Tree Identification Guide

Start here: needles or leaves?

Every tree in this guide falls on one side of this split. Decide this first, then use the matching key below.

Conifer key

Pick a twig with needles on it. Work down the questions; each answer either names the tree or sends you to the next step.

1. 1

   How are the needles attached?

   • →Not needles at all — tiny overlapping scales pressed flat to the twigJuniper, cedar, or cypress. Not covered in this guide.
   • →In bundles of 1–5 wrapped together at the base by a papery sheathPinePonderosa PinePinyon Pine
   • →In soft tufts of 15–30 on knobby short spurs; the whole tree turns gold and drops its needles in fallLarch / Tamarack
   • →Singly, one needle per spot on the twigGo to the next question.
2. 2

   Single needles: roll one between your finger and thumb.

   • →It rolls easily (four-sided), feels sharp, and sits on a tiny woody peg. Cones hang down.Spruce
   • →It will not roll (flat), feels soft or "friendly"Go to the next question.
3. 3

   Flat needles: look at the cones and the buds.

   • →Cones stand upright on the branch and fall apart on the tree — you rarely find a whole one on the ground. Needle scars are round suction-cup dots.Fir
   • →Cones hang down with three-pointed "mouse tail" bracts poking out between the scales. Buds are pointed, shiny, and reddish-brown.Douglas-fir
   • →Cones are small (under an inch, up to 3 inches on mountain hemlock), needles are short with two white stripes beneath, the top of the tree droops over.Hemlock
   • →Bark is thick, fibrous, and red; cones are small round balls; the tree is enormous and you are in the coastal fog belt.Coast Redwood
   • →None of these fitProbably a conifer not in this guide (yew, cypress, juniper). Check a regional field guide.

Broadleaf key

Look at how leaves attach to the twig before you look at the leaf itself. In winter the buds and leaf scars follow the same pattern, so this key still works on a bare tree.

1. 1

   Are the leaves (and buds) opposite each other on the twig, or alternating?

   • →Opposite, simple lobed leaf, paired "helicopter" seedsMaple
   • →Opposite, compound leaf with 5–9 leaflets, diamond-furrowed barkAsh
   • →AlternateGo to the next question. (Mnemonic: among common native trees, only MAD Buck trees are opposite — Maple, Ash, Dogwood, Buckeye.)
2. 2

   Alternate leaves: is each leaf one blade, or a stem with many leaflets?

   • →Compound, 5–9 leaflets (shagbark usually 5), the end three largest, bark peeling in long shaggy platesHickory
   • →Compound, 15–23 leaflets, twig pith chambered when split lengthwise, round green nuts that stain your handsBlack Walnut
   • →Simple (one blade)Go to the next question.
3. 3

   Simple alternate leaves: lobed or not?

   • →Acorns underfoot and buds clustered at the tip of the twig (leaf usually lobed; live oak and chestnut oak are not)Oak
   • →Lobed like a maple but alternate; bark peels in camouflage patches to white; fuzzy seed balls hang on long stalksSycamore
   • →Four lobes with the tip cut flat or notched, like a tulip or a cat faceTulip Tree / Yellow Poplar
   • →Not lobed (edge toothed or smooth)Go to the next question.
4. 4

   Unlobed alternate leaves: now read the bark and the seed.

   • →Bark peels in papery horizontal curls, white or bronze, with horizontal dash marksBirch
   • →Bark smooth and chalk-white to pale green, does not peel, black knots and scars; leaves tremble in the slightest breezeAspen
   • →Leaf triangular with a flat stalk, bark deeply furrowed, huge tree on a riverbank, cotton fluff in early summerCottonwood
   • →Little woody cones (last year's) still on the twigs year-round; streamsideAlder
   • →Bark smooth silver-gray like an elephant's leg; long cigar-shaped buds; leaf veins straight and parallelBeech
   • →Bark smooth blue-gray with sinewy muscle-like ridges; small understory treeHornbeam / Ironwood
   • →Leaf base lopsided (one side lower than the other), edge doubly toothed, often rough to the touch; vase-shaped crownElm
   • →Long narrow leaf with big hooked teeth; spiny burs; usually a cluster of sprouts around an old stumpAmerican Chestnut
   • →Leaves leathery and evergreen (West Coast)TanoakGolden ChinquapinMadrone
   • →None of these fitProbably a tree not in this guide (cherry, basswood, willow, hackberry, dogwood). Check a regional field guide.

