Identifying Trees in Winter by Their Buds

The rich variety of leaf shapes on deciduous trees make their identification relatively easy in the summer months. Some tree guides offer silhouettes of the denuded trees as an aid to their winter identification. In practice this is difficult, as not only are the differences often quite subtle, but you need a free-standing tree, both for it to adopt its textbook shape, and to be able to see it clearly. Bark can be a helpful identification aid, but only for a limited range of trees including birches, cherries and poplars.

I have found it much easier to identify trees in winter (at least to the genus level) by means of their buds, and have found the rich variety of buds a source of endless fascination in itself. Below I offer pictures of the buds of ten common deciduous trees to give some indication of the range of bud types that may be found.

Of course, even before looking at the bud itself, the arrangement of buds helps distinguish opposite-leaved and alternate-leaved trees. Most twigs have buds, either singly or in clusters, at the end, but a bud also usually forms in each leaf axil where the leaf stem was attached to the twig. So opposite-leaved trees have buds opposite one another, and alternate-leaved trees have alternate buds along the twigs.

Trees with Opposite Leaves

Deciduous trees with opposite leaves are in a definite minority. Common trees with opposite leaves include the ashes, maples and horse chestnuts, as well as the usually more bushy privet, dogwood and elder.

Common Ash (Fraxinus excelsior) is possibly the easiest of all trees to identify, with its blunt, coal-black, velvety buds. This photo is of a variety known as 'Weeping Ash' which is commonly planted in churchyards and cemeteries. Other ash species have similar buds, but usually in brown.

Horse Chestnut (Aesculus hippocastaneum) is another tree very easily recognised by its buds, which are big, pointed and sticky. This latter feature distinguishes it from the non-sticky buds of the Red Horse Chestnut (a widely planted park tree which has the great advantage of not suffering from bleeding canker, the disease currently ravaging the common Horse Chestnut).

Sycamore (Acer pseudoplatanus) buds are large, green and swollen. Note the leaf scars immediately below and between the buds. The terminal bud has obviously not formed, resulting in the development of the pair of backup buds immediately behind instead.

Elder (Sambucus nigra) is clearly identified by this photo as an opposite-leaved tree. Elder buds are characteristically spiky.

Trees with Alternate Leaves

English Oak (Quercus robur), and other oaks, as well as having some buds along the twigs, are characterised by clusters of terminal buds, with beautiful brown scales.

Common Beech (Fagus sylvatica) has long, spiky buds held at an angle to the twig. The buds are sufficiently large that they can be seen on the leafless tree from a distance, and give it a very distinctive appearance.

White Willow (Salix alba) always grows near water, as willows like to keep their roots below the water table. The buds are somewhat pointed and asymmetrical and lie flat against the twig. Unlike those of the equally common Crack Willow, the buds (and shoots) are covered with white hairs.

London Plane (Platanus x hispanica) is a strange hybrid between the Buttonwood from North America and the Oriental Plane from the Middle East, dating from the late 17th century. The reddish buds are noticeably asymmetric.

Common Alder (Frangula alnus) and other alder species have beautiful purplish catkins in early spring, and are also identifiable through much of the year by their distinctive cone-like fruits. The buds are rather unusual, in that they are stalked.

False Acacia (Robinia pseudoacacia) is a non-native tree that is widely planted as a street tree. It is remarkably spiny (which helps protect it from vandals), even to the extent that each tiny bud is protected by a pair of spines.