Review: 'Trees of North America'

Woodworkers are like the undertakers of the tree world. We dissect the living tissue and prepare it (some might say mummify it) for its trip to the afterlife as a highboy or napkin basket.

Personally, I’ve always been a bit embarrassed that I don’t know what the different species look like in the wild. And except for the species that thrive in this growing region, I couldn’t tell you where in North America certain species grow. Where does juniper thrive? Heck if I know.

I’ve resolved to become better acquainted with our woodland friends before I rend them limb from limb.

Recently, a reader who is a forester sent me a book and a couple links that were extremely helpful when identifying trees. “Trees of North America” (St. Martin’s Press) is a compact book that is easy to use. For every species, “Trees of North America” shows you on a map where it grows, explains a little bit about how to identify the tree in the wild and , most helpful , offers you color drawings of the tree, its bark, its leaves and fruit it might bear.

While you might think that photographs of the features of each species would be more useful, after using the book this week I prefer the drawings. A slightly stylized representation of the tree helps you focus on what is important in identifying it, instead of the background or other things that could be going on in the photo.

The book is also packed with details on how to identify the different shapes of leaves, the different textures of bark and the various ways that twigs grow.

All in all, “Trees of North America” covers more than 730 species and packs it all into 280 pages that are trimmed to 4-1/2″ x 7-1/2″, which makes it small enough to take on walks through the woods. It even includes an inch scale on the book’s final page that you can use to measure leaves as you are trying to identify them in the field (no need to bring your 12′ tape measure).

“Trees  of North America” is widely available from booksellers for $10 to $15.

A Couple Links
There also are some good Internet resources that go into far more detail on the North American species. United States’ Forest Service offers its “Silvics of North America” handbook free on the web. This web site offers exhaustive data (at least from a woodworker’s perspective) on each species and a map that shows its growing range, but it doesn’t offer photos or drawings to help you identify a species unknown to you.

http://www.na.fs.fed.us/Spfo/pubs/silvics_manual/table_of_contents.htm

If you have snipped a twig from a tree and want to try to identify it, try this dendrology site at Virginia Tech. The web site asks you a series of questions about your specimen, shows you photos, then tries to narrow down the exact species you have encountered. It’s a fun site.

http://www.cnr.vt.edu/DENDRO/DENDROLOGY/idit.htm

– Christopher Schwarz

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