Carry on your hikes through the forest or park.
Nature Study Guides ( )

I love the format of this little pocket-sized guide to tree identification. It is in the format of a dichotomous key; a decision "tree" that allows you to identify a tree species by the characteristics of its leaves. At every "branch" you must make a decision. Needles or leaves? Drooping branches or non-drooping? Lobed leaves or wavy-margined leaves? Leaf tips pointy or rounded? At the end node of each decision path is the identity of the tree in question. Here is a website, provided by Virginia Tech, that has expanded on the concept in an online multichotomous format.

http://www.cnr.vt.edu/DENDRO/DENDROLOGY/idit.htm

You have to love the term "dichotomous key". It's vaguely reminiscent of the name Hieronymus Bosch, an artist whose paintings could use a dichotomous key to help me interpret their meaning. ( )

Hardly the definitive guide, but this book is SO HANDY! It has a very good collection of the most common trees & makes it very easy for even a novice to find out the name (both common & Latin) for an unknown, native tree. Some invasives (non-native) included, but again, only the most common ones. I carry one in my truck or in my back pocket most of the time. I identify 95% of the trees I see with this or at least get a good idea of what they are. Then I can use a better reference to figure out the exact one. ( )