Physocarpus opulifolius, Common Ninebark

Size: shrub, 5-10' average height at maturity, 6-10' spread

Buds: dark brown to black

Leaves: deciduous, alternate, 1-3" long, .5-1.5" wide, simple, usually 3-5 lobes, sometimes no lobes, crenate or dentate margins, lobes may be acute or obtuse, medium green in summer, yellow or brown in fall

Twigs: glabrous, red-brown when young, conspicuous decurrent lines on each side of leaf scar, fruit pedicels persistent at twig tips

Flowers: monoecious, white, sometimes pinkish, in many-flowered corymbs

Fruit: 3-5 .25" reddish follicles

Bark: exfoliates after two years

Pseudotsuga menziesii, Douglas Fir

Size: tree, 40-80' average height at maturity

Buds: winter buds long-pointed and dark brown with several imbricate scales, nonresinous

Leaves: evergreen, spirally arranged, often 2-ranked, 1-1.5" long, thin, vary between blue-green, dark green, and gray-green, 2 white bands of stomata on underside

Twigs: smooth surface after normal leaf drop, semicircular leaf scars

Flowers: monoecious, males pendulous and in leaf axils, females terminal and rose-red when young

Fruit: cones pendulous, oval to ovoid, 3-4" long, 1.5-2" wide, conspicuous 3-pointed bracts project from between scales

Bark: old trunks have thick red-brown ridges divided by fissures

Abies nordmanniana, Nordmann Fir

Tips for identifying firs: linear needles, flat in cross-section (in contrast to angular spruce), twigs smooth, leaf scars more or less  circular, cones upright with scales that fall off at maturity

Size: tree, 40-60' average height at maturity

Buds: ovoid, acute tips, not resinous

Leaves: evergreen, point forward, densely covering branches, .75-1.5" long, tip rounded and notched, shiny dark green with 2 white bands on underside

Twigs: gray with short hairs

Flowers: monoecious

Fruit: 5-6" long, 1.75-2" wide, cylindrical or tapering to apex, reddish brown

Bark: gray-brown, slightly fissured on old trees

Picea omorika, Serbian Spruce

Tips for identifying spruce: leaves angular in cross section (except for P. omorika), twigs roughened with persistent leaf bases, pendulous cylindrical cones don't shatter at maturity

Size: tree, 50-60' average height at maturity

Buds: dark brown, not resinous, terminal bud has awl-shaped scales at base

Leaves: evergreen, more or less 2-ranked, .5-1" long, .06-.08" wide, flat, tips short-pointed or rounded, shiny dark green, stomatal lines only on underside, leaf petioles brown

Twigs: brown, pubescent

Flowers: monoecious, male flowers like strawberries, .5-.75"

Fruit: 1.25-1.75" long, .5-.75" wide, pendent, purple when young, shiny brown later

Bark: thin, coffee brown, exfoliating in platelike scales

Viburnum sieboldii, Siebold Viburnum

Size: tree, 15-20' average height at maturity, 10-15' spread

Buds: winter buds have valvate scales, buds conical to ovoid bullet-shaped, scales often split open at top

Leaves: deciduous, opposite, 2-6" long, 1.5-3" wide, simple, elliptic or obovate, acute tips, margins coarsely crenate-serrate, shiny dark green, crushed leaves have fetid odor like green peppers mixed with burnt rubber

Twigs: tout, leaf scars connect around stem, grayish

Flowers: monoecious, creamy white, in 3-6" flat-topped clusters

Fruit: .33-.5" oval drupe, changing from red to black

Bark: usually gray

Tilia americana, American Linden

Size: tree, 60-80' average height at maturity

Buds: blunt-tipped, 2-3 overlapping scales, usually reddish on vigorous wood, sometimes greenish, glabrous, shaped like a teardrop, absent terminal, laterals .25-.33"

Leaves: deciduous, alternate, 4-8" long and almost as wide, simple, broad ovate, abruptly acuminate, coarsely serrate with long pointed teeth, dark green above, paler below, sometimes yellow in fall

Twigs: reddish or greenish with conspicuous lenticels, sparsely branched, leaf scars large and raised

Flowers: monoecious, pale yellow, .5 wide, in 2-3" clusters of 5-15, bloom in the second half of June

Fruit: small hard nutlets on pedicel subtended by persistent large thin bract

Bark: gray to brown, in long narrow scaly ridges

Juniperus virginiana, Eastern Red Cedar

Tips for identifying Juniperus: leaves scaled or sharp and needle-like, cones gray to bluish and berry-like

Size: tree, 40-50' average height at maturity, spread 8-20' (can also be shrub or groundcover)

Leaves: evergreen, crushed leaves smell of cedar, juvenile foliage needle-like and in pairs, ending in spiny point, concave and glaucous on top, green and convex underside, .2-.25", mature foliage scale-like in 4 ranks, closely pressed to stem, .06", medium green, sage green, blue-green, often bronzy or yellow-brown in winter

Flowers: essentially dioecious, females violet

Fruit: .25"-.33", cones globular, brownish violet

Bark: grayish to reddish brown, exfoliating in long strips

Pinus thunbergiana, Japanese Black Pine

Size: tree or shrub, 15-25' average height at maturity, 20-30' spread

Buds: .5-.75" long, not resinous, gray or silvery white

Leaves: evergreen, 2 needles per fascicle, densely arranged, 2.5-4.5" long, twisted, fine-points, rigid, dark green

Twigs: glabrous, light brown when younger, blackish gray when older

Flowers: monoecious

Fruit: ovoid to conical, 1.5-3" long, 1.25-1.75" wide, shiny light brown

Bark: blackish gray, fissures forming elongated irregular plates

Betula alleghaniensis, Yellow Birch

Size: tree, 60-75' average height at maturity, 100' spread

Buds: imbricate, usually slightly pubescent, at slight angle to twigs, individual bud scales fairly uniform in color but usually somewhat darker band at top of each scale

Leaves: deciduous, alternate, 3-5" long, 1.5-2.5" wide, simple, ovate to oblong ovate, doubly serrate, dull dark green on top

Twigs: tan or light gray, short "spur" branches on older wood, each terminated by a bud, wintergreen scent and taste

Flowers: monoecious, unlike alder, winter catkins of one type only (male; females look like regular buds), usually 5-8, greenish, about 1" long and .25" wide

Fruit: small winged nutlet in a strobile about 1" wide and .6" long

Bark: trunk yellowish, exfoliating

Liquidambar styraciflua, American Sweetgum

Size: tree, 70-100' average height at maturity

Buds: often large with glossy reddish-brown scales

Leaves: deciduous, alternate, 4-7.5" in length and width, simple, 5-7 triangular acuminate lobes, finely serrate, shiny dark green above, changes to various forms of yellow, purple, or red in fall

Twigs: glossy, light brown, darker leaf scars, sometimes corky ridges

Flowering: monoecious, female on slender stalk, male in 3-4" terminal panicle

Fruit: spiny capsule with many seeds

Bark: gray-brown with deep furrows and narrow rounded ridged