Deciduous & Coniferous Trees🌳🌲

Differences Between Coniferous Trees and Deciduous Trees 🌳🌲

The best known difference between coniferous trees and deciduous trees is whether their leaves “fall” or not. Coniferous trees (Latin cone-bearing) and evergreens have cones and needles that stay on during the winter. Common deciduous trees and shrubs (Latin decidere to fall off) have leaves that fall off each year. Like all good rules of thumb there are a few exceptions, called deciduous conifers. These have cones AND needles but shed them every year! Here’s some examples:

Tree	Type	Genus	Trunk & Bark	Leaf / Needle Shape	Tree Identifying Features
Acacia trees 🌳	Deciduous	Acacia	Thin, dark trunk with bark furrows.	Leaflets replaced after dropping by a sheet-like stalk.	There are about 1200 species most of which grow in Australia and Africa. In Europe, the ball acacia often grows in sunny gardens.
Alder trees	Deciduous	Alnus	Often multi-stemmed and with gray fungus.	Round, with a small notch at the top, from September brown, hanging catkins.	Grows along streams, rivers and lakes, The common alder has several black stems and their leaves are sticky.
Apple trees 🌳	Deciduous	Malus	Strong trunk with thorny branches.	Ovate pointed leaves with serrated edge.	Small deciduous trees are up to 10m tall with pink buds and white flowers in April/May. The apples don’t ripen until September.
Ash trees 🌳	Deciduous	Fraxinus	Slender trunk with gray, fissured bark.	4-5 paired, feathery leaves on a 30 cm long stem.	Up to 40 m high, imposing tree with leaf seeds that hang in dense clusters on the branches. Grows best in permanently moist soil.
Aspen trees 🌳	Deciduous	Fagus	Smooth, gray-green bark which forms thick, cracked bark.	Roundish, coarsely serrated leaves with long stem on brown-yellow branches.	Aspen deciduous trees grow up to 30 m high with narrow growth. Aspens are often planted along roads, noticable because Aspen leaves tremble in the wind.
Beech trees 🌳	Deciduous	Fagus	Smooth, silver-gray trunk with strong chord-like veins.	Ovate, pointed leaves with serrated/wavy edge on a very short stem.	20-30 m tall imposing deciduous trees with protruding crown. Seeds with 3-lobed wings in bunches. Fruit: bitter tasting beechnuts in a small tri-angled husk.
Birch trees	Deciduous	Betula	Shiny white, smooth trunk often with a cracking bark, 20-30m high.	Triangular, with serrated edge, hanging catkins from April/May.	The thin, overhanging branches of the birch give it a delicate appearance but it is durable and virtually indestructible.
Cedar trees 🌲	Coniferous	Cedrus	Grey trunk is multi-stemmed near the bottom.	Upright, ovoid cones, evergreen needles grow spirally.	Sun-loving coniferous trees with a broad canopy, hardly need any rain. Strongly scented wood, seed flight in September.
Cherry trees 🌳	Deciduous	Prunus	Thin, red-brown trunk marked by cork rings.	Oval pointy leaves with serrated edge.	Cherry deciduous trees grow to 30 m tall, often grows on the forest edge, from April/May white blossom, cherries from July.
Cinnamon trees 🌲	Coniferous	Cinnamomum	Grayish bark with reddish inner bark. Some varieties are stripped to produce cinnamon spice (as powder and sticks).	Elongated oval leaves (7–18 cm), reddish new leaves.	Ceylon cinnamon trees (Cinnamomum verum) grow between 10-15 m tall. In ancient Roman and today in India in buds are used as a spice.
Douglas Fir trees 🌲	Coniferous	Pseudotsuga	Bark coated with resin blisters.	Hanging cones (4-10 cm), green, soft needles standing individually.	Evergreen up to 60-100 m tall, maximum age 400-1400 years, blossom in the northern hemisphere: April-May.
Elm trees 🌳	Deciduous	Ulmus	Mighty trunk with rough, ribbed bark.	Rough, oval leaves, asymmetric with 1 (sometimes 3) peaks.	Elms are deciduous trees which grow up to 40 m, they’re widely branched with rounded crown with dense, spherical flower clusters from April/May. Dutch elm disease wiped out millions of trees in Europe & North America.
Fir trees 🌲	Coniferous	Abies	Thin, silver-gray trunk.	Dull, soft needles with projecting cones.	Firs are coniferous trees which grow up to 80 m tall in forests often growing in mountain slopes. Fir cones stand like candles and don’t drop to the ground, only the scales do.
Horse Chestnut trees 🌳	Deciduous	Aesculus	Short, massive trunk with drooping branches.	5-7 finger-like leaflets with candle-shaped inflorescences.	Densely-growing (park) trees with white flowers from April and prickly husks containing horse chestnuts in October.
