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The Ogham and the Seasons and Cycles of Earth, Moon and Sun
The ancient Ogham alphabet used as a calendar, both lunar and solar, is a unique and effective tool for
personal development and spiritual growth. We will explore our connections to trees, birds, animals,
colors, stones and much more as we follow the seasons of the year. In the Year and a Day that we work
together, we will explore all 15 consonants as lunar cycles and the 5 vowels as the Solar seasons. This
will allow us to experiences all of the letters during one full turning of the Earth around the Sun.
This year long course will include thirteen lunar cycles (the thirteen consonants of the alphabet) and five
Seasons of the Sun (the five vowels). The first two weeks will include an overview of the Ogham, its
origins and applications as well as basic orientation to the course. On the new moon, we will
begin exploring ourselves and our connection to our kindred with the Ogham as our guide.
On each New Moon I will post the correspondences for the letter of the Ogham alphabet assigned to that
lunar cycle. When we are close to a Solstice or Equinox I will also post the correspondences for that.
Each student is expected to research the correspondences in the weeks assigned and post the research
(written in their own words). Please post your research in a well thought out manner with attention paid
to readability. Your posts will be evaluated on the amount of research as well as, your depth of
understanding. I am also interested in seeing how what you have learned can be applied to your life. It is
wonderful to collect and have pictures for visual remembrance. {Please be sure to record where the texts
and pictures come from and any copyright information. Keeping accurate references is very important.
The last week will be a review (a paper from each) and a summary of the impact of what they have
personally learned using the Ogham correspondences as tools for personal development.
In summary, what I look for:
1. Amount of research done
2. Depth of understanding of the teachings
3. Ability to apply to your own life at this time
4. Your interaction with the other women on the list – you are expected to reply to other’s posts in
such a way as to encourage positive discussion.
I hope that you will feel free to discuss your findings and what you think and feel about it all. Share
stories with each other – it is how we will truly learn together. I hope that you will find this fun – it
should be fun or we are doing something wrong!
The following information is an overview of your assignments for each lunar cycle:
On the New Moon
Begin your research on the correspondences of this cycle. Research the tree and the
Goddess in week one and post to the group. Please keep detailed notes and record
references from where found. You will need to provide these references when your work is
submitted.
If the tree of this cycle grows in your area, see if you can get to know it. Spend time with it
on several occasions. Sit with it – see if you can feel its energies or hear it speak to you.
Begin a tree book that will contain all 20 trees or your chosen substitutes. Within the book
should be a leaf etching, drawing or picture of stem, bark, root, seed and bud. Not all of
these will be available at one time so book is on-going.
You will begin to examine personal energies, what is going on in your life at the moment.
From the personal information you are gathering, see if you can relate it to what you are
learning in your research.
Post the results of your research to the group. Include in your posting your personal
reflections on these.
On the Full Moon
Research the bird and the stone in week two and post to the group.
Create an art project with what you have learned about this cycle. (optional)
Continue your research now focusing on healing qualities.
Beginning on the Waning Moon
Post findings on healing qualities.
Reflect again on the energies present in your life.
What is going on around you?
Are you manifesting?
Are you gestating, pulling back?
How can you relate or tie in what you are learning this cycle?
Write down all of your feelings and thoughts.
On the Dark Moon
Post reflective thoughts, art work, etc.
Put away your symbols for this cycle. Save them is a special place.
Complete your work on the tree book for this tree
Complete your notes, and last minute feelings about what you have learned and post to the group.
A reminder of copyright material
All rights reserved. No part of this course may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any
means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage
and retrieval system without permission in writing from Deanne Quarrie.
The Ogham as a Spiritual Tool
It is my hope in this course that I can give you a few ideas of what the ogham is, where it might have come
from, and how I (and others) use it as a spiritual tool. I wish to disqualify myself as an historical expert
on the subject. What I have learned has been a process of finding sources, assimilating what parts helped
to enhance my spiritual journey and forgetting the rest, or if not forgetting, hanging on to until I was
ready to use them.
