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City Nature Challenge 2020: DFW
April 24-27, 2020

These four elms include three native elms, plus one introduced (and uncommon) elm. These elms all flower and fruit in the spring, before leaves arrive. The fruit of elms is a flat, rounded samara, with a central seed surrounded by a thin wing. Here's how to identify American Elm, Slippery Elm, Winged Elm, and Siberian Elm from these samaras.

BACK TO: A Collection of Helpful Identification Guides

Here are some guides I've found useful. Most are journal posts people have written on iNat, some are from external sites. If any of the links don't work, please let me know! My HTML skills are very rudimentary!

GROUP A: Simple leaves, alternately attached

1. The trees have acorns. (Look for acorns or acorn caps still attached to tree, or acorns on the ground.) Buds are clustered at the ends of twigs. (OAKS)	Go to #2
+ The trees don’t have acorns	Go to #7
2. The leaves do NOT have prominent lobes	Go to #3
+ The leaves DO have prominent lobes	Go to #4
3. The leaves are small and thick, with pointed tips. Leaves remain attached through the winter. Not native to NCTx, but frequently cultivated here.	LIVE OAK
+ The leaves are large and have large, coarse teeth	CHINKAPIN OAK
4. The leaves have bristle tips	Go to #5
+ The leaves do not have bristle tips.	Go to #6
5. Leaves have 5-9 lobes with bristle tips	SHUMARD OAK TEXAS RED OAK (Note: Shumard Oaks predominate east of NCTx, Texas Red Oaks to the west. Within NCTx, these two frequently hybridize.)
+ The leave have 3 lobes with bristle tips, are leathery and dark green, glossy on top. Bark is very dark	BLACKJACK OAK
6. The leaves have rounded lobes, with the end lobe largest. Acorns are huge	BUR OAK
+ The leaves often have five rounded lobes, forming a cross shape, but leaf shape is quite variable. Acorns are small.	POST OAK
7. The branches/twigs are armed. (They have thorns, spines, etc.)	Go to #8
+ The branches/twigs are NOT armed. (no thorns or spines)	Go to # 11
8. The leaves are toothed	Go to #9
+ The leaves are NOT toothed; leaf margins are smooth.	Go to # 10
9. The leaves are about as wide as long, have large teeth and sometimes lobes. Thorns are slender and attach near where leaf attaches.	HAWTHORN
+ The leaves are finely toothed, and appear somewhat “wilted.” They are longer than wide, and have a long pointed tip. Bark is very dark	MEXICAN PLUM
10. The leaves are small (2-3” long,) thick and fairly stiff. They have a broad tip and narrow to the stem. They cluster on spurs.	GUM BUMELIA
+ Leaves are large and broad, most >4” long; with long pointed tip.	Go to #24
11. Leaves toothed, but very variable in shape, even on the same tree: some lobed, some mitten-shaped, some not lobed; fruit an elongated berry.	MULBERRY
+ The leaves are not highly variable, including lobed and unlobed leaves on the same tree.	Go to #12
12. The leaves are roughly oval, oblong, or egg-shaped	Go to #17
+ The leaves are NOT oval, oblong, or egg-shaped.	Go to #12
13. The leaves are very long and narrow. (over 3” long, about ½” wide). The bark is very dark, furrowed, often twisted.	BLACK WILLOW
+ The leaves are about as wide as they are tall.	Go to #14
14. The leaves are roughly triangle/heart shaped.	Go to #15
+ The leaves have spiky lobes, roughly star-shaped.	Go to #16
15. The leaves are triangle shaped, with toothed margins	COTTONWOOD
+ The leaves are heart shaped, with smooth margins. Pink flowers in the spring, before leaves appear.	REDBUD
16. The leaves are star shaped. Spiky balls remain on tree.	SWEET GUM
+ The leaves have 3-5 shallow lobes and large teeth. Distinctive peeling bark exposes light underbark. Ball are not spiky	SYCAMORE
17. The leaves are asymmetrical at their bases.	Go to #18
+ The leave are symmetrical at their bases	Go to # 23
18. The leaves have three basal veins: three main veins coming from the leaf base; secondary veins come from all three main veins. Leaves usually have mostly smooth margins, or only a few teeth.	SUGAR HACKBERRY
+ The leaves have pinnate venation (veins like a feather: one central vein with secondary veins coming off the central vein.) The leaves are toothed, often double-toothed.	Go to #19
19. The leaves are only slightly asymmetrical at the base, leaves smooth and shiny. Bark is mottled with orangish areas. (Non-native tree, usually cultivated)	CHINESE ELM
+ Leaves are strongly asymmetrical at the base, teeth usually doubly-serrate: each tooth has a break or cut on one side.	Go to #19
20. The leaves are large, typically 2-5” long. Length of the leaf is usually about twice its width.	Go to #21
+ The leaves are small, typically 1-3” long. Length is usually less than twice the width. Twigs often have corky “wings.”	Go to #22
21. The leaves are smooth to slightly rough on top; on most leaves, few secondary veins fork well before the edge. (no more than 1-2 per side.)	AMERICAN ELM
+ The leaves are quite rough on top; on most leaves, several secondary veins fork well before the edge. (more than 2 per side)	SLIPPERY ELM
22. The leaves have pointed tips, smooth or slightly rough on top, flowers in the spring. Usually has corky wings on twigs	WINGED ELM
+ The leaves have wide, rounded tips, are rough on top; flowers in the fall. Sometimes has corky wings on twigs	CEDAR ELM
23. The leaves are large, usually 4 or more inches long.	Go to #24
+ The leaves are small, have indistinct teeth, often red berries	Go to #25
24. The leaves have conspicuously parallel secondary veins and have finely toothed to smooth margins.	CAROLINA BUCKTHORN
+ The leaves are large, without teeth, and without conspicuously parallel secondary veins.	Go to #25
25. Leaves are ovate (wider at the bottom than top,) with long pointed tips. Wood deeply furrowed, showing orange where exposed, especially exposed roots. Twigs produce a sticky, milky sap when broken.	OSAGE ORANGE
+ The leaves have smooth margins, and back of leaf much lighter than front. The bark on a young tree is grayish brown with orange tint in fissures. When mature, it is very dark, deeply divided into small blocks, resembling charcoal briquettes. (AKA as alligator-skin bark). Fruit orange when ripe, with a four-sided cap which remains after the fruit has fallen.	PERSIMMON
26. The leaves are evergreen, smooth, abruptly narrowed at base	YAUPON HOLLY
+ The leaves are wider near the tip, tapering to base, fuzzy underneath, not stiff.	POSSUMHAW HOLLY

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GROUP B Compound leaves, alternately attached

1. The trees are armed. (have thorns or spines)	Go to #2
+ The trees are unarmed. (no thorns or spines)	Go to #4
2. Thorns on thorn, often extremely thorny, leaves once or twice compound. Fruit a wide, flat pod, dark brown when mature, 10-18" long.	HONEY LOCUST
+ No thorns on thorns	Go to #3
3. The bark has corky outgrowths tipped with short thorns. Leaflets often have prickles	HERCULES CLUB
+ Compound leaf branches into two parts; stout straight thorns up to 2" long. Fruit a rounded pod, 6-9” long	HONEY MESQUITE
4. Leaves are twice-compound, leaflets coarsely toothed or lobed. Fruit a small round ball, green or yellow when mature	CHINABERRY
+ Leaves are once-compound, margins smooth or toothed, but leaves are not lobed.	Go to #5
5. Leaflets are finely toothed.	Go to #6
+ Leaflets have smooth margins.	Go to #7
6. Largest leaflets near the middle of leaf, last leaflet often small or missing. 15-23 leaflets, bark is dark and cracked into rough diamonds when mature.	BLACK WALNUT
+ Largest leaflet near the end of the leaf, and there is usually a terminal leaflet present; leaf has 11-17 curved leaflets. Bark is gray, very rough and craggy.	PECAN
7. Leaflets are oval shaped, small. Fruit hanging in a "string of beads."	EVE’S NECKLACE
+ Leaflets are lanceolate	Go to #8
8. Bark is light gray; leaflets 7-19, alternate on rachis, usually no terminal leaflet; mild smell when crushed.	SOAPBERRY
+ Bark is cinnamon colored; usually has a terminal leaflet, except on very young trees; leaflets have strong, peppery scent when crushed.	CHINESE PISTACHE

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GROUP D Compound leaves, oppositely attached

1. Leaves have 3-5 leaflets, with irregular lobes and/or teeth.	BOXELDER MAPLE
+ Leaves have 5-9 leaflets, without lobes; smooth margins or widely spaced teeth.	Go to #2
2. Leaf scar is a semi-circle, with the new bud sitting above it. The fruit is a samara (winged seed) with a needle-like point and a flat seed.	GREEN ASH
+ Fruit is a samara (winged seed) with a rounded point and a thick seed. Leaf scar is horse-shoe or smile shaped, partially surrounding the new leaf bud.	Go to #3
3. Samara about 1” long; leaves often have 5 rounded leaflets. Common on limestone soil. Grows mostly in and west of Collin and Dallas counties.	TEXAS ASH
+ Samara about 2” long; leaves often have 7 leaflets. Grows mostly to the east of Collin and Dallas counties.	WHITE ASH

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GROUP C Simple leaves, oppositely attached

1. Leaves finely toothed, on reddish stem. Leaves rounded on end, almost as wide as long.	RUSTY BLACKHAW
+ Leaves have smooth margins (no teeth).	Go to #2
2. Twigs are reddish; veins curve upwards towards tip; leaf surfaces are rough.	ROUGHLEAF DOGWOOD
+ Leaves are otherwise.	Go to # 3
3. Leaves are large and glossy.	GLOSSY PRIVET
+ Leaves are small.	Go to #4
4. Leaves have a wedge-shaped base and a short stem. Fruit is on a loose pedicel.	CHINESE PRIVET
+ Leaves taper to stem, very short petiole, if any.	QUOHOUI PRIVET

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