What am I looking for?

[scgargoyle]

In a couple weeks, we'll be heading back up to our land in SC, and I want to ID as many trees as possible. Hopefully, I'll be armed w/ a new DSLR, so I can finally get decent pictures. So- what am I looking for? What should I try to photograph to aid in ID'ing the trees (Or aid you guys in ID'ing the trees)? When we bought the land, I paid little attention to what kind of trees they were, and when we went back in the winter, all the leaves were off, so it was hard to match specific leaves w/ specific trees. Any suggestions would be appreciated!

[Texas Ranger]

Leaves top and bottom with descriptions, twigs and terminal buds, bark, and general description of the trees.  An example is one of the long distance identifiers of American Elm is the vase shape of the tree.

[WDH]

A pic of the leaves attached to the twig (to show the leaf arrangement).  As TR says, good shots of individual leaves and clear pictures of the bark.

[Dodgy Loner]

Also, if any of the trees have fruits or flowers, those would be especially helpful.

[scgargoyle]

I already know that they are primarily oaks, w/ a few hickories, etc. mixed in. I won't be able to get a good look at the overall shape of the trees, as it is a dense forest. Not sure how I'm gonna get close-ups of leaves, since most of them are 50'+ above the ground, but I'll try. I'm also going to try to ID the understory stuff, too. So far I've found winged elm, holly, and one lone hemlock. One that puzzled me in the winter was a tall tree w/ sycamore-like balls on the branches, but the bark wasn't right, and there weren't any sycamore leaves to be found. I'll have a much better camera, so I may be able to zoom in on things like that. Judging from what I've learned here, I MAY have some of the following: northern red, scarlet, black, chestnut, and white oak.

[Riles]

Since you haven't mentioned sweetgum yet, I'm betting those are gum balls you see.

[scgargoyle]

No- didn't see any sweet gum leaves around, either. The only thing I can think of is maybe hickories that never dropped? We were up there in Dec, and everything was already off the trees and eaten.

[Dodgy Loner]

If you have leaves that you can't get a good picture of because they're too high in the trees, just look around on the ground and you're bound to find some that match.

[scgargoyle]

OK- here's the scorecard so far. I seem to have about 40% white oak, from 15-18" DBH, 40% red oak, from 15-24" DBH; maybe 10% tulip trees, 15-20" DBH, and the rest is a mix of red maple, sweet gum, and hickory. Those are the large trees; in the understory are some unidentified trees, plus dogwood, mountain laurel, and blueberries (lots!) I think the hickories are mockernut, due to a wide center petiole, and one big bitternut in a low area, due to the smooth bark. My only remaining question is what red oak I have. I was all set to declare them black oak, but the cambium wasn't yellow. So perhaps scarlet? Shumard? When I figger out how, I'll post a pick of a fallen, but still green leaf. The bigger trees are well spaced, and very tall and straight, so they should be good for milling. On our trip, we stayed in a cabin built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1935. The oaks in the vicinity were identical in size and species to mine, which gives me a good idea of their age, since I'm sure the CCC cleared the local trees (that's what the cabins are made of).

[Phorester]

Not so much for oak species, but some tree species have a distinctive odor or taste of leaves and/or inner bark. Crush the leaves in your hands to get their odor.  Carry a pocket knife and slice off a small patch of bark on the tree trunk or skin the bark off a pencil-sized twig to get the odor there.

[scgargoyle]

 
Here's the leaf (I think). Anyone know why I can't upload a bigger picture? I had to get down to 8 kb before it would load in my gallery. It's a bit curled, but it's a pretty good sample. I suppose yer all devourin' pig about now- you can look at it after yer nap!

[beenthere]

My initial guess is a pin oak leaf.

No reason I know that you can't load pics that are 450 pixels longest side, and 30+kb in size (at least from the FF side of the equation.... )

[Lanier_Lurker]

(Image hidden from quote, click to view.)
Here's the leaf (I think). Anyone know why I can't upload a bigger picture? I had to get down to 8 kb before it would load in my gallery. It's a bit curled, but it's a pretty good sample. I suppose yer all devourin' pig about now- you can look at it after yer nap!

My money is on scarlet.  The only pin oak you should find in SC would be planted ornamentals.

I must leave open the possibility that it is a Shumard, however.  But, I am 97% certain that is scarlet.

WDH and Dodgy Loner will show up soon and tell us for sure.

[WDH]

Lanier Lurker,

You da Man .  Look at that long petiole .

Nice pic Scgargoyle!  My money is on LL. 

BTW, the pig roast was exceptional.  Some pics tomorrow.........its late. 


Dodgy Loner and I scoured the Boss's woods.  We even had Isawlogs discussing the merits of Northern Red Oak and Black Oak .

[Phorester]

It be scarlet oak, I betcha.

[Larry]

Look at that long petiole .

Big words again so off to the Audubon glossary again...not there so I look in the dictionary.  "The stalk by which a leaf is attached to a stem; a leafstock".

So I learned something new today but I don't know how to pronounce it.  Please speak into your PC very clearly (no GA accent) and I will learn two things today.

[Riles]

It's pronounced pretty much the way it's spelled, "pet e ole." But that's a southern "ole" (good ole boy), not a yooper ole (Oly).

[WDH]

Marcel would say, "pet-e-o-lea" in his french canadian accent (don't let the man fool ya, he speaks excellent english).  In GA, we say, "pet-e-ole" (I see Riles beat me to it ).  

[Phorester]

In Virginia we say leaf stem. 

[Dodgy Loner]

Yep, it's PEH-tee-ole, with the emphasis on the first syllable.  Not to be confused with a pedicel, which is the stem of a flower, or a petiolule, which is the stem of a leaflet.