Common Stand
How to name the trees standing around you
A stand is a group of trees growing together on one patch of ground, each with its own bark, buds and leaves. This field guide covers the common trees that make up such stands: how to recognise each kind, how it differs from the trees it is most often mistaken for, and where it shows.
Most naming happens in three places: the bark, the buds and the leaves. Bark gives a pattern that stays the same through a tree's life, though its texture changes as the trunk ages. Buds and leaves show arrangement and shape, and the arrangement holds even when a tree is bare. Seeds, catkins and fallen fruit add a fourth clue when they are present.
The entries are short enough to read beside the tree itself. Each one describes a single kind, lists the features to check in order, and sets out the look-alikes in a table or a list of differences. The glossary defines every term used across the site, and the short guides take up one technique at a time.
Entries
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Silver birch: white bark and fine twigs
How to recognise silver birch by its white peeling bark, slender twigs and triangular leaves, and how it differs from downy birch and aspen.
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Common ash: pinnate leaves and black buds
How to recognise common ash from its black opposite buds and pinnate leaves, and how it differs from rowan, elder and walnut.
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Sycamore: broad leaves and winged seeds
How to recognise sycamore by its five-lobed leaves and paired winged seeds, and how it differs from field maple, Norway maple and plane.
Short guides
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Reading buds on a bare twig
A method for telling opposite from alternate buds on a bare twig, and what each pattern suggests about the tree.