Learning tree id?

[Frankie Lawrence]

One thing I seriously think needs addressing in my rise up the arb ladder is my tree id and my fungi id.

 

Ive got a collins book of british trees

 

I know the real basics of trees . How do I remeber all of them is there a teqnique that Im missing or shall I just read through until it sticks, how did you guys get remebering or is it just experience?

 

Also fungi ID I know vertually none but something I want to know some basics of whats the best book for that and the same question how to learn and remeber.

 

Hope its not such a stupid question but I just see at as such a daunting thing to learn.

[bareroots]

the best way is to look at the trees themselves. take the book with you on walks and id trees that you come across. that way you see the trees in their environment in the different seasons. in time you'll be able to look ata woodland or tree at half a mile and tell what species it is.

 

same applies to fungi. take a book out with you and try and id what you find.

[sean]

for funghi look through monkeyD and Hama's threads........you'll learn Alot believe me......

[western]

like he said:thumbup:

[David Humphries]

Don't listen to those two reprebates. Hama and I are complete frauds who make it all up as we go along

 

 

A good book, and learn to get your eye in so as not to miss the new & the out of ordinary.

 

 

Really take time and look at things, whether that be seedlings emerging or blooms unfurling or Fungi sporolating.

 

 

Happy learning, it's a long haul

 

 

 

 

.

[sean]

Don't listen to those two reprebates. Hama and I are complete frauds who make it all up as we go along

 

 

A good book, and learn to get your eye in so as not to miss the new & the out of ordinary.

 

 

Really take time and look at things, whether that be seedlings emerging or blooms unfurling or Fungi sporolating.

 

 

Happy learning, it's a long haul

 

 

 

 

.

 

yea its true.....they are both charlatans.....funghi no nothings. I'm getting fed up with Hama ringing me at 4 in the morning to ask me about a bracket he's found.....do i know what it is? David bombarding me with picture messages for advice.....charlatans i'm tellin ya.

[RobRainford]

I've found that as I've been learning a lot at college this year. It helps to be able to identify the genus first. And then work out species. Once you get the hang of that. It gets easier.

 

Try and work put bark instead of just leaves. I'm probably just as good identifying trees by the winter bud as I am by the leaves! I can look at the bark of most common trees and get the genus. Oak beech lime willow sycamore etc.

 

Just find the best way for yourself. Get a few books and not just one. They all overlap and get ones others done have. I think I have about 5!

 

If you are interested I have some learning lists I can put send with conifers on? And some other species aswell

[chris cnc]

i had a problem with this too, and i found my id's got better as i started working more and more with the trees, handling the foliage, branches, bark, timber... i guess the more you get stuck in the more you learn

[xdarkknight]

Yeah, I kindof second Rob on that one.

Learn ONLY your locals! You'll get VERY familiar with them! These are mine.

Go for basic families: Oaks, Poplars, Maples, Pines, Firs, Spruces, Cyprus... Then break them down to their latin families: Quercus, Populous, Acer, Pinus, Abies, Picea, Cupricacea...

Then Break those down to the most recogniseable species near you: We have Garry (Oregon) oaks (Quercus garryana), Black cottonwoods (Populous balsamifera), Bigleaf Maples (Acer macrophyllum), Doug Firs (Pseudotsuga menziesii), Hemlocks(Tsuga canadensis), Western RedCedars(Thuja plicata), Blue Spruces (Picea pungens)... etc.

I can pick out most of those from a couple miles away. We have a few varieties of each family, and a lot of non-native or introduced species around houses, but those are the ones that you can't turn around without seeing one.

Then, once you're comfortable with those, Expand to your fruit trees and cypruses or whatever people like to plant most (plums & cherries for me). And for a little while, stick to knowing your common names first, or at least recognising the plant/tree families. Then branch out into the taxonomy of the Genus and species.

 

I've got a book (may only be available in the US) called [ame=http://www.amazon.com/Botany-Day-Patterns-Method-Identification/dp/1892784157/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1272579272&sr=8-1]"Botany in a Day" [/ame]by Thomas J Elpel. Tom runs a primitive skills school in montana and knows how to teach pretty effectively. This book is about how to know plants by recognition and knowing the families traits. Basically you're learning to use a mental ID Key (like you find in plant books). It's a great book to learn your plants from.

 

Hope that helps!!

[mikedrums69]

I must admit, my tree ID is pretty shocking

But last week i couldn't tell one tree to the next and its now part of the cs38 assessment (which i passed today). So i just got stick into my collins gem Tree book, read though over and over and went to the woods for a quick go, which went BAD! But today when i needed it, it all just clicked.

 

I think its just how much time and effort you put into it. All in all i recon its an ongoing learn curve, they'll always be something else we didn't know about.