It is not important to me, personally, that I be historically correct. To be honest, there is truly no way to
be historically correct and so I would rather take what we do know and attempt to use it in a way that is
life enhancing. What is important is how I apply what I have gathered to my own life and to the lives of
women I mentor. I know that the system is old, very old. Many experts believe that the ogham was a tool
used by the Druids containing their sacred teachings. Theirs was an oral tradition and each of the letters
contained certain teachings as well as a Mystery (or several that were all related). Perhaps they used the
letters as visual symbols of those teachings.
We do not know if the ogham was actually used as an alphabet. We do not know for sure if the ogham
was ever used for divination. Finally, it is not known if the letters were ever used to designate lunar
cycles. That is something Robert Graves put forth as his theory in his book The White Goddess. We do
know that the Druids were the keepers of the history of the Celts. They kept their history without benefit
of written texts. What is thought is that the many oghams were mnemonic devices for memorizing sets of
facts. By organizing things by the sound of the first letter, and perhaps in using poems utilizing those
sounds, they were able to memorize great bodies of spiritual knowledge. What is known is that there
were many oghams – the letters themselves, bird oghams, tree oghams, etc. The letters are symbols for
words, not all trees as it thought by most today. What we have is a system that uses several oghams in
combination that is not necessarily historically correct but that which works for us as a tool for learning.
What we have are those teachings, or at least those teachings we have managed to hang on to because so
much of what the Druids kept in their memories was lost when the Romans set out to annihilate the
Druids as keepers of the history and leaders of the Celtic people. They knew that the Druids, as keepers
of the history, were what held the Celtic people together. By removing their Druids, they conquered the
people.
There are two versions of the letter ogham. One is the B-L-N version and the other the B-L-F. They are
different in the order in which they are expressed and visually, in direction that the letters face. The
actual teachings in each are however, no different.
We are going to deal with those teachings set in a framework of the lunar year. The letters are assigned
to the same months that Robert Graves used. I use the B-L-N version because I believe it is the older of
the two and therefore, the original. I cannot really prove that. It is simply the system I learned and I am
now very accustomed to using it in that way.
Each of the ogham letters as offered here has correspondences associated with it. With each letter, you
will find these typical associations: its name, symbol, a Mystery (the teachings), trees, birds, animals,
stones, goddesses, gods, the days of the week, numbers, and finally a quote from the poem known as the
Song of Amergin.
Our primary reference for much of our material does come from The White Goddess by Robert Graves.
We also added herb lore to our teachings as associated with the trees and seasonal information based on
energies present throughout out the turning of the wheel. I also highly recommend the book by Erynn
Rowan Laurie, Ogam: Weaving Word Wisdom.
Robert Graves proposed that the Year should begin with the Return of the Light, and so began his year
the day after Winter Solstice.
We place Beth, the first consonant, on the day after the Day that is Not a Day, or the Extra Day of the year.
The vowels are assigned to the Equinoxes, the Solstices, and the Extra Day.
We will also use a poem, The Song of Amergin in conjunction with the letters of the Ogham.
Amergin means “Birth of Song.” According to legend, Amergin was one of the leaders of the “Men of Mil”
(Milesians), who battled the Tuatha De’ Danann (The Faerie Clan) for possession of Ireland. The Song of
Amergin is the song that he sang as he claimed the land, and was a challenge to the Tuatha De Danann,
who were considered the gods.
His ships sailed to the shores in a cloud of fog, hiding their entry and so were undiscovered in their
approach. Amergin invoked the powers of the Land as he stepped ashore in Ireland. These words came
from Amergin's “poetic inspiration” and marked the start of battle over sovereignty of Ireland. Amergin
claims the elements of Ireland. He displays his wisdom and power over the elements. He is actually
"becoming"... all of these elements. In this invocation, he joins with the spirit that controls the elements
of the Cosmos. The wind died down and the Gaels claimed sovereignty on Ireland.
It is interesting to reflect, that even though Amergin claimed dominion over this land resulting in the fact
that the Tuatha Dé Danann went to live in the Otherworld (within the mounds of Irish lore); the Gods of
Old retain their power and to this day are the principal Gods and Goddesses of the Celtic people. It is my
own personal opinion that the invasion of Ireland by Amergin and the Milesians was but a merging of
peoples upon a sacred Land.