Conifers

Needles and cones. Most of the prized mycorrhizal mushrooms — king boletes, matsutake, chanterelles in the West — partner with these.

Pine

Pinus spp.

Needles come in bundles — count them.

LeafLong needles bound together at the base in bundles (fascicles) of 2, 3, or 5. Eastern white pine = 5 soft needles; lodgepole and jack pine = 2; most southern pines = 2–3.

BarkScaly plates or furrowed; reddish-brown to gray depending on species.

SeedA woody cone with thick scales, often with a small prickle on each scale (white pines have none). Falls whole.

WhereShape ranges from a neat cone when young to a flat, irregular crown in age. Dry and sandy ground, ridges, and the tree most often planted in rows.

Not to be confused withSpruce and fir — but neither bundles its needles. If you can pull off a little wrapped bundle, it is a pine.

For the forager

Matsutake, slippery jack, suillus host.

Across North America

Ponderosa Pine

Pinus ponderosa

Three long needles per bundle and bark that smells like vanilla.

LeafNeedles 5–10 inches long in bundles of 3 (sometimes 2), stiff, in brushy tufts at the branch tips.

BarkOn mature trees, big cinnamon-orange jigsaw-puzzle plates that flake off. Put your nose in a crack on a warm day: vanilla or butterscotch.

SeedEgg-shaped cones 3–5 inches with prickles that point outward ("prickly ponderosa"). Jeffrey pine cones in California have prickles that turn inward ("gentle Jeffrey").

WhereTall, open, straight-trunked, often in park-like stands with grass beneath. Dry mountain slopes and foothills across the West.

Not to be confused withJeffrey pine in the Sierra and southern Cascades (check the prickle direction); lodgepole pine (2 short needles, small tree).

For the forager

Iconic western pine. Bolete + chanterelle + Suillus host. Vanilla-scented bark.

Pacific NorthwestSouthwest / CaliforniaRocky Mountain

Pinyon Pine

Pinus edulis

A short, bushy pine with stubby paired needles and nut-filled cones.

LeafNeedles only 1–2 inches, in bundles of 2 (Pinus edulis) or singly (singleleaf pinyon, P. monophylla). Blue-green, stiff, curved.

BarkGray-brown, scaly, irregular; trunk often twisted and short.

SeedSmall round cones 1–2 inches that open to reveal large wingless brown nuts — the edible pinyon nut.

WhereRarely over 30 feet; rounded, shrubby, often grown together with juniper on dry mesas and foothills (pinyon-juniper woodland).

Not to be confused withJuniper, which shares the same ground — but juniper has scaly or awl-shaped leaves, never needles in bundles, and blue "berries" instead of cones.

For the forager

Pinyon nut edible. SW truffle / bolete host.

Southwest / CaliforniaRocky Mountain

Spruce

Picea spp.

Needles are sharp, square, and roll between your fingers; the twig is rough with pegs.

LeafShort stiff needles attached singly, each on a tiny woody peg. Four-sided, so a needle rolls easily. Sharp enough to be unpleasant to grab.

BarkThin, scaly, gray to reddish-brown flakes.

SeedCones hang down and fall whole; scales papery and flexible. Engelmann spruce 1–3 inches; blue spruce 2–4; white and black spruce smaller.

WhereNarrow spire with branches to the ground. Cold wet places: high mountain forests, boreal forest, swamps.

Not to be confused withFir. Remember "spruce is sharp and square, fir is flat and friendly." When needles drop, a spruce twig stays rough with pegs; a fir twig is smooth with round scars.

For the forager

King bolete, spruce tips edible.

Pacific NorthwestRocky MountainMidwest & PlainsNortheast

Fir

Abies spp.

Flat, soft needles with a round leaf scar, and cones that stand up and shatter.

LeafFlat needles that will not roll, often blunt or notched at the tip, usually with two pale stripes beneath. Pull one off: it leaves a round, flat, suction-cup-like scar.

BarkSmooth and gray with resin blisters when young; furrowed with age.

