Leaves | Tree Identification

Identifying Conifers by Their Needles

Identifying conifers

Take a look at the needles, or leaves, of the tree. Conifers have needle-like leaves or scales. Evergreens are plants that keep their green foliage all year long as opposed to deciduous trees which lose their leaves in the colder months of the year. Most evergreen conifers are wind pollinated and monoecious, which means they have both male and female reproductive parts on each individual tree.

Eastern White Pine

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Eastern Hemlock

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Balsam Fir

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Red Spruce

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Norway Spruce

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Red Pine

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Pitch Pine

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If you can learn to see the difference in conifer needles, you can identify many of the species in our area.

Needles are the most important feature for identifying conifers. Needles may grow in bundles or clusters, and their color can vary from bright green to blue-green or even yellow-green. The needles can be arranged in different ways on the stem – crowded together, alternating up and down the stem, or spaced evenly around the stem. They can be long, short, soft, or sharp. Use a key to help you narrow down your choices by asking questions about characteristics of your tree such as needle shape and arrangement.

Needle bundles:

Look at how the needles are bundled together on a branchlet (a small branch). If there is one needle per bundle coming out of a raised structure called a fascicle sheath look for an evergreen with single needles (also called solitary) such as Eastern White Pine (Pinus strobus), Yew (Taxus spp.), or Hemlock (Tsuga spp.). If there are two to five needles per bundle coming out of a sheath look for an evergreen with tufted needles such as Spruce (Picea spp.) Red Cedar (Juniperus virginiana), Scotch Pine (Pinus sylvestris), Douglas Fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii), Balsam Fir (Abies balsamea), Jack Pine (Pinus banksiana), Larch/Tamarack (Larix laricina), White Pine (Pinus monticola) , Cedar of Lebanon (Cedrus libani) , Umbrella pine (Sciadopitys verticillata) , Pitch pine [Pinus rigida] , Turkish fir

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