Part two of the bark key for Dutch hardwood trees: coarse and cracked bark
2. Coarse bark
1. Characteristic bark | 2. Smooth bark | 3. Coarse bark | 4. Cracked bark or halfway between smooth and coarse | Bud key
Trees with real coarse bark are beautiful. The ridges seem to tell you the tree is ancient. It must have been here when knights were roaming the land. Pure feeling and therefore great.
Tree species with a coarse bark often have a smooth bark when individuals are young. I will therefore try to specify at what size trees of a certain species get rough.:-)
- English oak Quercus robur. Recognizable by its often twisted branches and bark. Often acorns under the tree and some brown leafs on the tree. In many Dutch forests the dominant tree. photo's of buds here
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Dutch Elm or Ulmus hollandica. Hard to recognize. Best clue is the round buds that later become flowers. Photo's of buds here
- Big Linden, more than 2 meters around. Lindengenus or Tilia (Tilaceae). See cracked bark cause this one could be listed under both.
- Sweet chestnut (small trees are very smooth in bark) Castanea sativa. Big trees, one meter and more get a coarse bark. The bark is beautifully lined vertically and somehow seems very distinguished to me. The lines are very symmetric. When the bark is not really coarse yet, the vertical bark seems to have a waffle like pattern. Photo's of the red buds here.
- Alder speathii or JapaneseXCaucasian alder or Alnus speathii. Has many alder-cones hanging on the twigs, but is much larger than the common Black alder. A tree in neighbourhoods and parks, not found in the woods. Bark as coarse as the English oak. Photo's of buds here
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Caucasian Wingnut Pterocarya fraxinifolia. Characteristic bark. Often a low large tree. "Strings" hanging form its branches in the winter. Photo's of buds here
- Black locust Robinia pseudoacacia. Characteristic bark asnd often long paired thorns on the twigs. Hidden buds or no buds.
- All large willows have coarse bark. Willow genus or Salix (Salicaceae). Look ancient when they are big: they are not, they just grow fast. Not a beautiful crown: they rather look like a potato that has grown out shoots. Very coarse bark. Photo's of buds here
- All poplars (except Aspen and White and Grey poplar). Poplar genus or Populus (Salicaceae). Poplars can be recognized by shiny whitish bark. Such bark is often seen high up the tree, and sometimes even from a few meters of the ground. Bark gets really coarse, like the willows (they are related) and the trees get very high. Often lots of twigs on the ground, since they break easily. The twigs are not smooth wood at all, not stiff, and with rough patches. Mostly planted in parks, along roads and besides polders. Photo's of buds here
- Southern catalpa Catalpa bignonioides. Often still grey peas on the branches. Has no visible buds. Bark looks like the English oak.
- Common Walnut, Black Walnut (sometimes also smooth) Juglans regia. Hard to recognize. Best clue are the characteristic grey buds. Photo's of buds here
- Tuliptree Liriodendron tulipifera. Recognized easily when there are fruits still on the tree that look like brown flowers. Photo's of buds here.
- Honeylocust Gleditsia triacanthos. Often has a coarse bark with strikingly light-brown bunches of thorns. Cultivars might lack the thorns and then they are less easy to identify. Have hidden buds. Often have long curly brown peas on the tree.
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Japanese scholar tree Saphora japonica. Bark is something in between the English oak and the Black locust.
3. Cracked bark or halfway between smooth and coarse
1. Characteristic bark | 2. Smooth bark | 3. Coarse bark | 4. Cracked bark or halfway between smooth and coarse | Bud key- Linden (when it is really big the bark does get coarse) Lindengenus or Tilia (Tilaceae). A linden can be recognized by its characteristic red buds with two scales. Photo's of buds here. Bark is form cracked to coarse. Before farms often a cultivated in a specific way "lei-linden".
- Silver linden Tilia tomentosa. Not a characteristic bark. You will need other clues like the green buds together with clues that point to a Linden: stalks where the fruit was and wing-shaped leafs above those stalks. Photo's of buds here
- Horse chestnut Aesculus hippocastanum. Often has a twisted trunk and pieces of bark missing. Bark is often very ligh grey. Often trees and candle-shaped: thick branches that leave the trunk rather low and that are very round going form horizontal to vertical. Has big brown sticky buds. Photo's of buds here.
- Red oak Quercus rubra. Characteristic vertical cracks in the greyish rather smooth bark. The cracks are light in color so it seems something is appearing from under the bark. Often horizontal ring-like bands on the branches and trunk. Photo's of buds here
- Common alder; European alder; Black alder. Small trees have a very smooth green bark with yellowish stripes/dots. Black alder Alnus glutinosa. Bigger its bark gets blackish with cracks horizontal and vertical. Buds are grey and a bit bend or clam-shaped. Very common tree in the Netherlands in the forests. Often near water. Photo's of buds here
- European hornbeam; Musclewood; Ironwood Carpinus betulus. Some are really smooth. Sometimes the trunk has a twist and sometimes it seems you see bundles of "muscles" under the bark. Buds like the European beech, but not on stalks. Photo's of buds here. A tree that is easily over looked. When it flowers, in very early spring, before any hardwood has its leafs, you can see many trees there are of this species.
- Norway maple Acer platanoides, is somewhat smooth, with some cracks and fine ridges when you look really close. The ridges get a bit more large when it gets bigger, but not much. Beautiful red buds. Flowers early in the spring. Photo's of buds here.