There are many excellent sources for researching the ogham. I have provided an extensive reading list to
help you in these studies. They are not required texts except for The White Goddess by Robert Graves. I
would fully recommend that over time, if this material really draws you, that you research and learn on
your own, the rich roots of this material.
To conclude, the source material we are using to plot our year is the Ogham as the primary tool for
sharing the Mysteries of the Seasons and Cycles, which are placed within, formed and shaped by the
energies of those cycles and seasons, as given to us by the Song of Amergin in his song.
Useful References
Author Title Subject
Andrews, Ted *** Animal Speak Animals & Birds
Andrews, Ted *** Animal Wise Animals & Birds
Carr-Gomm, Philip and Stephanie Druid Animal Oracle Deck & Book
Gray, Miranda Beasts of Albion Deck & Book
Matthews, Caitlin Celtic Wisdom Tarot Deck & Book
Matthews, John Green Man Tree Oracle Deck & Book
Murray, Liz & Colin Celtic Tree Oracle Deck & Book
Pennick, Nigel Celtic Oracle Deck & Book
Pracownik, Peter Ogham, The Celtic Oracle Deck & Book
Leigh, Marion Findhorn Flower Essences Flower Essences
Melody Love is In the Earth, The Crystal and Mineral Encyclopedia Gemstones
Melody Love is In the Earth Gemstones
Simmons, Robert *** The Book of Stones Gemstones
Blamires, Steve Celtic Tree Mysteries Ogham
Carroll, Roisin Crane Bag Ogham
Dathen, Jon Ogham – Wisdom of the Trees Ogham
Ellison, Robert Lee (Skip) *** The Druid’s Alphabet Ogham
Fiesch, Matthew Ogham, Druidic Oracle of the Trees Ogham
Glass-Koentop, Pattalee Year of Moons, Seasons of Trees O/P Ogham
Graham, Matthew The Celtic Tree Ogham Ogham
Graves, Robert - Required The White Goddess Ogham
Hageneder, Freed Meaning of Trees Ogham
Hopman, Ellen Evert A Druid’s Herbal of Sacred Tree Medicine Ogham
LaCour, Suzanne Ogham and the Universal Truth of the Trees Ogham
Laurie, Erynn Rowan *** Ogam, Weaving Word Wisdom Ogham
Matthews, Caitlin *** Celtic Wisdom Sticks Ogham
Mountfort, Paul Rhys Ogam, The Celtic Oracle of the Trees Ogham
Quarrie, Deanne - Required From the Branch – The Ogham for Spiritual Growth Ogham
Thorrson, Edred Book of Ogham Ogham
Altman, Nathaniel Sacred Trees Trees
Bleakley, Alan Fruits of the Moon Tree Trees
Bouchardon, Patrice Healing Energy of Trees Trees
Chase, Pamela Trees for Healing Trees
Gifford, Jane *** Wisdom of Trees Trees
Kindred, Glennie The Sacred Tree Trees
Lilly, Simon & Sue Tree Seer Trees
Lilly, Simon & Sue Tree Essence, Spirit and Teacher Trees
Lilly, Simon & Sue Tree Essence of Healing Trees
Paterson, Jacqueline Tree Wisdom Trees
*** More recommended than others
Possible Websites to Explore in Doing Your Research
Ogham
The Blue Roebuck
http://blueroebuck.com
Druid Tree Lore and the Ogham
http://www.druidry.org/obod/druid-path/druidtreeloreogham.html
The Ogham Stone
http://ogham.lyberty.com/
Celtic Ogham – Curtis Clark
http://www.csupomona.edu/~jcclark/ogham/
Ogham – Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ogham
The Ogham – Sacred Fire
http://www.sacredfire.net/ogham.html
Stones of the Ogham
The Blue Roebuck
http://blueroebuck.com
Beadage
http://www.beadage.net/
The Breastplate of the High Priest
http://www.highermeaning.org/Authors/SDC/Gemstones.shtml
Birds of Ogham
The Blue Roebuck
http://blueroebuck.com
Birds of the Ogham
http://www.erintulach.com/Divination/ogham/birds_of_the_ogham.htm
Animals of the Ogham and More
The Blue Roebuck
http://blueroebuck.com
Celtic Animal Allies
http://www.joellessacredgrove.com/Celtic/animalallies.html
Celtic Sacred Animals
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Forum/5088/sacred_animals.html
If you find good sites, please feel free to share them with your classmates!
