2004 Envirothon Training November 6, 2004 Blackbird State Forest

Trees You Should Know eastern white pine (Pinus strobus) loblolly pine (Pinus taeda Virginia pine (Pinus virginiana) baldcypress (Taxodium distichum) Atlantic white-cedar (Chamaecyparis thyoides) eastern redcedar (Juniperus virginiana) black walnut (Juglans nigra) pignut hickory (Carya glabra) river birch (Betula nigra) American beech (Fagus grandifolia) white oak (Quercus alba) northern red oak (Quercus rubra) southern red oak (Quercus falcata) water oak (Quercus nigra) willow oak (Quercus phellos) sweet bay (Magnolia virginiana) yellow-poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera) sassafras (Sassafras albidum) sycamore (Platanus occidentalis) black Cherry (Prunus serotina) black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia) American holly (Ilex opaca) red maple (Acer rubrum) silver maple (Acer saccharinum) devil’s club (Araila spinosa) blackgum (Nyssa sylvatica) flowering dogwood (Cornus florida) persimmon (Diospyros virginiana) green ash (Fraxinus pennsylvanica)

Common names are given to all plants and are for the everyday person to use, they are easy to pronounce and are usually descriptive. BUT: trying to communicate with someone from a different region or country can be difficult. sometimes the same plant has many different common names different plants may have the same common name some plants are so rare that no common name is given.

The Father of Botany Carl Linnaeus ( ) –was the first to consistently use a system of binomial nomenclature which literally means two names. –Scientific names of plants consist of a generic name and a specific epithet, in Latin either underlined or in italics.

TAXONOMIC CLASSIFICATION King David Came Over For Good Spaghetti I I L R A E P N V A D M N E G I S E I U C D S S R L S I O I Y E M O S N

Delaware has over 60 species of trees! It is hard to know every tree in the forest so taxonomists have constructed dichotomous keys to help identify them.

The Key to Knowledge Dichotomous Keys consist of a series of two-way choices along the route from the unknown to the known. At each fork in the road the user is asked a pair of questions. Each question is designed to divide a set of species into smaller groups until there is only one left.

1.a. wings covered by an exoskeleton……………….go to step 2 b. wings not covered by an exoskeleton………..….go to step 3 2.a. body has a round shape………………………….ladybug b. body has an elongated shape…………………….grasshopper 3.a. wings point out from the side of the body………dragonfly b. wings point to the posterior of the body………...housefly

Tree Keys Keying is a way to identify a plant or tree by looking at the similarities and differences that exist among them. A tree key would begin with a group of trees that are split into two groups by comparing different expressions of the same character (flower color red or white). The first major separation would be whether or not the tree is coniferous, bearing cones or deciduous, sheds its leaves annually.

Keying takes practice Most tree keys use characters such as leaf shape and seed descriptions to create groups, the user must be familiar with the terminology used to describe these characters to be successful.

Basic Terminology Opposite: 2 or 3 leaves are directly across from each other on the same twig Alternate: leaves that are staggered along stem Simple leaf: one leaflet, a petiole and a bud at its base Compound leaf: a single leaf that is made up of many leaflets Petiole: the stalk of a leaf that connects it to the tree Needle-like: leaves long and narrow, thick in the shape of a needle Scale-like: leaves in the shape of small, flat thickened triangles that hug the stem Entire: leaf edges is smooth no teeth or lobes Lobed: leaf has wavy edges Toothed: leaf has jagged edges

Usually the first question about the leaves will be their arrangement: alternate, opposite, or whorled

Second division will be the leaf type: compound or simple.

Other characteristics to look for when keying Texture of leaf or bark Smell or odor when leaf is crushed Hairs, glands, scales or lack thereof on bottom of leaf Milky or clear sap when stem is pinched Habitat found growing Leaf surface shiny or dull