SeedCones sit upright on the top branches like candles and disintegrate scale by scale in autumn, leaving a bare spike. Whole fir cones on the ground are rare — if you find whole cones, think spruce or Douglas-fir.

WhereSymmetrical, narrow, spire-topped. Subalpine fir and grand fir in the West, balsam fir in the Northeast and boreal forest.

Not to be confused withSpruce (roll test), Douglas-fir (hanging cones with bracts), hemlock (much smaller cones, drooping leader).

For the forager

Matsutake, king bolete, chanterelle host.

Pacific NorthwestRocky MountainNortheast

Douglas-fir

Pseudotsuga menziesii

Mouse-tail cones and pointed cinnamon-colored buds.

LeafFlat, soft needles about an inch long, radiating all around the twig, with a sweet citrus smell when crushed.

BarkYoung trees smooth gray with resin blisters; old trees thick, deeply furrowed, and corky — reddish-brown in the cracks.

SeedHanging cones 2–4 inches with a three-pointed bract sticking out from under every scale, like the hind legs and tail of a mouse diving in. No other tree has this.

WhereVery tall and straight; the dominant tree of the Pacific Northwest lowlands and common across the Rockies. Pointed, shiny brown buds are the winter giveaway.

Not to be confused withTrue firs (cones upright, no bracts) and hemlock. The "fir" in its name is misleading — it is in its own genus.

For the forager

Chanterelle, matsutake, king bolete host (PNW).

Pacific NorthwestRocky Mountain

Hemlock

Tsuga spp.

Tiny cones, short flat needles in two rows, and a nodding top.

LeafNeedles half an inch, flat, blunt, dark green with two white lines beneath, arranged in two flat rows along the twig. A row of tiny upside-down needles runs along the top of the twig (eastern hemlock).

BarkReddish-brown to gray, flaky when young, deeply furrowed in old trees.

SeedAmong the smallest cones of any native conifer: under an inch on eastern and western hemlock (1–3 inches on mountain hemlock), hanging from the twig tips.

WhereLacy, graceful pyramid with a leader that droops over instead of standing stiff. Cool shady ravines, north slopes, streambanks. Western hemlock fills the same role in the Pacific Northwest.

Not to be confused withYew — which has similar flat needles but no cones (red berry-like arils instead) and is poisonous. Fir and Douglas-fir have much larger cones.

For the forager

Reishi (G. tsugae), matsutake host.

Pacific NorthwestMidwest & PlainsNortheastSoutheast

Larch / Tamarack

Larix spp.

The conifer that drops its needles.

LeafSoft, pale green needles in tufts of 15–30 on stubby spur shoots along the branch. The whole tree turns brilliant gold in October and goes bare for winter.

BarkWestern larch: thick, furrowed, reddish plates on a tall straight trunk. Tamarack: thin, scaly, gray.

SeedSmall upright cones about an inch long that persist on the bare branches all winter.

WhereWestern larch towers over the surrounding forest in northern Idaho, Montana, and eastern Washington. Tamarack (Larix laricina) is a bog and boreal tree in the Northeast and Great Lakes.

Not to be confused withA dead spruce or fir in winter (look for the knobby spurs and small persistent cones). No other native conifer grows needles in tufts on spurs.

For the forager

Deciduous conifer; host of Suillus grevillei + many larch-specific boletes.

Pacific NorthwestRocky MountainMidwest & PlainsNortheast

Coast Redwood

Sequoia sempervirens

Spongy red bark, needles in flat sprays, and a trunk wider than a car.

LeafFlat needles arranged in two rows on the lower branches, shorter and scale-like near the top of the tree. Sprays feel soft.

BarkVery thick, fibrous, reddish-brown, soft enough to punch; fire-resistant and furrowed into long vertical ridges.

SeedSurprisingly small round cones, about an inch, with wrinkled scales.

WhereThe tallest trees on Earth, in the coastal fog belt from the Oregon border south to Big Sur. Often rings of trees ("fairy rings") sprouting from a long-gone parent stump.

Not to be confused withGiant sequoia (Sierra Nevada, awl-shaped scaly leaves, bigger cones) and planted cypress. Nothing else has the bark.

For the forager

Iconic CA/OR coastal; not a major ECM host but duff hosts many saprobes.

