Winter Buds / Tree Identification

Winter is a great time of year to practice our skills of tree identification. This is something that has been a steep learning curve for me! By looking closely at the bark and buds of a tree, we can make an educated guess as to what species it is. Over the last week, these are some of the trees that I have come across.

Indian Plum: This is a native plant to BC and it likes to grow in open woods and stream banks. In the spring, it will have bright green, lance shaped leaves and it will have white flowers that droop down in clusters and the fruit turns a dark purple. Fun fact: if you crush the leaves – they can smell of cucumbers!

This is a burning bush, which is native to Asia. It gets it’s name for how bright red it turns! It is a very dense bush and the younger stems that are in the photograph have some brownish areas on them, almost flapping outwards.