Buds and twigs

Bud arrangement

Buds sit where leaves grew, so they follow the same pattern. Opposite buds come in pairs and alternate buds are staggered. This separates maples, ash and dogwood from most other broadleaf trees even in winter.

Bud appearance

Look at the size, shape, colour and covering of the buds. Beech buds are long, slender and pointed like a cigar. Horse chestnut buds are large and sticky. Tulip tree buds look like a duck's bill. Red maple buds are rounded and red, in clusters. Hickory buds can be large and covered with a few scales, and the end bud of shagbark is big and pointed.

Count the scales covering a bud and note whether they overlap like roof tiles. Check whether buds cluster at the tip of the twig, as they do on oaks. Compare the size and colour of the end bud with the side buds.

Scars

When a leaf falls it leaves a scar on the twig. The shape of the scar, and the dots inside it where the veins ran, differ between species and help to separate similar trees. Horse chestnut leaf scars are shaped like a horseshoe, complete with nail-hole dots. Walnut scars have a monkey-face look, with three pairs of bundle scars.

Cut and smell

Walnut twigs have a chambered pith, which is divided into plates when you slice the twig lengthwise. Hickory twigs have solid pith. Crushing and smelling a fresh twig can help too, but only smell it. Do not taste what you have not identified. Cherry twigs smell of bitter almond when scratched, and sassafras twigs smell spicy.

Winter tips

Dead leaves that stay on over winter are a clue in themselves. Beech and young oaks keep brown leaves until spring. Tamarack, a conifer, is bare in winter, which can mislead you into thinking it is dead.