Reading traits for beginners

Can I recognize a tree trunk by the bark?

The appearance of the bark is a important identifier for tree identification. Unlike leaves or flowers, a tree bears its bark at any time of the year. As important components in tree trunk construction Bark and bast together form the bark. Most tree trunks have a bark as the outer layer of bark. Some tree species do without a rough bark and have a predominantly smooth outer tissue as bark. This types of bark are to be distinguished:

• striped bark (longitudinal stripe)
• Scale bark (flaky cork sheets)
• Netzbarke (net-shaped torn bark)
• smooth bark (initially smooth, later cracked)

Which tree species can be recognized by a barky tree trunk?

You can see most tree species by their rugged scale bark realize how sycamore (Acer pseudoplatanus), oak (Quercus), chestnut (Castanea) and black pine (Pinus nigra). The longitudinally fissured striped bark on the tree trunk is characteristic of the widespread tree of life (Thuja). A poplar (Populus alba) also reveals its identity through a barky bark with deep longitudinal furrows. Sessile oak (Quercus petrea) and common ash (Fraxinus excelsior) are identified by a tree trunk covered with a thick, reticulated bark.

Which tree trunk can be recognized by a smooth bark?

Known tree species with a smooth bark are beech (Fagus), especially the popular one European beech (Fagus Sylvatica) as well as the popular one hornbeam (Carpinus betulus) from the Birch family. One wild cherry (Prunus avium) thrives when young with smooth, leathery bark that later peels off the tree trunk in a ring shape. ubiquitous silver birches (Betula pendula) can be accurately identified by its white-black, smooth ringlet bark.

The frost-sensitive cork oak (Quercus suber) from the Mediterranean replaces the scaly bark of a German oak with a thick, smooth layer of cork on the tree trunk.