Pacific Northwest

Broadleaf trees with opposite leaves

Only a handful of trees grow their leaves in pairs. If the leaves are opposite, you are almost done.

Maple

Acer spp.

Opposite leaves with palm-shaped lobes and helicopter seeds.

LeafSimple, opposite, with 3–5 lobes radiating from one point. Sugar maple: U-shaped notches, smooth edges. Red maple: V-shaped notches, toothed edges, red leaf stalk. Bigleaf maple (Pacific Northwest): leaves up to a foot across.

BarkGray; smooth when young, developing long irregular plates or furrows. Silver maple bark peels in shaggy strips.

SeedPairs of winged samaras joined at the base that spin down like helicopters.

WhereBroad rounded crown. Moist rich soils, bottomlands, and nearly every street in the East.

Not to be confused withSycamore and sweetgum have maple-like leaves but are alternate. Boxelder is a maple with compound leaves. Any lobed leaf growing opposite another is a maple.

For the forager

Northern tooth, honey mushroom, sap → syrup.

Across North America

Ash

Fraxinus americana

Opposite compound leaves and diamond-patterned bark.

LeafOpposite, pinnately compound with 5–9 (usually 7) pointed leaflets. The leaflets are opposite each other too.

BarkGray and tightly furrowed into a net of diamond shapes on mature trees — like a stretched chain-link fence.

SeedSingle paddle-shaped samaras hanging in dense clusters, like a bunch of canoe paddles.

WhereTall, upright, oval crown. Rich bottomland soils. Across its range the emerald ash borer is killing ash in waves — look for D-shaped exit holes and pale "blonded" bark where woodpeckers have stripped it.

Not to be confused withHickory and walnut (alternate, not opposite). Boxelder (opposite but only 3–5 leaflets and paired maple-style seeds).

For the forager

Morel indicator (dying ash from EAB damage).

Midwest & PlainsNortheastSoutheast

Broadleaf trees with alternate leaves

The big group. Sort them by compound vs simple, lobed vs not, then read the bark and the seed.

Hickory

Carya spp.

Shaggy bark peeling in long plates, five leaflets, thick-husked nuts.

LeafAlternate, compound, 5–9 leaflets (shagbark usually 5) with the end three noticeably larger than the lower ones.

BarkShagbark: gray bark curling away in long vertical plates a foot or more long, loose at both ends. Other hickories are tight and furrowed.

SeedA round nut in a thick green husk that splits into four sections when ripe. Sweet in shagbark and shellbark; bitter in pignut and bitternut.

WhereTall, straight trunk with a narrow crown. Upland and bottomland hardwood forests of the East and Midwest, often mixed with oak.

Not to be confused withWalnut (more leaflets, chambered pith), ash (opposite). Pecan is a hickory with 9–17 leaflets.

For the forager

Huge Eastern bolete + russula host. Hickory nuts edible.

Midwest & PlainsNortheastSoutheast

Black Walnut

Juglans nigra

Fifteen or more leaflets, a chambered pith, and nuts that stain your hands brown.

LeafAlternate, compound, 15–23 leaflets; the end leaflet is often missing or tiny. Crushed leaves smell spicy.

BarkDark brown to nearly black, deeply furrowed in a rough diamond pattern.

SeedRound green husked nuts, golf-ball to small-tennis-ball size; the husk stains skin and clothes dark brown. The nut inside is hard and deeply ridged.

WhereOpen, rounded crown; often a lone tree on a bottomland or an old field edge. Little grows under it — the roots release juglone, which suppresses many plants.

Not to be confused withTree-of-heaven (Ailanthus), an invasive with similar leaves — it has a gland-tipped tooth at the base of each leaflet and smells like rancid peanut butter. Split a twig: walnut pith is divided into chambers.

For the forager

Morel indicator along riparian bottoms. Juglone inhibits many understory plants.

Rocky MountainMidwest & PlainsNortheastSoutheast

Oak

Quercus spp.

Lobed leaves, acorns, and buds clustered at the twig tip.

LeafAlternate, simple, lobed. White oak group: rounded lobes, no bristles. Red oak group: pointed lobes each ending in a tiny bristle. Live oaks and some western oaks have leathery unlobed leaves.