Ogham Table of Correspondences
Letter Irish Name Tree Goddess Bird Stone or Metal Color Song Line
Beth Birch Britomartis,
Sadb
Pheasant Carnelian White I am a stag of
seven tines
Luis Rowan Sequana,
Brighid
Duck Yellow Topaz Grey I am a lake upon
a plain
Nion Ash Norns Snipe Sea Green Beryl Clear I am a wind
over the sea
Fearn Alder Saule, Kore Gull Fire Garnet Crimson I am a tear of
the sun
Saille Willow Hecate Hawk Ruby Fine-colored I am a hawk
upon a cliff
Huath Hawthorn Cardea,
Hymen
Night
Crow
Lapis Lazuli Terrible-
colored
I am a beautiful
flower
Duir Oak Eurynome Wren White Carnelian Black I am a god that
sets the head on
fire
Tinne Holly Boudica Starling Smokey Quartz Dark Grey I am a keen
spear that pours
forth battle
Coll Hazel Sophia,
Olwen
Crane Red Agate Brown I am a salmon in
a pool
Quert Apple
Muin Vine Danu,
Muses
Titmouse Amethyst Variegated I am a hill of
skilled ones
Gort Ivy Bendis, Mute Swan Yellow
Serpentine
Blue I am a boar in
battle frenzy
Ngetal Reed Ceridwen Goose Green Jasper Glass-green I am a noise of
the Sea
Straif Blackthorn
Ruis Elder Morrighu Rook Malachite Blood-red I am an ocean
wave
Ailm Silver Fir Druantia Lapwing Silver Piebald I am the womb
of every holt
Who but I know
the secrets of
the unhewn
dolmen?
Onn Gorse Sunna Cormorant Gold Dun I am a blaze on
every hill
Ura Heather Melissae Lark Copper
Amber
Resin-
colored
I am the queen
of every hive
Eadha Poplar
Aspen
Demeter Whistling
Swan
Tin Rufous Red I am the shield
for every head
Idho Yew Cailleach Eaglet Lead Very White I am the tomb of
every hope
The Ogham Trees and Substitutions
By Caitlin Matthews in Celtic Wisdom Tarot handbook, page 136
The ogham trees are specific to the Celtic lands of northwest Europe, so readers outside this region will
need to discover alternatives among their own indigenous trees. Although this breaks the mold of
tradition, it is better that we each have a relationship with our own native trees, rather than working with
species that have no meaning or relevance for us.
The following are suggestions to help your quest:
Ogham Tree Substitute
Scots Pine Conifers or needle-leafed trees
Gorse Brightly flowering shrubs growing on heathland or poor soil
Heather Low, clustering armonatic plants growing in poor soil or hilly areas
Aspen Any tree whose leaves give the appearance of quivering
Yew The longest-lived evergreen species of tree growing in your region
Birch The first tree to put on leaf after the winter, or trees associated with cleansing
Rowan Berry-bearing tree associated with magic
Ash Tall, straight, leaf shedding treewith seed cases or pods
Alder Water-loving, leaf-shedding trees
Willow Trees that fringe rivers and creeks
Hawthorn Flowering, berry-producing trees that herald summer
Oak The strongest tree
Holly Evergreens with shiny leaves
Hazel Quick-growing, nut-bearing trees whose wood is useful
Apple Fruit-bearing trees
Bramble Thorny, rambling shrubs
Ivy Creepers, climbers, lianas, and so on
Reed Any reed, rush or grass
Blackthorn Spiny flowering trees or shrubs bearing fruit
Elder Blossoming- berry-producing trees that grow anywhere
North American Equivalents to Druidic Sacred Trees
Ogham British Texas Pacific NW Mid Atlantic Indiana
Beth Birch Gum Aspen Palmetto River Birch
Luis Rowan Tx Red Cedar Madrone So. Red Cedar Red Cedar
Nion Ash Am. Elm Ponderosa Pine Redbud Redbud
Fearn Alder Magnolia Maple
Saille Willow
Huath Hawthorn Cottonwood Cottonwood Cottonwood Sycamore
Duir Great Oak Mesquite West. Cedar So. Great Oak Eastern Oak
Tinne Holly Oak Ashe Juniper Sitka Spruce Holly Black Walnut
Coll Hazel Pecan Western Oak Beech Beech
Muin Vine Mulberry Brakenfern Grape Heliotrope Fiveleaf
Gort Ivy Blackberry Elm
Ngetal Reed Cattail Horsetail Carolina Cane Cattail
Ruis Elder Myrtle Lodgepole Pine Loblolly Pine Persimmon
Ailm Silver Fir Pine Douglas Fir So. Yellow Pine
Onn Furze Sycamore Pacific Yew So. Sweetgum
Ura Heather Sagebrush Scotch Broom Span. Tree Moss
Eadha White Poplar Bl. Hickory Silver Fir Hickory
