Identify by feature
Tree with peeling bark: which one is it?
A tree whose bark flakes off in large plates, leaving a patchwork pattern, is in avenues and parks usually a London plane; smaller trees with such mosaic bark are the Chinese elm, the Persian ironwood and the Japanese zelkova.
12 species with this feature
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London plane Platanus × hispanica
Broadleaf tree
Peels off in large patches, creating a mottled pattern of grey, green and yellow.
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Chinese elm Ulmus parvifolia
Broadleaf tree
Flakes off in small pieces, leaving a mosaic of grey, orange-brown and green, as in a plane tree.
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Persian ironwood Parrotia persica
Broadleaf tree
Flakes off in patches, leaving a mosaic of grey, green, pink and brown.
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Japanese zelkova Zelkova serrata
Broadleaf tree
Smooth and grey with lenticels, like a beech; on older trees flaking in patches with orange-brown blotches.
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Wild cherry Prunus avium
Fruit tree
Glossy red-brown, peeling in horizontal bands, with horizontal lines of lenticels.
Native
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Scots pine Pinus sylvestris
Conifer
Grey-brown and deeply fissured at the base; strikingly orange-red in the crown, peeling in thin flakes.
Native
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Yew Taxus baccata
Conifer
Thin, red-brown and flaking in plates; trunk often fluted and multi-stemmed.
NativePoisonous
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Almond willow Salix triandra
Shrub
Hairless, olive-green to reddish-brown twigs; older stems with bark that flakes off in patches.
Native
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Wild service tree Sorbus torminalis
Broadleaf tree
Grey; on older trees it flakes off in small square scales, like a pear tree.
Native
Tip: Look at the colour too: orange-red flakes high up the trunk point to a Scots pine, shiny reddish-brown bark with horizontal bands to a wild cherry.