Branches, Buds, and Bark – Oh My! What We Learned at the Winter Tree and Shrub Identification Workshop.

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On Sunday, January 16th PLC partnered with the Brookline, NH Conservation Commission and UNH Extension to host a Winter Tree and Shrub ID Event at Hobart-Fessenden Woods in Brookline, NH – and winter it was! Morning temperatures clocked in at a balmy 7 degrees, but folks showed up bundled up and well-prepared to enjoy the day. Mike Gagnon of the UNH Extension Forestry and Wildlife Team led the outing and guided us through more than 20 tree and shrub identifications.

Winter identifications can be tricky without foliage and flowers, but with the right mindset for observation, familiarity with field guides, and clever pneumonic devices it can be a great way to challenge your skills and enjoy nature in the colder seasons.

One of the first things we learned? You’ll find the most species diversity along the edges of forests, fields, and wetlands. As you move deeper into the forest shade increases, and habitat becomes more consistent you’ll find fewer species. We ended up staying close to Cider Mill Pond, as there was so much to look at right at the trailhead! Gagnon walked the group through branching patterns, bud characteristics, and ways to evaluate and describe different barks to help us get closer to positive identifications.

We didn’t log a lot of miles, but we made plenty of progress sharpening our winter tree and shrub ID skills.

Here are five trees and shrubs we learned about:

White Ash – Fraxinus americana

White Ash has notably stout twigs with an opposite branching pattern, a huge clue! Plant families with opposite branching patterns are less common and include[1]:

  • Maple trees
  • Ash trees
  • Horse chestnut tree
  • Dogwood trees/shrubs
  • Viburnums (arrowwood, maple-leaf viburnum, nannyberry, etc.)
  • Elderberry

We then found woodpecker damage in the crown of the tree, a sign that Emerald Ash Borer is present. Emerald Ash Borer is an invasive insect that only targets ash trees, and woodpeckers find them particularly tasty. If you see something referred to as “blonding” (exposed lighter wood) on a tree it is likely a host to EAB, and if it is a host to EAB it is definitely an ash tree. Woodpeckers peel away the first layers of bark to expose the cambium layer and get to their lunch, as this is where EAB larvae feed and bore maze-like galleries, ultimately killing the tree. You can learn more about EAB in New Hampshire here.


[1] https://extension.unh.edu/blog/2018/01/mind-your-bs-identify-winter-trees


Silky Dogwood – Cornus amomum

We noticed a shrub in the wetland area of Cider Mill Pond, first noting its opposite branching pattern. Then, Mike asked the group an obvious but necessary narrowing question: “Is this a tree?”

The group unanimously agreed that it was not a tree, leading us to a shrub – likely a member of the dogwood family. But which one was it?

The smooth red bark made both silky and red-osier dogwoods a candidate. How can you tell the two apart? The trick is in the pith – or the central tissue of the plant. Once we sliced a sample of the plant with pruning shears, we were able to clearly see a tan center – a characteristic exclusive to the silky dogwood. We also noticed very fine silky hairs on the new growth of the plant, a characteristic that fits with the common name.



American Chestnut – Castanea dentata

A short ways up the trail we spotted a straight, young sapling with smooth bark. Notably, there was a similar looking but dead sapling next to it. “You’ll know what this is because of what it is,” said Gagnon rather cryptically. We saw that the sapling had sprouted from the same stump as the dead one, and it became clear that this was the blight-ravaged American Chestnut. The pathogen, Cryphonectria parasitica, has reduced the once dominant tree to a successional shrub.

American Chestnut restoration projects are in progress, seeking paths to renewed hope for the species. You can learn about these projects led by the American Chestnut Foundation at https://acf.org/.



Blue Beech – Carpinus caroliniana

If you’re a plant nerd, you’ve almost certainly bumped into plants with a laundry list of folk names, and it seems like everyone refers to it as something different. Carpinus caroliniana might be referred to as American hornbeam, musclewood, ironwood, muscle beech, or blue beech. The defining characteristic of this smaller tree is a unique bark appearance – the undulations appear to be sinuous or muscley, giving this species a few of its nicknames.



Pitch Pine – Pinus rigida

New Englanders are familiar with the ubiquitous white pine, easily recognizable by its bluish-green tufts of five needles and elongated cones – but there are other species of pine in our forests.

We were lucky enough to spot a tall, 3-needled evergreen tree with stout, prickly, pointy cones visible from the ground and scattered around its base – a pitch pine! Pitch pine cones are unique in that they may hold onto their seeds until an extreme heat event (like a forest fire), making their release timely to ensure the survival of the species. These fire-adapted cones are called “serotinous” cones.



We also learned about black cherry bark having a potato-chip like flakiness, the differences between fir, spruce, and hemlock needles, what poison ivy looks like without it’s signature leaves-of-three (it’s furry!), and how to use all evidence available to help you on an identification adventure. A huge thank you to Mike Gagnon for sharing so much information and knowledge.

We’re teaming up with UNH Extension again in March for a post timber harvest tour of the Tuthill Woodlands Preserve in New Boston. This will be a fantastic opportunity to see how a well-managed forestry plan can help habitat and meet stewardship goals. Don’t want to miss it? Be sure you are subscribed to PLC’s E-News to stay up to date on our latest events and announcements.

Mike Gagnon is the Hillsborough County Forester with UNH Extension. He is available to landowners for consultation about timber harvests, forest management plans, and other forestry inquiries. Mike can be reached at Michael.Gagnon@unh.edu.