BarkWhite oaks: light gray, scaly or blocky. Red oaks: darker, with flat-topped ridges.

SeedThe acorn — a nut seated in a scaly cup. Nothing else makes one, so acorns underfoot settle the question.

WhereBroad, spreading, with heavy horizontal limbs. Everywhere: dry ridges, bottomlands, oak savannas, and lawns. A cluster of several buds at the very end of each twig is the winter tell.

Not to be confused withSassafras and mulberry have lobed leaves but no acorns. Chestnut oak is sometimes mistaken for chestnut — check for rounded teeth and acorns.

For the forager

Truffle / bolete / chanterelle host. Acorns edible after leaching.

Across North America

Sycamore

Platanus occidentalis

Camouflage bark peeling to bone-white, and fuzzy seed balls on strings.

LeafAlternate, simple, broad and maple-like with 3–5 shallow lobes, often wider than long. The base of the leaf stalk hollow-caps the bud.

BarkThe giveaway: mottled gray, green, and tan patches that flake off to reveal chalk-white inner bark, especially on the upper trunk and limbs.

SeedRound, fuzzy seed balls about an inch across, hanging singly on long stalks through winter. (Planted London plane trees usually hang two per stalk.)

WhereMassive, often with a hollow trunk; the largest-diameter tree in the East. Riverbanks and floodplains.

Not to be confused withMaple (opposite leaves, helicopter seeds). Once you have seen the bark you will not confuse it again.

For the forager

Morel indicator — dying old sycamores in creek bottoms produce flushes.

Midwest & PlainsNortheastSoutheast

Tulip Tree / Yellow Poplar

Liriodendron tulipifera

A leaf that looks like someone cut the tip off.

LeafAlternate, simple, four-lobed with a flat or notched tip — the outline looks like a tulip, or a cat's face. Bright yellow in fall.

BarkGray with regular, interlacing furrows; young trees smooth with pale streaks.

SeedUpright cone-shaped clusters of papery winged seeds; the seeds peel away through winter, leaving a bare central spike standing on the twig.

WhereOne of the tallest and straightest eastern hardwoods, often with no branches for 50 feet. Showy green-and-orange tulip-shaped flowers in late spring. Rich, moist coves.

Not to be confused withNothing, once you have the leaf. Also called yellow poplar, but it is a magnolia relative, not a poplar.

For the forager

Eastern hardwood; saprobic oyster + chicken-of-the-woods on standing dead.

Midwest & PlainsNortheastSoutheast

Birch

Betula spp.

Papery bark that peels in horizontal curls, with dash-shaped marks.

LeafAlternate, simple, oval to triangular with a pointed tip and doubly-toothed edge (big teeth with small teeth on them).

BarkPaper birch: chalky white, peeling in horizontal papery sheets, marked with long horizontal dashes (lenticels). Yellow birch: bronze and shaggy, twigs smell of wintergreen. River birch: salmon-pink peeling curls.

SeedShort plump catkins that break apart into tiny winged seeds; long dangling pollen catkins hang from the twig tips over winter and open in spring.

WhereSlender, often multi-trunked, with an airy crown. Northern and mountain forests, lake shores, and the first tree back after fire or logging.

Not to be confused withAspen. Birch bark peels and has horizontal dashes; aspen bark does not peel and has a greenish cast with black scars.

For the forager

Chaga, birch bolete, birch polypore host.

Pacific NorthwestRocky MountainMidwest & PlainsNortheast

Aspen

Populus tremuloides

Smooth greenish-white bark and leaves that shiver in no wind at all.

LeafAlternate, simple, nearly round with a short point and fine teeth. The leaf stalk is flattened sideways, so the blade twists and flutters in the lightest air — hence "quaking." Gold in fall.

BarkSmooth, chalk-white to pale green, with a powdery coating and black knots, scars, and bands. It does not peel.

SeedFuzzy catkins in early spring before the leaves. Most reproduction is by root suckers, so a grove is often one organism.

WhereSlender, straight trunks in dense clonal stands, especially on mountain slopes and burned ground. The most widely distributed tree in North America.

Not to be confused withBirch (peeling bark, dashes). Cottonwood (triangular leaves, furrowed bark). In the Rockies, a stand of white trunks with black "eyes" is aspen.

