A walk took us to a nearby river, which had quite a beautiful view.
There were three types of trees and many wildflowers in the area. The first was the paper birch. This tree can grow upto 70ft. Its trunk seems to be peeling off into white layers. I read (in the Pocket Naturalist Guide to Alaska Trees and Wildflowers) that the bark was used by Native Americans to make bowls and canoes.
Next on was the feltleaf willow that lined the sidewalk with its cotton like hairs.
Finally was the third - i'm not quite sure what this is -- is it a spruce? or a hemlock or a pine? how do i tell? After pouring over the guide books that i have, I am still a bit lost.
Update: I think I'm narrowing down on the White Spruce. see the comments and add yours!
2 comments:
Pine - needles in bundles of 2, 3, or 5. Your tree isn't a pine. Fir - solitary needles leaving a circular scar after they drop, resin coated buds. Your tree isn't a fir. Doug-fir - (didn't think of that did you?) solitary needles leaving an oval scar after they drop, dry, conical buds with over-lapping scales. Not this either.
Spruce - Solitary needles on little peg like stalks and each forming a little patch in the bark; dry buds with papery scales curled at the edges, and cones with nice rounded scales. Your tree looks like a spruce. Now how about hemlock? Work it out.
it is hard to tell with the picture of the needles, not the live thing! i am relying more on the cone and the bark for the ID. is that ok?
i ruled out the doug-fir as the cone does not have those pitch fork like tongues,
sitka spruce - my booklet says it has wavy edges, this one does not seem to have that.
white spruce - could it be?
western hemlock - cant be as the branch ends were not droopy.
mountain hemlock? the bark does not seem like that of this tree.
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