Want to try my site's small Tree ID quiz?

If you go to my site, there's a small tree ID quiz.

Start at...

http://www.mdvaden.com

On the HOME PAGE, there is a DROP-DOWN MENU at the bottom.

Look for the Quiz on Tree ID in there. It's 12 plants. 11 trees and one shrub. There is an answer page.

Okay, I'm going to try it without a net. I swear, I did not look at the answers!

1. Acer miyabei
2. Looks like some sort of conifer
3. Acer palmatum
4. Magnolia grandiflora
5. Mahonia aquifolium (perhaps M. bealei, but I don't think so; possibly M. repens, too)
6. One of the many Sorbus species that cannot be grown within 1000 miles of here
7. Appears to be another conifer of some sort
8. Mt. Fire Pieris japonica
9. Cornus florida or maybe one of the stellar hybrids
10. Equilebriated's all time favorite tree and morning beverage
11. Acer mono
12. Some poplar.

What is my prize?

Scott

Well, I just looked at the answers and it appears I didn't do so well, so don't worry about sending me a prize. In my defense, we don't have A. macrophylla around here and those leaves look very A. miyabei-like to this easterner. I should've guessed the most commonly tried and killed Sorbus, but I didn't. Should've, could've, you know. Photinia is not even in my vocabulary, and I jumped all over the red foliage as Mt. Fire without taking a close enough look. Ditto the most embarrassing mistake where I was so into an Acer mode that I failed to notice the telltale fruits of Liquidambar. And I almost said birch, and if I had thought about it, I might've even said B. jacquemontii, but I was rushing to finish so that I could leave the room and go to an early recess.

Scott

It's a fun little page.

I know that the genus may be the real target for guessing on a few, with just what's in the photo.

Don't some folk in the east refer to Photinia as red tip?

You probably did fairly well. I made the page and I know them.

Not too many people may recognize the hockey stick shape of the noble fir needle from the underside.

I'd like to make another one of these pages when I feel like reducing 12 more images.

That was fun! I got the genus right on most of them but missed the species on several (guess it helps being from the west coast!)

Good quiz, and since at least eight of the plants should not be strangers to those of us out east, it's fair across the board. Decelerant shoulda kept his guesses in dmail so that others wouldn't have had clues ahead of time. Oh well, that just means Mario has incentive to create a new quiz sooner.

I vote that the software-skilled among us EACH make one of these up, and go for some regional specificity. This could be refined to the point where the clues offered have relevance. I'm reminded of the old saw about ACT/SAT test questions being unfair (remember the controversy over definition of "yacht"?) and Mario's mention of "hockey stick shaped needles. What about DGers who've never seen a hockey stick?

Thanks for the link (and effort), Mario.

1. Sugar Maple (Acer saccharum)
2. Western Hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla)
3. Japanese Maple (Acer palmatum)
4. Southern Magnolia (Magnolia grandiflora)
5. Mahonia (Mahonia aquifolium)
6. Rowan (Sorbus aucuparia)
7. Noble Fir (Abies procera)
8. Photinia (Photinia spp.)
9. Flowering Dogwood (Cornus florida)
10. Silk Tree (Albizia julibrissin)
11. American Sweetgum (Liquidambar styraciflua)
12. Silver Birch (Betula pendula)

I prefer to refer to #6 as Mr. Bean.

Resin did pretty good.

The maple, for example, is big leaf, but there are no dimensions given. It might be interesting to insert text in a couple of the photos for the dimensions.

I like that suggestion that other people produce additional regional ID quiz pages.

Last night, I went through my files, but only found a few images good enough for an extra. And the detail were a bit small. One was Acacia dealbata. I was hoping to get a good enough close-up to show the double compound nature of the leaves. I wasn't sure if the yellow flowers and the fine leaf texture visible from 8 feet away was good enough.

So I only have two photos, and I like the 12 number a lot.

I'd like to add Douglas fir, because it's cones are unique. Also, deodar cedar. I should photograph my Madrones / Arbutus, today. We have several very old ones here with 36" DBH trunks.

Mario, I like what you're doing but my connection is too frustratingly slow to jump in. Have fun with it!

Guy S.

StarhillForest...

Our family had discussed, this week, about dropping DSL for dial-up to get our cost down. But we remember what that's like, so we're going to bear the cost for now.

The images really put a demand on dial-up. Last time I used it was at my brother and sister-in-law's. It had been a while.