jriXTRR TREE STUDY 



15 



winter tree study can be 

 taken up and a few of the 

 winter marks of distinc- 

 tion suggested. The aim 

 toward which this type of 

 study should tend is the 

 abihty to recognize a tree 

 at a distance by the gener- 

 al "habit" of growth or by 

 bark characters. Habit 

 and bark characters, how- 

 ever, are difficult of pre- 

 cise description, and mark- 

 ings on the twigs must be 

 used as a means of identi- 

 fication in the early stages 

 of our knowledge. In the 

 following paragraphs some 

 of the identificational 

 characters of value will be 

 discussed under the prop- 

 er headings. 



Habit — By the word 

 habit, we denote the gen- 

 eral appearance of a tree 

 seen as a whole. A tree 

 strictly speaking is gener- 

 ally considered as a woody growth having an undivided trunk at 

 the base and rising to at least twice the height of a man. A shrub 

 on the other hand is low-growing and may branch from the very 

 base. Xo hard and fast line, however, can be drawn between a 

 tree and a shrub. ]\Iany trees at the limit of their range or 

 under unfavorable conditions are reduced to the form and dimen- 

 sions of a shrub and some forms growing as shrubs in Xew Eng- 

 land become trees in states outside this group. 



Two general habit types are recognized — the spreading and the 

 erect — often termed deliquescent and excurrent, respectively. The 

 former is well represented by the Apple and White Elm ( Eig. 1)* 

 and the latter by the Evergreens and those of the Poplars that 

 form narrow conical heads (Fig. 2). By its more erect habit 

 of growth the Sweet Cherry is readily distinguished from the 



*NOTE. — That illustrations arc from Bulletin 69, New England Trees in Winter, 

 Storrs Experiment Station, Storrs. Conn. 



Figure 2. — Carolina Poplar. 