For the forager

Leccinum / aspen bolete / aspen oyster host.

Pacific NorthwestRocky MountainMidwest & PlainsNortheast

Cottonwood

Populus deltoides

A giant on the riverbank with triangular leaves and cotton in June.

LeafAlternate, simple, triangular (deltoid) with a flat base, coarse rounded teeth, and a flattened leaf stalk. Glossy, and noisy in wind.

BarkSmooth and pale on young trees; on old trunks thick, gray, and deeply furrowed into rough ridges. Winter buds are large, pointed, and resinous (strongly fragrant in black cottonwood and balsam poplar).

SeedTiny seeds wrapped in white cotton that drifts in clouds in late spring and early summer and piles in drifts along roads.

WhereThe biggest broadleaf tree of the Plains and the interior West, always near water: river bottoms, irrigation ditches, lake shores. Massive spreading crown.

Not to be confused withAspen (smaller, rounder leaves, smooth bark) and willow (narrow leaves). Black cottonwood in the Pacific Northwest has darker, more oval leaves with pale undersides.

For the forager

Morel indicator (dying cottonwoods along rivers).

Across North America

Alder

Alnus spp.

Little woody cones on a broadleaf tree, growing by water.

LeafAlternate, simple, oval with a doubly-toothed edge and straight prominent veins. Red alder leaf edges curl slightly under.

BarkSmooth, pale gray, often mottled with white lichen patches on red alder; cut or scraped wood turns rust-red.

SeedSmall woody cone-like strobiles, half an inch to an inch, dark brown, that stay on the twigs all year. No other broadleaf tree keeps little cones.

WhereRed alder is the common streamside and clear-cut tree of the Pacific Northwest, forming dense even-aged thickets. Speckled and mountain alders are shrubby along eastern and mountain streams.

Not to be confused withBirch (papery catkins, not woody cones; peeling bark). Both like wet ground.

For the forager

Alnicola / Paxillus host; N-fixer near streams.

Pacific NorthwestRocky MountainNortheastSoutheast

Beech

Fagus grandifolia

Smooth silver bark, cigar-shaped buds, and leaves that hang on all winter.

LeafAlternate, simple, oval and pointed, with straight parallel veins each ending in a small tooth. Papery and glossy.

BarkSmooth, thin, silver-gray — the bark people carve initials in. Stays smooth even on old trunks. Beech bark disease leaves it pocked and cankered.

SeedSmall three-sided nuts, two to a prickly husk that splits in four. Edible and sweet.

WhereMassive, rounded, with a short trunk and low limbs. Young trees and lower branches hold their tan, dead leaves through the winter. Rich, moist eastern forests with sugar maple and hemlock. Buds are long, slender, and sharp — the "cigar."

Not to be confused withHornbeam (smooth but muscled bark, small tree) and chestnut (larger leaves with big hooked teeth, spiny burs).

For the forager

Lion's mane, truffle, bolete host. Beechnuts edible.

Midwest & PlainsNortheastSoutheast

Hornbeam / Ironwood

Carpinus caroliniana

Bark that looks like a flexed forearm.

LeafAlternate, simple, oval, doubly-toothed, with straight veins — a smaller version of birch or beech.

BarkSmooth, thin, blue-gray, with long sinewy ridges that look like muscle under skin. Hence "musclewood."

SeedSmall nutlets each tucked in a leafy three-lobed bract, hanging in loose clusters.

WhereA small understory tree, often crooked and multi-trunked, in moist bottomlands and along streams under taller hardwoods. Eastern.

Not to be confused withBeech (smooth but not fluted, becomes a huge tree). Hop-hornbeam (Ostrya, "ironwood") has shreddy bark and papery hop-like seed sacs.

For the forager

Eastern understory. Truffle + Leccinum host; related to hazel.

Midwest & PlainsNortheastSoutheast

Elm

Ulmus americana

A lopsided leaf base and a vase-shaped crown.

LeafAlternate, simple, oval with a sharp tip, doubly toothed, and distinctly asymmetric at the base — one side starts lower on the stalk than the other. Slippery elm leaves are rough as sandpaper.

BarkGray, furrowed into flat-topped ridges. Cut a flake of American elm bark and the cross-section shows alternating light and dark layers.

