Delaware - http://ag.udel.edu/extension/horticulture/ornamentals.htm Urban Trees and Shrubs USFS - http://www.na.fs.fed.us/spfo/pubs/uf/uts/index.htm Common Trees of Iowa - http://www.extension.iastate.edu/pages/tree/index.html Horticopia - http://www.horticopia.com |