Five Easy Trees

American Sycamore (Platanus occidentalis)

Easy is a relative term. I'm talking about trees that have distinctive bark or distinctive leaves that you can identify either year-round or at least spring to fall. In some cases keep in mind that there will be variation within any species, plant, animal, or other, and you may find an individual tree here and there that doesn't match the type.

As always, I am referring exclusively to trees found native to my region, the Piedmont area of North Carolina. These guides may not apply to other regions where there may be lookalikes that I am unaware of.

1. Sycamore (Platanus occidentalis)

I'll start with sycamore as seen in the image above. There's simply no mistaking sycamore for any other tree, at least if it's old enough to start shedding bark. Of course in many cities you may find the variant called London plane, which is a hybrid of American sycamore and a Eurasian species, Platanus orientalis. The visual difference is mainly the extent to which the peeling bark extends toward the base. A seen in the image above, the bark of American sycamore remains intact at the base of the tree (flaky or blocky at the lowest extremity), sometimes extending up to the lower branches, while upper trunk and branches take on the smooth mottled camouflage look as layers of bark peel away:

Blocky bark at lower base on mature tree:

Look up and you can see into the winter the persistent fruits. From a distance they may look a little like sweet gum fruits (see below) but they are not spiky.

Sycamore fruits.

A London plane in New York City. Camouflage smooth bark extends to nearly the base:

2. Sweet Gum (Liquidamber styraciflua)

There are 4 characteristics of sweetgum that make it easy to identify: leaves when present, bark, winged twigs, and "fruits." I use the word fruit here in the botanical sense to apply to the seed-bearing structures that emerge or derive from a flower.

Fruits and winged branches.

Here is a close up of a sweet gum fruit, dried and seeds already dispersed, impaled on the thorn of an invasive Japanese bitter orange (Citrus trifoliata):

These fruits often persist well into winter and beyond on tree branches and are easily visibly from the ground, being approximately 1 -1.5 inches in diameter and spiked. American sycamore has similarly sized fruits but they are smooth and there is no danger of confusing the bark of these two trees.

Typical sweetgum bark:

Another common name: alligatorwood.

One caveat - bark is variable within the species, and occasionally individual trees may look at first glance more like tuliptree or hickory, so the other clues - fruit and winged branches, and of course leaves when present - are essential.

Winged twigs:

3. Eastern White Oak (Quercus alba)

Light silvery, flaky, shaggy bark is typical of eastern white oak. If you are in an area where it overlaps with swamp chestnut oak (Q. michauxii) you may have trouble distinguishing them by bark alone, but the leaves of chestnut oaks and white oak are radically different as seen below (they are called chestnut oaks for a reason). First the bark:

Although it looks flaky, the "flakes" do not shed easily and are somewhat firmly attached.

White oak leaves, impossible to confuse with chestnut oak leaves:


White oak leaves.

Chestnut oak leaves.

4. American Beech (Fagus grandiflora)

Click on the link for a detailed look at American beech. I'll just post a picture here of the distinctive smooth, light gray bark and the leaves that persist into the winter. Silver maples also have smooth gray bark when young, but with maple (in winter) look for any buds or branches that are arranged in opposite (as opposed to alternate) pairs and look at the shape of the buds - Beech has distinctive long pointy scaly buds. I haven't yet seen any silver maples in the wild, but have seen them in a cultivated park.

5. Tulip Poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera)

A stately tree that typically grows very tall and straight with very few low branches, making it an important lumber tree. The trunk can grow quite large with diameter I've seen up to about 3 feet (1 meter). Because it is so abundant where I live I have developed a good eye for the bark alone as identifying feature, but the leaves, flowers, and fruits are also quite distinctive, and the dried fruit skeleton remain on many trees throughout the winter to help with identification. The bark: