Tree Hunt Guide

Ponderosa Pine:

  • Dry, Sunny south-facing slope.
  • “Puzzle piece” bark – orange and smells like vanilla
  • Needles in bunches of 3, longest needled pine in Washington
  • Pinecones have scales armed with prickles
  • Can reach heights of 180 feet, with diameters of 4 feet, though you won't easily find any like that nowadays.
  • It has a pyramidal crown when young, maturing to a flat crown.
  • The trees can age up to 600 years.
  • Indians used the bark scales to make small hot fires which gave off no smoke and cooled rapidly, leaving enemies no clue as to their time of movement.

Inland Douglas Fir:

  • Dark, cool, moist north-facing slope
  • Short needles that are about 1" long with a blunt tip. Needles are green above with 2 white bands underneath.
  • Woody cones 3 to 4 inches long; pitchfork-shaped bracts are longer than scales. The cones hang down.
  • Bark is reddish-brown and looks like overlapping scales.
  • Grows to an average height of 70 meters, but can grow to 80-90 meters tall.
  • Most common tree used for Fires and “Celebration” Trees. The bark was used as fuel because it is just like coal and burns a long time.

Western Red Cedar:

  • Needles are small, overlapping, scale-like leaves that form sprays, in opposite pattern, are shiny-dark green in color. 1/16 to 1/8" long.
  • The wood has a strong smell of cedar.
  • Can live 1,000+ years; their size at 250 years is100-160 feet tall, 2-8 feet in diameter
  • Cones: are 3/4" long and Brown.
  • Bark is a cinnamon-red on young stems, gray on old trunks. Fibrous and shredding.
  • Wood is very resistant to rot.
  • Most commonly used today in House building. The chief use of this wood was for roofing shingles. For paneling, utility poles. Also valuable for outdoor construction and boat building.
  • Indians used for totem poles and canoes. Its bark was woven into baskets, nets, and fabric for clothing

Rocky Mountain Maple (Sugar)

  • Light reddish to grayishbrown trunk and branches all over the tree.
  • Like full sun to shade.
  • Grow to 10-30 feet tall;is the smallest of the eastern maples.
  • It is a deciduous tree (one with leaves that it loses in the fall), multi-stemmed tree.
  • Leaves are green and turn yellow, orange, or red in the fall. Have 3 to 5 lobes.
  • The green, winged fruit (samaras) may turn red.
  • A few old sources mention that the Indians made an eye tonic from the roots, but there is no medical use for it today.

Western Hemlock:

  • A member of the pine family, often mistaken for the Tamarack
  • Grows between 30-90 feet tall
  • It mostly grows at low altitudes
  • Branches droop or are horizontal and most are high off the ground when the tree is grown.
  • The needles are 5-20 mm long, strongly flattened in cross-section, mid to dark green above, and with two broad bands of white stomata below with only a narrow green midrib between the bands.
  • The cones are small, pendulous, slender cylindrical, 18-28 mm long and 7-8 mm broad when closed, opening to 18-25 mm broad. They have thin, flexible scales 7-13 mm long. The immature cones are green, maturing gray-brown 5-7 months after pollination. The seeds are brown, 2-3 mm long, with a slender, 7-9 mm long pale brown wing.
  • The bark is thin and furrowed, and brown in color.
  • It flowers in March and April with small, light brown cones.
  • Commonly used for timber and paper production, and as an ornamental tree in large gardens in the USA.

POISON IVY: Word of Caution

  • 2-5 feet high
  • Bright green glossy leaves that droop down and are in groups of three
  • Whitish berries in loose clusters part way up the stem
  • A sun-loving plant that grows near rock slides, stony places, and road edges
  • In the summer: Shiny green leaves

In the fall: bright red

  • The General Rule is: Leaves of Three, Let it Be!


summer /
spring /
fall

it climbs /
it creeps /
it's a bush

where it grows /
winter /
at the beach

Teachers Guide

TYPE OF TREE: / DISTINGUISING CHARACTISTICS: / SOIL TEMPERATURE: / PH LEVEL: / OTHER IMPORTANT INFORMATION: / DRAWING/PICTURE
Ponderosa Pine / Puzzle-piece bark, needles in bunches of 3, pinecones have scales armed with prickles / Indians used bark scales to make small hot fires which made no smoke and cooled rapidly
Dry sunny south facing slope /
Douglas Fir / Short, single needles, cones have pitch fork to protect seeds / Darker, cooler moist north facing slope /
Western Red Cedar / Needles are overlapping, the smell is very strong, and bark is brown and stringy /
Western Hemlock / Branches droop or are horizontal and needles are blue-green and in triangular clusters, in the summer they turn yellow. / Bark is smooth and tan-colored; it flowers in March and April with small, light brown cones. /
Rocky Mountain Maple / Light brown trunk, deciduous tree, red stem, 5 point leaf /

Group Members: ______

TYPE OF TREE: / DISTINGUISING CHARACTISTICS: / SOIL TEMPERATURE: / PH LEVEL: / DRAWING/ OTHER IMPORTANT INFORMATION: