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Friday, April 2, 2010

White Trees- Part III

 
quaking aspen and white birch

Remember this picture? Probably not. It was part of a post about telling the difference between aspen and birch trees. Here's how the tops of those trees look at this time of year.

birch and aspen

Basically the aspen is on the right, and the birch on the left, although there is really only one birch, with quite a few aspen. Can you see how the branches grow differently? The birch is very finely divided, and the twigs are all dark. The aspen is much more coarse.

birch and aspen

Here they are a few days later, with the buds starting to swell.

birch and aspen

Finally, here is the bark. You can see that the birch is much whiter, with dark branches, while the aspen has both gray trunk and branches.

Took a few pictures of birds that weren't there any more. Maybe tomorrow I'll catch one!


See White Trees- Part II

4 comments:

rainfield61 said...

I am more familiar with Beech and Oak tree which are used more often in furniture industry.

Ann said...

I've always loved the look of the bark on the birch trees.

Rick (Ratty) said...

That last picture was the easiest for me to understand because it was closer. This post holds particular interest to me though because I've been studying one particular type of tree that is white in my forest. I have the name recorded somewhere but I can't remember right now. I think I noticed the tree because I read your other post about white trees. That's one more thing I learned because of you.

Sharkbytes said...

rainfield- we have beech and oak too. Very nice combination!

Ann- it really is stunning in the sun.

Ratty- Thank you again, friend. I love learning new things all the time, and when someone else wants to come along for the ride, it's extra good! Be sure to tell us the tree some time.