How Well Do You Know Your Oaks?
How well do you know your oaks? As it turns out, winter isn’t such a bad time to improve your oak tree identification skills.
The leaves of oaks contain high levels of tannins. These tannins slow down the decomposition process, giving us ample opportunity to study oaks throughout the winter season.
Pictured here are the leaves of 8 oaks that grow in eastern North America. In this part of the world, oaks belong to a few groups including the red and white oak groups. A simple way to tell the difference between the two groups is to look for bristles.
Members of the red oak group have leaves with bristles at the tips of lobes. In the unlobed species (e.g., shingle oak), you will often see a bristle at the tip of the leaf apex.
Members of the white oak group have leaves lacking bristles at the tips of lobes or leaf apex. In most cases, the lobes look distinctly rounded and not sharply pointed. Exceptions do exist.
In this image, members of the white oak group include white oak, swamp white oak, and chestnut oak. The rest all belong to the red oak group. Within a single species, variation in leaf shape is sometimes large.
Access to sunlight often has a lot to do with differences in leaf morphology. While winter presents a few challenges for successful tree identification, the task isn’t impossible.
Be optimistic and approach tree identification like any other skill: commit, practice, teach, and learn.
The leaves of oaks contain high levels of tannins. These tannins slow down the decomposition process, giving us ample opportunity to study oaks throughout the winter season.
Pictured here are the leaves of 8 oaks that grow in eastern North America. In this part of the world, oaks belong to a few groups including the red and white oak groups. A simple way to tell the difference between the two groups is to look for bristles.
Members of the red oak group have leaves with bristles at the tips of lobes. In the unlobed species (e.g., shingle oak), you will often see a bristle at the tip of the leaf apex.
Members of the white oak group have leaves lacking bristles at the tips of lobes or leaf apex. In most cases, the lobes look distinctly rounded and not sharply pointed. Exceptions do exist.
In this image, members of the white oak group include white oak, swamp white oak, and chestnut oak. The rest all belong to the red oak group. Within a single species, variation in leaf shape is sometimes large.
Access to sunlight often has a lot to do with differences in leaf morphology. While winter presents a few challenges for successful tree identification, the task isn’t impossible.
Be optimistic and approach tree identification like any other skill: commit, practice, teach, and learn.