NR110
Tree & Shrub ID
Lecture October 18 & 19, 2010
1. Plant Collection
2. Quiz in lab this week
3. Forest Regions in Canada
4. Review species to date
5. Preview this week’s lab
Binomials
For Plant Collection Labels
Genus species Authority
ie. Pinus strobus L. or
Pinus strobus L.
For Weekly Quizzes
Pinus strobus white pine
Families (Genera) in
Lab to Date
• Cupressaceae cypress family
Juniperus, Thuja, Chamaecyparis,
Sequioadendron, Sequoia
• Pinaceae pine family
Pinus, Larix
Families (Genera) in
Lab this week
• Pinaceae
Abies, Pseudotsuga, Tsuga, Picea
• Taxaceae
Taxus
• Ginkgoacea
Ginkgo
Quiz This Week
Material for Quiz this week
includes everything up to and
including lab 2 weeks ago.
Forest Regions in Canada
See separate PowerPoint.
Pinus strobus –
Eastern white pine Michigan
Hauling white pine logs by
sleigh on a lake.
Broad axes used to
‘square’ logs in eastern
Ontario in 1912. Logs
assembled on rafts &
floated down rivers.
Pinus strobus –
Eastern white pine
Pinus monticola - Western white pine
Pinus ponderosa –
ponderosa pine
Pinus resinosa – red pine
Pinus banksiana
jack pine
Pinus contorta Pinus contorta
lodgepole pine Fact Sheet
Pinus sylvestris
scots pine
Pinus mugo more
mugho pine
Larix laricina
tamarack
Larix laricina
tamarack
What kind of twigs
are shown here?
What time of year
is this?
When did the
seed mature?
When did the
cones open?
Larix occidentalis – western larch
Southern, interior
British
Columbia
“extruded”
cone scale bracts
Larix decidua
european larch
This Week’s Lab
• Conifer ID Lab # 3
3 charts :
Abies, Pseudotsuga, Tsuga
Picea
Taxus, Ginkgo
CHART
#3A
Part of Group 5
Abies – true fir
(Group 5)
• deciduous cones
• flat, blunt-tipped needles
• shade tolerant
Abies balsamea – balsam fir
• eastern & central
species
• Boreal Forest climax
• Why?
• Contributes to fire
cycle
• spruce budworm
Abies balsamea – balsam fir
• deciduous scales
• break-up from early
Sept.
• bare axis remains for
several years
• spire-tipped crown
Abies lasiocarpa – subalpine fir
• Leaves:
• white lines of
stomata on both
sides
• variable lengths on
same twig
• Twigs:
• brownish and hairy
• Subalpine Forest
Region (Interior BC)
similar ecological role to
balsam fir : “species pair”
Abies lasiocarpa – subalpine fir
Abies amabilis – amabilis fir
• Leaves:
– dark green above, very
glaucous below
– not completely 2-ranked
– smells like oranges
• Southern Pacific Coastal
Forest Region
Abies amabilis – amabilis fir
Fruits:
• woody,
deciduous
• 9-14 cm long
• purplish to
brown (with age)
• ripen in late
August
Abies grandis – grand fir
Southern interior & coastal
BC
lowland species
Pseudostsuga – douglas-fir
(Group 5)
Some useful websites
• gymnosperm database
• more
Pseudotsuga menziesii – douglas-fir
Not a true fir, so common name
is hyphenated
• Two varieties of Douglas-fir:
– coastal (var. menziesii)
– interior (“Rocky Mountain
Douglas-fir” – var. glauca)
• as tall as 85 m on coast and 42
m in interior
• Interior variety is smaller,
slower growing and less
commercially important
Pseudotsuga menziesii – douglas-fir
Leaves
– sasa on small woody base
– petiole
– glaucous on bottom
Twigs
- sharp-pointed
- orange-brown
Pseudotsuga menziesii – douglas-fir
Cones have distinctive 3-pronged bract
Tsuga – hemlock (Group 5)
Leaves
• sasa each with a petiole
• small woody base
• flat, 2-ranked & leaves of various lengths
• glaucous below
Twigs
• pubescent
Fruit
• small woody cones
• hang from the tips of branches
Tsuga canadensis – eastern hemlock
• Great Lakes/St. Lawrence
Forest Region
Tsuga canadensis – eastern hemlock
Tsuga heterophylla – western hemlock
Coastal and Southern
Interior BC
Forest Regions?