Larch trees	Coniferous*	Larix	Straight trunk with horizontal branches.	Needles in small bunches with small, spherical standing cones.	Larch trees are coniferous trees which grow 35-40 m tall. They are only green in summer. From October golden-yellow needles which are later discarded, which is unusual for conifer trees. Larch trees often grow in mountains.
Linden trees 🌳	Deciduous	Tilia	Mighty trunk with brown, fissured bark.	Heart-shaped with serrated edges and hairy, often sticky underside.	Linden deciduous trees grow up to 40 m tall, stately trees with wide, protruding crown and sweet-scented flowers (June) and spherical fruits (September).
Locust trees 🌳	Deciduous	Robinia	Initially rod-shaped, later – gnarled robust trunk.	Up to 19 individual leaflets on a long stalk.	Sun-loving and cold-sensitive tree with white flowers in strongly fragrant hanging racemes. Major source of honey in USA. Popular in European parks as pollution-resistant.
Maple trees 🌳	Deciduous	Acer	Grayish-brown to dark brown bark	3-5 pointed leaves, smooth, dull edges (flag of Canada).	Up to 30 m tall with elongated crown, yellowish-green winged fruits (April / May) later popularly known as “helicopters” (September / October).
Oak trees 🌳	Deciduous	Quercus	Thick trunk with longitudinal cracking bark.	Elongated leaves with edges often indented.	Knotty, virtually indestructible and up to 40 m tall tree with acorns in cups.
Pear trees 🌳	Deciduous	Pyrus	Dark, cracked bark on a thin trunk.	Almost round, dark green, glossy leaves with smooth edges.	Pear deciduous trees grow up to 20 m tall, slender tree with white flowers in dense clusters from April / May. Pears edible only from the fall.
Pine trees 🌲	Coniferous	Pinus	Tall, slim trunk with brown, fissured bark.	Soft needles grow in pairs or in clumps, strong, shiny cone.	Pines are coniferous trees which grow between 12-20 m high with pyramid-shaped crowns (reminiscent of giant broccoli), they’re fragrant trees mostly standing alone. Fruit: pine nuts.
Poplar trees	Deciduous	Populus	Smooth white, green or grey bark on young trees. Later the bark becomes rough and in some types, and fissured in others.	Spirally arranged leaves, mostly triangular or circular with a long stalk.	Grows to between 15–50 m tall. Trunks up to 2.5 m diameter. Popular as ornamental trees on account of quick growth.
Rowan trees 🌳	Deciduous	Sorbus	Multi-stemmed trunk with wild branching.	11-15 pinnate leaves with serrated edge on a long stalk.	Up to 12 m tall deciduous trees include a broad crown, tiny white flower blossom starting in May / June, ripe red berries from August.
Scots Pine trees 🌲	Coniferous	Pinus sylvestris	Twisted trunk with lengthy cracked, reddish bark.	Prickly needles grow in pairs, 40-60 mm long.	Scots Pine coniferous trees are knotty evergreen trees with ovoid cones hanging with hard scales, with older umbrella-shaped tops.
Spruce trees 🌲	Coniferous	Picea	Spruce trees have a reddish gray trunk with scaly bark.	Pointed prickly needles, 10-30 mm long	Spuce coniferous trees are evergreen trees which grow hat-shaped to between 30-50 m with pointed tops and elongated hanging cones that fall as a whole.
Sycamore trees 🌳	Deciduous	Platanus	Sycamore trees have yellow-brown bark which peels off in great flakes.	Five-lobed leaves which resemble the maple leaf.	Sycamores are popular street and park ornamental deciduous trees with spherical fruits on long stems. Often pruned in winter.
Willow trees 🌳	Deciduous	Salix	Willow trees have a thin trunk with deep cracking, gray bark.	Silver shiny, oblong leaves with smooth edges on a short stem.	Gray and white willow are found near streams, rivers or lakes. Seeds hang from cotton-like threads.
Yew trees 🌲	Coniferous	Taxus	Yew trees are often multi-stemmed with reddish bark.	Soft, pliable, dark green needles on horizontal branches.	Small trees (10-20 m) with a rounded crown, often grown as a shrub esp. in churchyards. Red, bell-shaped fruit from September. Almost everything on a yew tree is toxic.

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* This conifer is a deciduous conifer tree. They’re unusual because, despite being conifer trees, they drop their needles and cones every year – like deciduous trees. This makes it harder to tell if they are coniferous trees or deciduous trees.

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