Rivanna Chapter
Virginia Master Naturalists
Serving the
Central Piedmont of Virginia
Useful Websites for the Study of Trees
2. Tree Identification
- Dendrology at Virginia Tech
This is THE site for tree identification in Virginia, built around keys to tree identification and then fact sheets for a large number of species. Each tree species has a page, with text and photos devoted to leaf, flower, fruit, twig, bark, and form. The consistency and detail with which these six factors are applied throughout the entire site are the great strength of the VT project.
The http address takes you to the homepage. To access keys, click “ID Keys” on the left margin; this takes you to both dichotomous keys (a leaf key and a twig key) and a multichotomous key. Then, to access information on the tree, once you have identified it, click on “I.D. Fact Sheets” on the left margin of the homepage. That will take you to a starting point where you can search the database for all or some part of a name (common or scientific).
A few minor quibbles: 1)the photos on the VT site, while well done, are relatively small and are clumped together, limiting both their use and their attractiveness; 2) the dichotomous key only narrows the possibilities to a group of species; it doesn’t normally lead you to a single species as an answer. - Leaf Identification
Created at Penn State, this is a fine tool intended to teach the key elements in leaf terminology. It makes an excellent preliminary unit before moving on to tree and shrub identification using leaves. The language and illustrations are simple and easy to understand; in addition, to check on understanding, each section ends by going to a Test Pilot for practice. Sections provided include leaf structure, leaf blade shape, leaf grouping, leaf arrangement and venation, and leaf margins. Highly recommended. - Key to Leaves of Virginia Trees
Eye-catching visual design highlights this key, created by Dr. Jeff Kirwan and James Ward for use with a 4-H tree identification project. Click on “I’ve got my leaf, let’s get started!” and you’re propelled into the most usable dichotomous key imaginable. Each choice features photos, with key features pointed out, to help you make your choice, all on a stylish black background with luminous red and blue lettering. If you can’t learn with this site.... Highest recommendation. - LEAF: Learning Experiences and Activities in Forestry
A site offered by the Wisconsin K-12 Forestry Education Program, this too offers practice in using a dichotomous key. The choices are framed as simply as possible, and like the Virginia site above, this one has photos to illustrate the choices. The site explains what a dichotomous key is, contains simple instructions on its use, has twenty-seven mystery trees to match and identify, and offers a list of the twenty-seven tree species. Click on a name, and you arrive at a fact sheet, replete with photos, about that species. A nice site. Not as stylish and technically sophisticated as the Virginia site, but simple and clear, with some interesting add-on features. - Ohio Trees
A very useful guide to tree identification put out by the Ohio State University Extension Service. Contains a key to deciduous and evergreen trees of Ohio, with clear, simple drawings to illustrate different forms of leaves, leaf margins, leaf tips and bases, and leaf arrangements. Also contains instructions on using the key to identify trees, with the instructions geared toward a novice. One of the handiest features is that trees are grouped by genus, with every genus having its own page. Then the text, photos, and illustrations show how to differentiate between the various species in the genus. The site is laid out well and is user-friendly. - UConn Plant Database of Trees, Shrubs, and Vines
An attractive, well-designed site (created by Mark Brand), highly recommended. Plants can be searched for by Latin name, common name, or attributes. An outstanding feature of this site is the quality and abundance of photos--there might be four or five photos of different trees to show the habit and form of the species, for example, or several photos to show variations in bark patterns. Another is the range of information for each tree--habitat, habit and form, summer foliage, autumn foliage, flowers, fruit, bark, culture, landscape uses, liabilities, ID features, propagation, and cultivars/varieties. Information under each of these headings is presented in a simple, user-friendly, bullet-point style.
As a sidebar, another positive feature of this site is the photo gallery of “virtual plant walks” at five different universities in the area. - Tree Keys
This is a tree identification tool from the UConn site. Can be used with both wild specimens and cultivars. A three-page dichotomous key with a very attractive layout---large type, with pairs of features in alternating pale salmon and pale olive color bands, so it is easy to move from one level to the next with a minimum of visual strain. The steps are also presented in clear, simple language. Link to a glossary if needed. Highly recommended! - What Tree Is That?
Very nice online key to identifying tree species once leaves are on. Offered by The National Arbor Day Foundation, and used by special permission to TreeLink. Very user-friendly, with simple directions, and clear, well-written choices as one works through the process of making an identification. The site describes itself as “a guide to the more common trees found in the Eastern and Central U.S.,” but it enables the user to key out a much larger number of species than that description implies. The site also contains an alphabetized index to the trees, merging common and scientific names, as well as a brief glossary, with terms explained in very short, straightforward language. An excellent key for beginners, as well as those further along in learning trees. - Native Pines of Eastern North America
An online guide to the pines, developed by Karen Hall and Richard Braham of the Dept. of Forestry at North Carolina State. Designed as a tutorial for students studying the eastern pines. Simple, uncluttered layout with audio accompaniment to give correct pronunciations. Links to numerous sub-features, such as bark, leaves and buds, range and habitat, and reproductive structures, each with very good images. Additional links to a glossary, references, and an interactive comparison tool. - Trees, Shrubs, and Woody Vines of North Carolina
This site, compiled by Will Cook, attempts “a full list of the woody plants of north Carolina.” It tells where each plant is found (mountains, piedmont, or coastal plain), and indicates whether the plant is common, uncommon, occasional, rare, or very rare. Over two hundred and twenty species of trees are listed. Click on the name of a species, and you arrive at a page devoted to that tree. The pages are uncluttered, with good-quality photos of leaves, flowers, fruit, and bark. The photo contents are inconsistent, however; pages for some species have photos for all the plant parts just mentioned, while other pages only have two or three photos.