Idho Yew Cypress W. Hemlock Cypress
My Own Texas Equivalents
Ogham Native Texas Possibilities
birch River Birch
rowan (mountain ash) American Mountain Ash
ash Texas White Ash
alder Hazel Alder
willow Black Willow
hawthorn oak Texas Red Oak
holly Jaupon Holly or Possumhaw Holly
hazel pecan or black walnut
apple crab apple
vine Mustang Grape/Dewberry
ivy ivy treebine
reed/broom common reed, Phragmites australis or cattail/bulrush
blackthorn Mexican Plum
elder Elderberry
silver fir Ashe Juniper
gorse Agarita or Retama
heather Texas lantana ???
aspen,poplar cottonwood or sycamore
yew Pinyon Pine
Getting to Know Your Kindred
The quality of your life will be greatly enhanced if, in addition to working with the essences, the energies
of the tree symbols, and the healing energy of the Earth, you step outside and spend time with the trees.
My spirituality teaches me that they are my kindred, as they are yours. They wish to share their wisdom
and life giving essence with you personally. Here are some suggestions for you to get acquainted with
your family!
Merging with the essence of the tree
If possible work so that sunlight is filtering through the leaves. Begin by sitting against the trunk for a
while, making connection with the forest floor and through the bark with the energy flowing upwards
form the earth.
Put your hands on the ground and press down with your feet, picturing any excess energies and negative
feelings as dark light sinking downwards into the earth.
When you feel calm, stand facing the tree so your fingers on both hands and your toes are lightly touching
the trunk.
Picture a rich light rising in beams through your feet and legs, flowing through every part of your body,
finding its own pathways.
Another Exercise
Find yourself a quiet park, forest, or woodland area. Walk among the trees until you feel comfortable in
their presence. Feel the different bark textures with the palms of your hands. Smell the scent of the
various woods.
Absorb their life's energies as you look upwards to the sprawling branches overhead.
Find the perfect tree that fits your mood. You will know which one is right for you. Encircle it with your
arms while gently pressing your cheek to the trunk being careful not to scratch your face. Squeeze tightly.
Sigh deeply. Be one with your tree.
Sit upon the ground wrapping your legs around the base of the tree and at the same time embracing it
with your arms.
Climb a tree. Sit upon a strong limb and straddle it with your legs. Bend forward and place your belly
against it while wrapping your arms about it.
Tips
Feel free to hug more than one tree if the mood strikes. You may like to take home a fallen leaf or nut as a
keepsake from your new friend.
Be sure to return each season to visit your tree. And don't be afraid to talk to it, as trees are good
listeners.
Taking a walk through nature is not only refreshing and energizing; it can also be a healing experience
thanks to the energy of trees.
How to See a Tree's View of the World
You can also enhance your psychic perceptions of the world around you, by merging your consciousness
with that of your healing tree. Allow your aura to merge with the tree's energy field, and with your eyes
open, see the surroundings as if through the consciousness of the tree. A silvery glow will surround the
area, and you will see the auras of other trees and plants. When you have finished this experiment, thank
the tree for its participation, and move away from its energy field. Bring your consciousness up through
your body and into your head, then take a few more deep breaths. Stamp your feet on the ground to bring
yourself back to full conscious awareness.
Clearing Negativity with Trees
It is said that trees can also absorb negative energy from our bodies, without it doing the tree any harm.
To clear yourself of negativity, find another tree that you are intuitively drawn to, and ask permission to
give it the negative energy that you have unwittingly stored in your body.
