Rivanna Chapter

Virginia Master Naturalists

 

Serving the
Central Piedmont of Virginia


Useful Websites for the Study of Trees


3. Winter Tree Identification

  1. Winter Twig Keys to Common, Native, Fully Deciduous Trees and Phanerophyte Shrubs of the North Carolina Eastern Piedmont
    As the title well indicates, this is an academic publication, heavy with passive voice and a bloodless style, but it provides a useful online tool for keying out winter twigs. No illustrations or photos.

  2. A Beginning Guide to Winter Tree Identification
    This guide by Steve Nix is on the Forestry portion of the “About.com” website. Contains some very helpful basic information along with identification tips. Also links to additional pages such as “Tree Leaf Identifier and Key,” “Tree Identification Guidebook,” “100 Most Common Trees,” “20 Common Tree Diseases,” “Tree Anatomy and Identification,” “Tree ID Glossary,” etc. This is a commercial site, and the ads can be distracting, but it is useful and informative.

  3. Identifying Trees in Winter A brief one-page article by Violet Snow on using bark, buds, growth patterns, and lingering seed pods to identify trees. This article references only deciduous trees, but there is a link to another article on “Pines, Conifers, and Evergreens.” A more focused--but still brief--article by the same author on “Identifying Trees by Their Bark” may be found at http://botany.suite101.com/article.cfm/identifying_trees_by_their_bark.