Recognising and using important trees

Trees are identified by features that change little: the shape and arrangement of leaves or needles, the bark, the fruit or cones and the growth form. Any single feature can look similar in several species. Only the combination is unmistakable. That is why you always check at least three features.

For conifers a simple comparison helps. Spruce has pointed needles that stand all round the twig and prick; roll a needle between your fingers and you feel edges. Its cones hang down and fall whole. Fir has flat, soft needles with two white stripes on the underside; its cones stand upright on the branches and fall apart there, so you rarely find whole fir cones on the ground. Pine has long needles sitting in pairs in a bundle, and orange to reddish bark higher up the trunk.

For broadleaf trees, leaves and bark are the most important clues. Birch has white bark with black cracks and small, triangular, toothed leaves. Oak has lobed leaves, acorns and deeply furrowed bark. Beech has smooth, silver-grey bark, oval leaves with a wavy edge and beechnuts in a spiny husk. Hazel usually grows as a shrub with many straight shoots and roundish, softly hairy leaves. Willows often have long, narrow leaves and catkins and like to grow near water. Lime has heart-shaped leaves that are lopsided at the base.

The most important comparison is fir against yew, because both have flat needles. Yew has no white stripes on the underside; it is pale green there. It carries no cones but, in autumn, red, cup-shaped seed coats. Its bark is red-brown and flakes off in thin scales. If you are not sure about a conifer with flat needles, treat it as a yew.

Each tree has a typical use in camp. Loose birch bark from dead, fallen wood is oily and burns even when slightly damp – a proven tinder. Resin from spruce and pine burns well and makes pitch glue. Oak and beech give hard, long-burning firewood. Hazel gives straight poles, willow flexible rods for weaving, and lime bast can be made into cord.

In winter the leaves are missing. Then bark, buds, growth form and what lies on the ground help: beechnut husks, acorns, cones or old leaves. If you visit the same trees several times over the year, you learn them fastest.

Yew is highly poisonous in almost all parts: needles, bark, wood and seeds. Only the red, fleshy seed coat contains no poison – but the seed inside does. So the rule is: nothing from a yew in your mouth, no skewers, spoons or chopsticks of yew wood and no yew needles as tea. Children learn it as a hands-off tree. If poisoning is suspected, call 112 at once (in Austria also 144) or a poison information centre.

This entry is not a guide to eating. Even though some tree fruits are edible, acorns, for example, contain tannins, and raw beechnuts should not be eaten in large amounts. You only eat wild plants and fruits that you recognise with one hundred per cent certainty and know how to prepare.

Trees themselves can be dangerous too. Dead trees and hanging dead branches can fall without warning. Look up when collecting and camping and avoid such spots, especially in wind.

Knowing trees pays off wherever you are outdoors: lighting fires, building a camp, making crafts and simply on a walk. The species described here are common in Central Europe. Parks and gardens also contain many foreign ornamental trees that can confuse.

Use follows clear rules. In Germany you may enter forests for recreation, and in Austria too – but that does not mean you may take wood away or cut trees. Wood belongs to the forest owner. For poles, rods or bast you ask the owner. For fires and crafts, fallen deadwood is usually enough where it is allowed.

A German rhyme for conifers says: the spruce pricks, the fir does not. It helps, but it does not replace looking at the other features – yew hardly pricks either.

A good tree field guide with pictures of bark, buds and fruits is the most important tool. Many people also keep a small notebook in which they sketch or press leaves. That way you build your own tree book.

Trees are habitats. Woodpecker holes, deadwood and old trees are valuable for many animals. If you know trees, you see the forest with different eyes and treat it with more care.