The site also contains a summer key to common tree species (more than sixty species included), based on leaf characteristics.
Since North Carolina contains topographical and climatic similarities to Virginia, this site is a significant resource for Virginians as well. - OSU Pocket Gardener
An excellent site, copyrighted by Tim Rhodus, with separate sections devoted to trees, shrubs, grasses, vines, perennials, etc. The tree section covers a variety of ornamentals and cultivars, as well as many native species in their natural form, so it provides a good supplement to those sites focused strictly on native species or invasives.
Material on the page for each species is presented in clear, non-technical prose, within a well-laid-out bulleted format. The pages contain an abundance of information, including form, culture, foliage, flowers, fruits, twigs, trunk, ID summary, function, texture, assets, liabilities, habitat, alternative selections, and variants. - Kentucky Trees
A nice site intended primarily for school students; colorful, easy to navigate. A few portions apply only to Kentucky, such as the description of Kentucky’s ecological regions and the state tree section, but otherwise a very appropriate and helpful resource for Virginians.
Sections include a virtual native tree walk; dichotomous keys for the thirty trees listed in the arboretum walk (intended to introduce the skill of identifying trees via a dichotomous key); a glossary; tree profiles of over sixty native trees; basic tree propagation information; a leaf collection; and a fruit collection. Excellent photos throughout. - Backyard Plants
“Backyard Plants” is a subsection of Jim Conrad’s “Backyard Nature” website. It’s a commercial website, but not annoyingly so. Extremely colorful and stylish, designed to attract a general audience and appeal to students. There is a “special focus” section on trees, and numerous links to items such as stem types, plant defenses, tree bark, plant galls, and on and on, all copiously illustrated and full of interesting information. Highly recommended. - Tree Identification
Taken from “Fifty Trees of Indiana” by T. E. Shaw, this is a brief but handy guide to tree identification, approaching the task as a process of elimination. It places tree identification for this limited number of species within the context of tree communities and tree “relatives,” and provides a simple chart for identifying them, based primarily on characteristics of their leaves. Contains links to a glossary for tree terms, as well as to a variety of tree-related topics. - Tree Tips
Just what the name says. Nothing comprehensive, but useful tips for identifying trees based on distinctive leaves, bark, buds, fruit, etc. A nice complement to other sites for those beginning to learn their trees. Not especially long--probably the equivalent of three or four typed pages. Well worth reading and remembering. - eNature.com Field Guide to Trees
This large commercial site provides online field guides to birds, butterflies, insects and spiders, mammals, reptiles and amphibians, seashells, seashore creatures, and wildflowers, in addition to the guide to trees. The tree section divides trees by their leaf type into seven separate simple categories (needle-leaf conifers, scale-leaf conifers, untoothed simple leaves, toothed simple leaves, lobed simple leaves, compound leaves, and palms). Beyond that, however, the categories become problematic. It’s unclear how pages for species are organized, although stretches seem alphabetized, and members of a genus are grouped together.
Advertisements take up at least half of each page, and the thumbnail photos and text for each species are discouragingly small. Clicking on the name of the species does, however, take the viewer to a page for that particular species, with a good-sized photo and text as well as a fair amount of solid information. - Wildlife Neighbors of the Williamsburg Area
Text and photos of a book put out by the Williamsburg Publishing Co. (Text by Bill Snyder and illustrations by wildlife artist Jerry Ellis.) Contains brief but interesting sections on Virginia trees, birds, animals, and wildflowers, with an emphasis on their regional use and history. Interesting resource that provides a different slant from the usual guide. - West Virginia Trees: Basic Tree Identification for FFA Forestry Contest
A nice site for learning over thirty basic trees quickly, developed for high school FFA students. All of the trees shown are common Virginia species as well. The material is stripped down to the most helpful and most essential information, presented in non-technical language. Obviously amateur writing and photography, but each tree is presented via clear photos of a leaf and the trunk/bark, and a short, simple paragraph giving key identification tips. Recommended for someone just getting started. - A Key to the Common Trees of Camp Conestoga
Useful but uneven. Descriptions vary a good deal in kind and amount of detail provided; illustrations are sometimes photos and sometimes sketches. Not intended for professional use, but as a guide for campers in the Somerset, Pennsylvania area. Included here as an aid to beginners, since the trees mentioned are generally common in our area as well.