Tree ID is a good way to get closer to nature. Here are some tips on how to get the most out of the learning process.
As you read about tree identification, you may be in despair about ever being able to confidently apply the details to actual identification, especially in winter. But the real point, unless you are depending on the trees for your survival, is simply to develop your skills of observation, to slow yourself down and focus your mind in order to open to the messages of the natural world. Having a concrete goal, such as learning to identify the trees, keeps your attention on the plants as you make your way through the woods and fields.
Here are suggestions for facilitating the learning process, which is an ongoing project. First of all, get a field guide to trees. As a beginner, you might like the Audubon Society guide, which has photos of leaves and bark. Later on, you may prefer the Peterson’s guide, which goes into details of bud scales and leaf scars, with specifics on telling similar species apart. It also covers shrubs, unlike the Audubon book. But any guide will be of assistance.
I suggest that you pick a certain area—perhaps your own property, the street in front of your house, a friend’s yard, or a nearby park—and get to know specific trees in that spot. Make your educated guess as to their identity. Go there at least once a week to study the trees, especially in early to mid-spring when the buds are unfurling. As leafing starts, you may want to go every day to get the full effect of the beauty and drama of the transition from bud to leaf, in which the leaves change shape and size with amazing rapidity. The leaves will help you confirm your guesses about the winter trees.
Use as many senses as you can. Rub your hand on the trunk to learn the feel of the bark, whose texture is often easier to remember than its visual pattern. If you can reach a twig, scratch off a bit of outer bark and smell the green inner bark to see if you have a sweet or yellow birch, both of which smell like wintergreen, or wild cherry, with its bitter almond aroma. Some kinds of aspen have fragrant, sticky buds. Fragrance implies flavor, and none of these buds or twigs are poisonous, so you may chew on them. Stand among the branches of a young pine and stroke your face with the soft needles. Listen to the wind sighing among pine boughs or rattling dry beech leaves. Experience the trees as many ways as you can, for acquaintance and, equally, for pleasure.