SeedFlat, round, papery samaras with the seed in the middle, dropping in spring before most trees leaf out.

WhereThe classic fountain or vase shape, branches arching up and out. Floodplains, river bottoms, old town streets. Dutch elm disease has killed most large ones; dying elms along rivers are the classic morel spot.

Not to be confused withHackberry (warty bark, three main veins from the leaf base, also lopsided), hornbeam, birch. Off-center base plus a doubly-toothed edge and flat papery samaras settles it.

For the forager

Morel indicator (dying elms). Elm oyster host.

Rocky MountainMidwest & PlainsNortheastSoutheast

American Chestnut

Castanea dentata

Long leaves with hooked teeth, sprouting from a blighted stump.

LeafAlternate, simple, long and narrow (5–8 inches), with large curved, bristle-tipped teeth along the edge.

BarkSmooth and dark on young sprouts; on the rare mature tree, deeply furrowed gray-brown. Orange cankers of chestnut blight girdle most stems before they get big.

SeedVery spiny green burs that split to release 2–3 flat-sided brown nuts.

WhereOnce a quarter of the eastern forest; now mostly clusters of sprouts around a long-dead stump, dying back and resprouting. Dry ridges of the Appalachians.

Not to be confused withChestnut oak (rounded teeth, acorns), beech (smaller teeth, smooth bark), and planted Chinese chestnut (smaller, spreading, fuzzy leaf underside).

For the forager

Historically the dominant Eastern ECM tree; blight-diminished but being restored.

Midwest & PlainsNortheastSoutheast

West Coast broadleaf evergreens

Leathery leaves that stay on all year. Tanoak and chinquapin are important chanterelle and bolete partners in the coast ranges.

Tanoak

Notholithocarpus densiflorus

Leathery toothed leaves with a fuzzy pale underside, and bristly acorns.

LeafAlternate, simple, evergreen, oblong and leathery with a toothed edge and strongly parallel veins. The underside is pale and felty, especially when young.

BarkGray-brown, smooth when young, furrowed in age; once harvested for tannin.

SeedAn acorn, but the cup is covered in shaggy bristles rather than flat scales.

WhereA medium evergreen with a dense rounded crown, in the coast ranges from southwest Oregon through California, mixed with redwood, Douglas-fir, and madrone. Sudden oak death has killed many stands.

Not to be confused withGolden chinquapin (untoothed leaves, gold underside, spiny bur) and the live oaks (smooth-scaled acorn cups).

For the forager

PNW/CA matsutake + candy-cap host. Shares ECM with oaks.

Pacific NorthwestSouthwest / California

Golden Chinquapin

Chrysolepis chrysophylla

Flip the leaf: solid gold underneath.

LeafAlternate, simple, evergreen, lance-shaped and leathery with a smooth untoothed edge. The underside is coated in golden-yellow scales — unmistakable.

BarkThick, reddish-brown, furrowed into plates on old trees; smooth and gray when young.

SeedA spiny chestnut-like bur holding 1–3 small sweet nuts.

WhereFrom a shrub on dry ridges to a tall tree in the Oregon and northern California coast ranges and Siskiyous, mixed with Douglas-fir and tanoak.

Not to be confused withTanoak (toothed leaves, pale fuzzy underside, acorns). The gold underside settles it.

For the forager

Pacific ECM; truffle + Russula host. Related to oak.

Pacific Northwest

Madrone

Arbutus menziesii

Cinnamon-red bark peeling to smooth green.

LeafAlternate, simple, evergreen, oval and glossy dark green with a pale underside; usually smooth-edged.

BarkThe showiest bark in the West: thin, smooth, orange-red, peeling in papery curls each summer to reveal satiny green-yellow new bark beneath. Old trunks become dark and furrowed at the base.

SeedClusters of white urn-shaped flowers in spring, then bright orange-red berries in fall.

WhereCrooked, leaning, often multi-trunked, with a broad crown; on dry sunny slopes and rocky coastlines from British Columbia to southern California.

Not to be confused withManzanita, its shrubby cousin with the same red bark but smaller, more upright leaves and a shrub habit.

For the forager

West Coast; shares ECM network with oaks.

Pacific NorthwestSouthwest / California

Field tips