Tsuga heterophylla – western hemlock
Tsuga mertensiana – mountain hemlock
Chart 3B
(Rest of Group 5)
Picea – spruce
• Leaves
– sasp, short & sharp-pointed
– 4-sided (mostly)
• Twigs
– woody pegs or sterigmata
• Fruit
– woody cones, no umbo
– 2 seeds per scale; seeds terminally
winged and wind dispersed
Picea glauca – white spruce
• Leaves
– stiff and straight
– green to bluish-green
– larger than Picea mariana
– smell like ammonia (cat spruce)
• Buds are larger than Picea mariana
– bud scales same length as the bud
• “typical species” of the Boreal forest region
Picea glauca – white spruce
Twigs
• glabrous (hairless)
Cones
• 3-6 cm long
– no stalk
– slender & long
Picea mariana – black spruce
cluster of cones
• Leaves
– shorter
– softer
• Twigs
– pubescent
(fine, soft, short hairs)
• typical species of
the Boreal forest
region
Picea mariana – black spruce
• Bud scales extend past terminal bud and end in a bristle/”hairy”
tip
• egg-shaped cones – “semi-serotinous”
Picea mariana vs. Picea glauca
• Needle size, colour
Sw needles are longer &
stiffer, distinctive smell
• Cone size, shape
Sw cones are longer &
lighter in colour
• Terminal bud scales
Sb looks like a candle flame
• Twig colour
Sw is lighter in colour, hairless
• Tree form
Sw branches “perky”;
Sb branches droop & clustered cones at tip
• Habitat
Sw needs better sites; Sb acidic
wet or dry, nutrient poor sites
Picea engelmannii –
engelmann spruce
• very similar to Picea
glauca
• at higher elevations
in the mountains
Picea engelmannii –
engelmann spruce
Fruit
– cones 4-8 cm long
– loose fitting scales
– wavy margins
– larger than P. glauca,
smaller than P. abies
Picea sitchensis – sitka spruce
• Leaves
– flattened
– glaucous below
• Twigs are glabrous (smooth,
no hairs)
Picea sitchensis – sitka spruce
• Fruits
– cones 5-11 cm long
– pendulous
– thin, loose-fitting scales
– usually larger than P. engelmannii
• Pacific Coast forest region
Picea rubens – red spruce
• Leaves
– bright yellow -
green
– shiny
• Twigs
– pubescent, bud scales
extend past terminal bud
• Acadian forest
region (Maritimes)
Picea rubens – red spruce
• Hybridizes with P. mariana,
– ID is difficult where ranges overlap (takes experience
to identify correctly)
• Cones 3-5 cm long, dark brown, short stalk
(roughly intermediate in size to P. glauca and P. mariana)
Picea pungens
(Colorado) blue spruce
• Leaves:
– very stiff & rel. long
– usually blue-green
– & glaucous
• Twigs are glabrous
• distinctive smell
Native to US Rocky
Mtns. range map
Introduced in
Canada
Picea pungens
(Colorado) blue spruce
• Fruits:
– cylindrical cones
– loose fitting scales
– erose (irregularly toothed)
margins
Picea abies
Norway spruce
• Leaves: • Twigs: • Native to
• green •glabrous Europe &
• lustrous (shiny) • large orange buds Asia
• no glaucous “bloom”• often ‘droopy’
Picea abies
Norway spruce
• large cones
• very long
• cone scales rigid
CHART
3C
Group 6
Taxaceae – yew (Group 6)
Taxaceae description
Taxus – yew
Taxus canadensis – Canada yew
Leaves
• linear with abrupt tip
• petiole
• yellow-green
• 2 - ranked
Twigs
• glabrous
• 2nd year green to brownish
• Dioecious (one sex/plant)
• eastern Canada
Taxus canadensis – Canada yew
• Fruits: scarlet arils
• shrub
Taxus brevifolia Pacific or
western yew
Pacific or western yew
Ginkgoacea – Ginkgo
(Group 7)
Ginkgo – common ginkgo
Coniferophyta : Ginkgophyta
Integrated Taxonomic Information System
Kingdom Plantae
Division Ginkgophyta
Class Ginkgoopsida
Order Ginkgoales
Family Ginkgoaceae
Genus Ginkgo
Species Ginkgo biloba L.
common ginkgo, maidenhair tree
Ginkgo biloba – ginkgo
• Leaves: broad & deciduous, but
gymnosperm because its ovules
are borne naked on stalks, not
within pistil of a flower
Ginkgo biloba – ginkgo
• Leaves
– deciduous
– fan-shaped
– often lobed
– dichotomous venation (“Y”)
• After first year, twigs
produce distinct spur shoots
or dwarf twigs
• Dioecious
• Native to China
Ginkgo biloba – ginkgo
• Fruit are yellow-green drupes, smell like rancid butter
