Identifying trees in winter

Without their leaves, you can still recognise trees by their buds, bark, silhouette and the fruit that stays on the branches. These features will get you started.

In winter all trees seem to look alike: grey trunks and bare branches. Yet you can identify most trees at this time of year too, as long as you know where to look.

1. Opposite or alternate?

First, look at how the buds are arranged on the twig. That’s the most important first split, just as it is with the leaves in summer.

• Opposite, in pairs at the same height: maples, ash, horse chestnut, dogwoods and elder.
• Alternate, first on one side, then on the other: almost all other trees, such as oak, beech, lime, birch and the fruit trees.

2. The buds

• Beech: long, thin, pointed buds, like a cigar, angled away from the twig.
• Ash: fat, jet-black buds, in opposite pairs.
• Horse chestnut: large, glossy, sticky buds; below them, horseshoe-shaped leaf scars.
• English oak: small, rounded buds clustered at the tip of the twig.
• Hornbeam: pointed buds lying flat against the twig.
• Lime: red to green, zigzagging twigs with plump buds on which you can see only two or three bud scales.

3. The bark

• Silver birch: white, with deep, black, diamond-shaped fissures near the base.
• London plane: flaking camouflage bark in green, grey and cream, and dangling seed balls.
• Wild cherry: glossy reddish-brown with horizontal bands.
• Sweet chestnut: deep furrows that spiral around the trunk on old trees.
• Beech: smooth and silver-grey, even on very old trees.

4. What stays on the tree

• Alder: small, woody cones and catkins that are already hanging.
• European larch: a conifer that loses its needles, with small cones.
• Hazel: yellow catkins, often as early as January.
• Indian bean tree: long, thin ‘beans’.
• Hornbeam and young beeches often keep their dry, brown leaves until spring.

• Broadleaf treeBeechFagus sylvatica
• Broadleaf treeAshFraxinus excelsior
• Broadleaf treeHorse chestnutAesculus hippocastanum
• Broadleaf treeEnglish oakQuercus robur
• Broadleaf treeHornbeamCarpinus betulus
• Broadleaf treeSilver birchBetula pendula
• Broadleaf treeAlderAlnus glutinosa
• ConiferEuropean larchLarix decidua

5. The leaves under the tree

The easiest clue is often lying under the tree: fallen leaves. Even dried-up leaves still have their shape, veins and edges. With them you can simply follow the identification key, just as you would in summer.