A nontechnical winter key to the fifty trees

2. Twigs with lateral wart-like branches, slender, glossy brown, resinous.

2. Twigs lacking lateral wart-like branches.

3. Arrangement of branches, leaf scars, and buds opposite.

4. Twig stout, gray to brown in color; buds brown or black (ashes).

5. Buds rusty brown; bark dark brown, corky in texture with
diamond-shaped fissures. 

5. Buds usually black; bark ashy gray without ridges, scaling off easily.

4. Twigs slender, red to brown; buds red or brown (maples).

6. Buds narrow, sharp-pointed, brown.

6. Buds broad, blunt-pointed, reddish color, often clustered.

7. Twigs lacking odor when broken.

7. Fresh twigs with rank odor when broken.

3. Arrangement of branches, leaf scars, and buds alternate.

8. Terminal bud absent (first lateral bud may seem terminal but is not).

9. Bud with only one scale, forming cap over bud.

10. Twigs stout, zigzagging, brown.

10. Twigs slender, not zigzagging, green to brown.

9. Bud with many scales.

11. Buds very small, inconspicuous; twigs with spines or thorns.

12. Twigs usually bearing spines in pairs at nodes; twigs slender, reddish to greenish brown, brittle.

12. Twigs usually bearing branched thorns; twigs stout, zigzagging, smooth, glossy.

11. Buds medium to large, conspicuous; twigs lacking spines or thorns.

13. Buds lopsided or bulging on one side at the base, green to red; twigs zigzagging.

13. Buds symmetrical, lacking bulge at base, brown; twigs not zigzagging.

14. Twigs stout, pith star-shaped.

14. Twigs slender, pith circular.

15. Bark of trunk scaly.

16. Scales easily removed when rubbed.

16. Scales difficult to remove when rubbed (elms).

17. Buds dark, chestnut-brown, with long rusty hairs at tip; twigs light gray, hairy, mucilaginous when chewed; inner bark of trunk with alternating white and dark layers.

17. Buds light red-brown, mostly lacking hairs; twigs red-brown, smooth; inner bark uniform.

15. Bark of trunk smooth.

18. Bark dark bluish gray.

18. Bark chalky white.

19. Bark peeling off in thin papery layers, lacking triangular patches.

19. Bark not peeling off in papery layers, with distinct triangular patch below each branch where it joins the stem.

20. Terminal bud surrounded by a cluster of buds at end of twig; fruit an acorn (oaks).

21. Buds oval or rounded.

22. Buds oval, rather blunt at top, somewhat woolly, especially upper half, red-brown; twigs light red.

22. Buds rounded, blunt-pointed, red-brown.

21. Buds sharp-pointed.

23. Buds covered with dense yellow-gray wool.

23. Buds smooth.

24. Buds light yellow-brown; twigs light orange.

24. Buds red-brown; twigs red-brown to green-brown.

20. Terminal bud borne singly. (In the birches only the short spur-like lateral twigs have terminal buds, not the long shoots.)

25. Buds with 3-4 dark brown smooth outer scales spreading away from bud; bark peeling in long strips.

25. Buds variously colored with various number of scales; flattened against twig or spreading; bark usually tight, not peeling.

26. Buds covered with close-fitting woolly scales.

27. Twigs with chambered pith (walnuts).

28. Pith cream colored; twigs lacking "mustache" of hair beneath bud.

28. Pith chocolate-colored; twigs with "mustache" of hair beneath bud.

27. Twigs solid, lacking chambered pith.

29. Twigs brittle, brown, smooth; buds dark brown.

29. Twigs tough, yellow to red-brown color, hairy toward end; buds yellow.

26. Bud scales smooth, not woolly.

30. Bud with 2 scales united into a cap; twigs brittle with aromatic odor.

30. Bud with more than two scales.

31. Twigs with wintergreen flavor or aroma; terminal bud on spur-like lateral branches only.

32. Twigs with strong wintergreen flavor, red-brown; bark black, smooth, lacking papery fringes.

32. Twigs with slight wintergreen flavor, yellow-brown; bark yellow-gray with papery fringes.

31. Twigs lacking wintergreen flavor and aroma; terminal bud on lateral branches.

33. Lateral buds usually same size as terminal bud.

34. Buds usually round, red to chestnut-brown; thorns on twigs.

34. Buds long, sharp-pointed.

35. Buds tinged with purple; the lateral buds flattened against twig.

35. Buds red-brown, the lateral buds bending away from twig.

33. Lateral buds smaller than terminal bud.

36. Bark and twigs spicy aromatic.

36. Bark and twigs odorless or with bitter almond odor, not spicy aromatic.

37. Twigs and bark with bitter almond odor and taste, slender (cherries).

38. Twigs red-brown; bark on trunks becoming scaly.

38. Twigs bright red; bark remaining smooth; buds very small.

37. Twigs lacking bitter almond odor or taste.

39. Twigs very tough; lacking rank odor.

39. Twigs brittle, with rather rank odor when broken (poplars).

40. Lateral buds flattened against twig; twigs slender, red-brown.

40. Lateral buds spreading away from twig; twigs red-brown or yellow.

41. Buds large, shiny, often slightly resinous; twigs bright yellow.

41. Buds medium, dull, dusty looking; twigs red-brown.

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