Trees can transform and use this energy for their own enhancement. To gather and release negativity
from your physical, mental, emotional and spiritual self, run the palm of your left hand from the top of
your head, and down the right side of your body, visualizing the collection of negativity into your hands.
Do the same with your right hand on the left side of your body.
Then rub your hands on the trunk of the tree, thereby releasing all the toxins that you have gathered.
Also, run your hands down the front and back of your body and pass this onto the tree as well.
Do this three times, and when you are finished, thank the tree for taking the negative energy from you.
Trees are more than lumps of wood with leaves attached. Make the effort to walk through a national park
or forest soon, and take visual notes of the variety that exists even within the same species of tree. By
making the conscious effort to look closely at a tree trunk, you will be surprised at the myriad of patterns
and colors that normally go unnoticed.
Each tree has its own characteristics and personality. By taking the time to attune to a few trees, you will
be amazed at the different styles of energy that emanate from them. For your health's sake, hug a tree
today!
Tree Identification Characteristics
Trees are cool. Learning how to ID trees and learning about their "personalities" is like making new
friends. There’s a lot more to know about trees than just how to tell them apart! The more time you
spend with trees and in the forest, the more you will understand about some of the neatest places on
earth. But we have to begin somewhere and ID is a great first step.
There are certain parts of a tree that will tell you what species you’re looking at. Usually, we think only of
leaves. But, of course, this doesn’t help us much in winter if the leaves have fallen (not all do!). Leaves on
tall trees that are only way up in the air don’t help us much either.
So, we should learn to look at other parts, such as twigs, buds, bud scars, bark, flowers, fruits, branching
pattern, tree form, where the tree is growing, and "who" the tree is growing with.
It is not necessary to learn every characteristic of every species (although it’s fun). Generally, just one or
two features will be enough … but you have to know which ones are important for which tree! That’s the
hard part. For example, most of us can identify paper birch from just the bark. But how many of us can
tell the difference between maples, elms, oaks, and ashes without the leaves? (How many of us can do
that even with the leaves!)
And, what about all the conifers? Some of the following considerations will help you look in the correct
place in a tree ID book or this on-line tree ID key.
TWIGS: Slender or chubby? Smooth or hairy? Any spots, ridges, or special colors? Boxelder twigs have a
purplish color to the most recent growth.
BUDS: Pointy or blunt? Shiny or dull? Hairy or smooth? Big or small? Colors? Sugar maple have very
pointy buds. Oaks have a cluster of "end" buds.
BUD SCARS: These are the places where last year’s leaves fell off. They have shapes, sizes, and "face"
patterns unique to each species. This helpful with ashes, butternut, walnut, and hickories because the
scars are bigger.
BARK: Rough, smooth, special colors, thickness, patterns, oddities? Bark can be difficult to learn because
most trees have bark that changes appearance with age. Only a few trees have really easy bark to
recognize, like birches, aspens, or American elm.
FLOWERS: We don’t normally think of trees with flowers but all trees have them. In some cases, the
flowers help us with identification. Flowers are also one of the main parts that scientists have used to put
trees in categories. Red maple is about the first tree to bloom in the spring.
FRUITS: All trees have fruits, too. Cones, nuts, acorns, seeds, and helicopters are just some of the many
kinds of fruits that trees produce. A fruit is any kind of organ that hold seeds, not just edible fruits like
apples or oranges.
BRANCHING PATTERN: The way in which a tree branches can sometimes be a helpful thing to
know. "Opposite" branching occurs only in maples and ashes (at least with U.P. trees). Some shrubs also
have opposite branching, so identification of tree saplings may be harder. Most other trees have
"alternate" branching. The angle at which branches come off the trunk, or the density of branches in the
crown, can be good clues in tree ID. Sometimes the crown (all the branches together) have special
characteristics. Paper birch looks purple.
TREE FORM: The overall shape of a tree is the form. Some trees have very distinctive forms. An
American elm is shaped like a large flower vase. Or balsam fir has a very pointy crown.
GROWING PLACE or SITE: Some trees, like cedar, black spruce and tamarack are usually found on wet
sites. Yellow birch and hemlock grow in cooler, moister places like ravines and the north side of hills.
