26dossiers in print 11families 3climate zones 5leaf parameters per figure updated 2026-10-16
Barkline · tree identification
Name the tree in front of you.
Three questions — the leaf, the bark, the fruit. Answer them in order and the key narrows to the species that carry all three. Every dossier then gives the full diagnostic set, the four-season sequence, and the species it is most often confused with.
Three-step key
Three-step key · Take leaf, then bark, then fruit
Leaf
Bark
Fruit
Results appear once the third character is chosen.
No published species carries all three characters. Loosen one, or browse the library. Open the full species library
Most recently filed
- 01 Common juniper Juniperus communis The only conifer whose berries are used in gin, and the only one with a needle that has a broad white band on its upper face.
- 02 European hornbeam Carpinus betulus Beech's look-alike with a pleated, muscular trunk and a leaf that has teeth rather than a silky fringe.
- 03 Douglas fir Pseudotsuga menziesii Not a true fir, and the cone proves it: every scale carries a three-pointed bract that sticks out like a mouse tail and two hind feet.
- 04 Yellow birch Betula alleghaniensis The birch with bark that looks like tarnished bronze, and the only common birch whose twigs taste of wintergreen if you chew one (per Virginia Tech Dendrology).
- 05 European silver fir Abies alba Two white stripes on the underside of a flat needle, and cones that stand upright on the branch like candles.
- 06 Northern red oak Quercus rubra The commercial red oak of North America and the commonest American oak planted in Europe.