Look to your bark: a lesson in tree ID
Winter is a great time to work on your tree ID skills! Using clues like: habitat type, tree shape, branching pattern, twigs, and bark; you can easily become a seer of trees, both in the winter and summer!
Of course you can use: leaves, and fruits to identify a tree as well, however, that’s only for summer ID.
One of my favorite trees to ID in the winter is hackberry or Celtis occidentalis. The bark of this tree is unlike any other forming irregular warty ridges all up and down the tree. The tree bark becomes rougher, with age.
Hackberry naturally occurs across a wide habitat range of North America; occupying habitats such as moist-mesic floodplains, among many other habitat types.
Next time you are on a walk, take a look at the bark on the trees around you. Do you see any hackberry?!
Know the plants around you!
Save plants to save the planet!
Resources:
http://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/PlantFinder/PlantFinderDetails.aspx?kempercode=a858
http://www.illinoiswildflowers.info/trees/plants/hackberry.html
https://www.ag.ndsu.edu/trees/handbook/th-3-119.pdf
Habitat map:
http://bonap.net/MapGallery/State/Celtis%20occidentalis.png