TREE ASSOCIATES: Trees, like people, like to "hang" around in certain groups. If you can identify one or
two trees in an area, you’ll have some clues to what else might grow there. For example, if there is a lot of
sugar maple, chances are good that you’ll find basswood, beech, and ironwood. Aspen, paper birch, and
jack pine probably won’t be there.
LEAVES: Leaves include needles and scales of conifers. Leaves are one of the best ways to ID a tree,
when they are available. Simple or compound? Margins smooth or margins rough? Shape? Size? Color
variation? Texture? Any sinuses or lobes?
Getting good at identifying trees takes practice. Once you know your trees, it becomes much easier to
learn about shrubs, flowers, and wildlife that grow together with the trees. Trees dominate forest
ecosystems, so if you have a pretty good idea of what trees are there, you’ll have a pretty good idea of
what’s happening in that environment and what else might be living with those trees.
Preserving Tree Leaves in Wax Paper
You just can't beat using a real, preserved leaf to assist you in tree identification. Wax paper pressing
captures color, highlights a leaf's structure and provides you with a leaf in three dimensions. Collecting
the leaf aids you in initial identification and gives you a template for future use.
What you need:
* Wax paper
* Thin Towel
* Iron set on warm heat
* Leaf
How to do it:
* Find a leaf on a tree you either know or would like to identify. Collect the leaf or several leaves that
most represent an average looking leaf of the tree species.
* Place the collected leaf between two layers of wax paper with plenty of room to trim and preserve the
wax "seal".
* Cover the wax paper with a towel. The towel should not be a thick bath type but preferably a thin dish
towel. Some people actually use paper towels.
* Turn the iron on medium dry heat and evenly iron over the towel which separates the iron from the
wax paper. This heat actually seals the leaf between the wax paper sheets.
* Trim the wax paper specimen to fit a standard weight, three-ring sheet protector and insert it with a
label. Keep your collection in a three-ring notebook binder.
Tips
* A great way to label your leaf specimen is to "copy and paste" tree information directly from an ID site
on the Internet.
* Depending on the tree species, your green leaf will brown a bit. That is normal and should be
considered when reviewing leaf color.
* The beauty of leaf collecting is, you don't have to know the tree's name. You can do your research right
on the Internet or out of a good book on trees.
Identifying Trees by Their Bark
When there are no leaves on the trees, we have to rely on bark, buds, and growth patterns to identify the
species, a fascinating challenge.
It is useful to start by determining whether the tree has opposite or alternate twigs and buds. (See
Identifying Trees in Winter.)
The next step is to examine the bark. It takes a lot of practice to learn to recognize bark patterns visually.
Fingertips learn textures more rapidly, so it is helpful to use the sense of touch when examining bark.
Keep in mind that almost all saplings have smooth bark and that distinguishing characteristics do not
develop until trees are more mature, changing still more into old age. Following is a breakdown of the
bark for some of the trees in this book by texture. Clearly it is not a complete list but a place to start for
you.
Smooth ~ Beech has smooth, light grey bark with virtually no cracks or ridges, although there is a disease
that causes a bull’s-eye pattern of cracks. Long, pointed buds.
Sweet (black) birch has smooth dark grey bark with raised horizontal lines. Old or diseased bark may
break up into large plates with peeling edges.
Grey birch is a small tree with chalky white non-peeling bark.
Peeling ~ Paper (white) birch has chalky white bark that peels horizontally in relatively large strips.
Lower layers are pinkish-orange.
Silver (yellow) birch has shiny silvery-yellow bark that peels horizontally in small strips.
River birch has pinkish-tawny to silver-grey bark that peels horizontally in small strips.
Flaky ~ White oak has rough, flaky bark.
Elm has shallowly furrowed bark with soft, flat ridges that flake easily.
Furrowed ~ White ash bark has deep furrows and relatively sharp, narrow ridges that tend to converge
in diamond shapes.
Elm has shallowly furrowed bark with soft, flat ridges that flake easily.
Rough ~ Oaks with bristle-tipped leaves, including Red, Black, Willow, Pin, and others, have bark that is
very scratchy to the touch but does not peel or flake.
For a field guide with photos of bark, see National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Trees
(New York: Knopf), 1980.