How to Identify Trees By Bark Texture

1. Arid Woodlands

The first step to identifying a tree by its bark is to figure out whether you are dealing with a dead or living bark. When it comes to the texture of the bark, there are seven different types: smooth, flaky, fibrous, shallowly furrowed, deep furrowed and scaly. Often this texture varies from one part of a tree trunk to another as it ages and grows. Smooth barked trees have thin bark that is free of ridges and furrows. Flaky bark has thin overlapping scales that can curl up at the edges making it look like pieces of paper on the ground under older trees. Fibrous, shallowly furrowed and deeply furrowed barks usually have vertical ridges unlike scaly barks that have ridges that run horizontally around the trunk of a tree.

2. Tropical Hardwood Trees

Tropical hardwood trees have smooth, thin bark.

• The mahogany tree’s bark is smooth and brownish-red.
• The kapok tree has yellowish-green bark that looks scaly.
• The monkey puzzle tree has very dark, scaly bark.

3. Temperate and Boreal Woodlands

[Insert bark type here] Tree Bark

You can identify this tree bark by its [insert description here]. Some examples of trees with this kind of bark are the [name tree one], the [name tree two], and the [name tree three]. You can find these types of trees in many parts of North America and Europe, especially in temperate and boreal woodlands. What makes this type of bark unique is that it [insert distinguishing information here]. Another interesting fact about this kind of bark is that it [add some more cool information here].

4. Deciduous Woodlands

Deciduous woodland habitats. Common trees include the oaks, elms, birches and maples. Bark is gray, gray-brown, brown or black. Texture ranges from smooth to scaly to furrowed to flaky and ridged. Some are scaly and furrowed.

Learning the difference between bark types can help you identify trees

• Bark is an easy way to identify trees.
• Bark patterns, color, size and shape, thickness, cracks and crevices and scent are all important factors in identifying trees.
• Bark texture and feel can also help you classify a tree.

Once you start practicing what you have learned here about bark types, it will become easier for you to identify specific trees.