Types of Leaves & Trees

Palm Trees

• Palm trees favor tropical and subtropical climates and grow along costal landscapes. More than 200 species of palmae family exist, producing a flower, fruit and occasionally both. Palm leaves, known as fronds, grow atop the stalk's crown and are arranged in several different patterns.

Conifer trees

• Conifer trees include fir and pine trees that produce cones or compact berries. Their needles or small scales are the tree's leaves with several different arrangements. The giant sequoias of the American Pacific Northwest are a conifer genus of the redwood cypress family, while the soft, green, pointed needles of the temperate Leyland cypress tree and the simple spiral 1-½-inch needles of the Douglas fir are popular evergreen conifer trees.

Deciduous Trees

• Deciduous trees include those that develop a broad, flat leaf and typically drop their leaves in autumn. Deciduous trees produce edible fruits or nuts, and their leaves' characteristics are most often associated with leaf identification.

Leaf Attachment

• Examine the leaf attachment, referred to as the petiole, to the branch. It indicates description used with leaf identification. The petiole may have one simple leaf found with maples and oaks, or compound leaves, known as leaflets, of the hickory or the honey locust. Taxonomist further classify compound leaflets into pinnately compound, where leaflets are attached across from each other; bipinnately compound with several small branches attached to the petiole with leaflets displaced across from each other; and palmately compound, where the leaflets shaping the branch look like the fingers on the palm of the hand.

Leaf Shape and Arrangement

• Identify the leaf's shape and composition. Dendrologists categorize leaves into 40 different patterns based upon leaf and leaflet geometrical shapes. The dogwood leaf's ovate, egg shape varies slightly from the cottonwood leaf's triangulated oval shape. Examine leaves closely and use more than one leaf to identify the tree.

Leaf Margins

• Analyze the leaf's fine outer edge to determine the margin. Leaf margins have their own set of descriptions and aid in identification. The entirely smooth margin of the magnolia differs from the serrated edge of the slippery elm and the spiny margin of the American Holly.

Other Tree and Leaf Identifiers

• Use other leaf and tree characteristics for clarification with identification. In addition to the shape and attachment, leaf venation, bases and tip have their own set of identifiers. Testing the bark, fruit, nut and scent identifies each specific tree.