The Cranberry Tree

Tree Basics

Trees are everywhere.  I bet if you counted how many you saw everyday, you would reach a number in the 100s between shelterbelt trees to boulevard trees in people’s front yard.  Trees have organs like people do.  However instead of a heart, lungs, livers; trees have organs of roots, shoots (stem), and leaves. 

When identifying trees, a person comes across words like opposite, alternate, whorled.  What do they mean?  Opposite, alternate, whorled describe leaf or stem arrangement.

Are the leaves alternate like on this black walnut? 

Or opposite stem arrangement like this blue spruce?

Whorled like the catalpa (rare nonnative tree for ND). Look carefully to see where 3 or more leaves are coming from one node on the stem.

Are the leaves simple or compound?  The walnut above is a compound leaf which leaflets while the catalpa is simple arrangement.

There is also a plethora of leaf shape descriptors. 

Denate=toothed like big-tooth aspen

 

deltoid = delta-shapped like cottonwood

cordate=heart-shaped like a linden tree

 

serate like an elm leaf

lobed margin like an oak leaf, the list goes on and on.

Posted at 05:10PM Mar 23, 2009 by Lesley Lubenow in Forestry  |  Comments[0]