Determine leaf types of deciduous trees

Collect leaves to determine leaf types

Identification books for native deciduous trees are a good help in assigning leaf species. Make sure that the leaves are clearly shown in it. They identify the leaves based on their essential characteristics, such as whether they are round, oval or pinnate. This enables you to make a preselection.

After you have assigned this characteristic, differentiate the leaf according to further characteristics, for example whether it has round, jagged or notched edges. With some books there are small stencils that you can place on the collected sheets of paper.

1. Collecting leaves. During an autumn walk in the forest, you can collect different types of foliage. In autumn, the green-yellow or orange color of the leaves inspires. Dry leaves with a smooth surface are best.

   

2. Make photos. You can also take photos of the respective leaves and the corresponding trees, or the trunk and bark. This makes it easier to identify the trees.
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3. Clean the leaves. Gently pick up the leaves and wipe any dirt off them. It is best if you have an old phone book etc. take it with you and place the leaves between the pages. This means that the leaves are not damaged on the way home and you can better identify the leaf types at home.

   



Identify trees

You can identify and define trees based on their characteristics. Important characteristics …

Identify the leaf types of the trees

1. Dry leaves. At home, lay the sheets of paper flat between newspaper and place it in the middle of a heavy book.

   

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2. Store leaves. After a few days of drying, the leaves are nice and smooth, but still have residual moisture. Let the sheets sit in the book for at least a month.

   

3. Take out the leaves. Take the sheets out of the newspaper or the book and place them on a smooth surface. A white sheet of paper is well suited as a neutral background.

   

4. Look at leaf shape. To determine the leaf types, consider the shape of the foliage. Is it jagged (e.g. Norway maple) or does it have the shape of a hand or finger (chestnut)? Is the leaf margin serrated or serrated (alder and Linden tree), wavy (oak) or smooth (red beech)?

   

5. Look at style. Then look at the stem. The petiole can also provide information. Is it round or flat like the poplar?

   

6. Take into account the underside. What does the underside of the leaf look like, is it smooth or hairy? The winter linden, for example, has brown fur-like hairs in the thin branches on the back of the leaf, while the summer linden, on the other hand, has white hair.

   

7. Determine the leaf. Now you can search for the respective leaf or tree shape in your identification book for leaf types in deciduous trees and read the Latin name next to the tree name.

   

8. Look up the bark. You can also look for the bark. The types of trees have very different barks, from rough to completely smooth, white or gray.

   

Tools for recognizing leaf types

In addition to the classic book for determining leaf types, you can use other aids, such as leaf type recognition in the online portal Arboriculture, to use. You can identify the trees in the "Tree identification" section. Here you go step by step. The website guides you to the appropriate tree based on your answers to the requested characteristics.

Use the for your smartphone Tree app for determining leaf types. You first identify the shape of the leaves. The app has characteristic images ready for this. Then select according to other properties, such as the bark of the tree or its fruits or buds.

Known leaf types at a glance

Leaf shape	Leaf margin	back	style
maple	jagged	round to pointed indentations	rough, bright	reddish, long
birch	spike-shaped	slightly jagged	very tender	slightly hairy, brownish-yellow
chestnut	palmate	jagged	rough	very long, round
Acorn	incised	smooth-edged	coarse and bright	short, narrow
rowan	paired pinnate	smooth	gray or white	continuous, reddish