Moraceae morus IDed by orangey bark with narrow, wrinkly ridges; wide crown and low branching; smooth, slender grayish brown twig with reddish brown, small, blunt but tapered buds; sunken oval leaf scars. For this tree, the buds look green but that’s just the leaves emerging. This website that I used to ID this tree said that broken twigs have silvery white filaments but I didn’t want to break a twig off.
European Hornbeam
[Revisited] Carpinus betulus IDed by claw like buds flat against the twigs and yellowish green catkins. European hornbeam is monoecious, so the images below likely contain both female and male catkins. The female flowers are green with three lobed braces. Their length seems to vary, but idk. The males are yellower and around 3cm.
Chinese White Poplar
[Revisited] Populus tomentosa IDed by smooth white bark with black spots, poplar-esque buds, and green, long 5-10 cm female catkins (male catkins are 5-8 cm and reddish purple).
Japanese Cherry (Leaves!)
[Revisited] Prunus serrulata IDed by remembering it was a cherry from last time I visited.
Young Sweet Gum
Liquidambar styraciflua IDed by 5 lobed star-shaped leaves. I used this website to confirm the ID by checking the following features: pointed buds; straight trunk; small, bright greenish yellow, non-showy male flowers borne on an upright raceme (females are borne on a slender stalk, capped with a globose head), with flowers appearing in early to mid-spring. Sweet gum is a monecious species, but it has separate male and female flowers. This is a tree species I’ve only ever IDed by the fruit, so it’s pretty exciting to learn its other features.
Sawtooth Oak
Quercus acutissima IDed by long oval leaves with serrate margins persisting on its branches into spring. Also slender, small, pendant catkins hanging in bunches. Bark matches the ID for a young tree.
Young Honey Locust
Gleditsia triacanthos IDed by buds and branch pattern. Current mid-April buds look similar to this picture.
Black Locust
Robinia pseudoacacia IDed by thin, dry, dark brown, multi-seed legumes (on most trees, 5-10 cm long); deeply furrowed, rough, gray bark; irregular crown shape with upward branching. There should have been small thorns on the twigs and branches but I didn’t bother to look. Inaccurate post date.
Japanese Tree Lilac
Syringa reticulata, IDed by glossy brown, smooth, stiff branches with prominent lenticels; some peeling bark, craggy bark at the base of the trunk; opposite, simple, ovate leaves with non-serrate margins and leaf stalks; two leaves per stem node; withered leaves on the tree from over the winter; the fact that it’s a small tree. Sharing its tree pit with a bed of daffodils.
Red Maple Samara (.5 of a ?)
Acer rubrum samara IDed by its green pericarps and red wings. The tree was small and thin (young) with white bark.