Rosaceae – rose family (Pomoideae! / Maloideae) Amelanchier alnifolia Pacific serviceberry Sight ID characteristics Vegetative Features: • Leaf: simple, alternate, deciduous, 1-2" long, oval with the apical half with a variably serrate/toothed margin and the basal half with an entire margin, lateral veins have a “herringbone” pattern. • Bark: smooth and gray. Inner bark has a very bitter odor. • Form: shrub or small tree. Reproductive Features: • showy white flowers in terminal racemes emerging with the leaves, inferior ovary – hypanthium fused to ovary wall, many stamens. • Fruit is a 1/4-1/2" purple, sweet pome with several large seeds. 107 NOTES AND SKETCHES 108 Rosaceae – rose family (Pomoideae! / Maloideae) Crataegus douglasii black hawthorn Sight ID characteristics Vegetative Features: • Leaf: simple, alternate, deciduous, 1-3" long, ovate-obovate with a sharply toothed margin that is slightly lobed on the apical half. • Twig: Conspicuous stout thorns to 2.5" long. • Bark: gray and smooth on young trees, but brown, furrowed and scaly on older trees. • Form: shrub or small tree. Reproductive Features: • Flowers white, inflorescence a corymb • Inferior ovary – hypanthium fused to ovary wall, many stamens. • Fruits are red to dark purple-black ca. 1/2" pomes with several seeds. 109 NOTES AND SKETCHES 110 Rosaceae – rose family (Prunoideae)! Prunus virginiana common choke cherry Sight ID characteristics Vegetative Features: • Leaf: Leaves are simple, alternate, deciduous, 1 1/2- 3 3/4" long, elliptical with a sharply serrate margin and glands on the petioles, variably pubescent or glabrous. • Bark: grayish and generally smooth but often with a coarse texture. • Form: shrub or small tree, frequently forming thickets. Reproductive Features: • Flowers are white, many stamens with hypanthium, single pistil, superior ovary, inflorescence a cylindrical raceme. • Fruits are red-black drupes ca. 1/4-1/2". 111 NOTES AND SKETCHES 112 Rosaceae – rose family (Spiraeoideae) Holodiscus discolor oceanspray Sight ID characteristics Vegetative Features: • Leaf: alternate, simple, deciduous; 3/4 to 2 1/2” long, ovate, and either coarsely toothed or lobed and serrate; entire near the base, prominently pinnately veined. • Bark: smooth and gray-brown • Form: erect, loosely branched shrub growing to 15" tall. Reproductive Features: • Flowers very small creamy white, superior ovary with 5 separate carpels, inflorescence a large, loose, panicle (branched raceme). • Fruit are tiny, light brown, 1-seeded follicles borne in large clusters; fruit clusters persist through the winter and into the next growing season. 113 NOTES AND SKETCHES 114 Rosaceae – rose family (Spiraeoideae) Physocarpus malvaceus mallow ninebark Sight ID characteristics Vegetative Features: • Leaf: alternate, simple, deciduous, maple-like, palmately 3 lobed (occasionally 5); almost circular in outline, 1 1/2 – 3” in diameter, blunt serrated margin; dark green above, paler and pubescent below. • Bark: thin and yellow-, orange-, or red-brown; shredded and exfoliating in long strips, especially on older stems • Form: A medium sized, vase-shaped shrub. Reproductive Features: • Flowers small (1/2 inch) white to faint pink flowers, superior ovary with 5 separate carpels, Inflorescence a small, dense, upright, round-topped corymb. • Fruits small (1/4 inch long) pointed follicles borne in dense, upright hemispherical clusters, initially they are red and later turning a bright reddish brown. 115 NOTES AND SKETCHES 116 Rhamnaceae – buckthorn family Rhamnus purshiana cascara Sight ID characteristics Vegetative Features: • Leaf: simple, alternate, deciduous; elliptical to oblong-ovate, 2–6” long finely serrate or entire, dark shiny green on top, pubescent and paler green below, pinnate secondary veins conspicuous, parallel with a slight upward curve at end. • Twigs: naked, tomentose buds and elevated leaf scars • Bark: smooth, becoming scaly with age. • Form: A small, understory/forest edge tree. Reproductive Features: • Flowers small, arranged in axillary inflorescences, yellowish- green, 5-parted. • Fruit globose berry with several (3) seeds, bright red at first, quickly maturing to blueish-black. 117 NOTES AND SKETCHES 118 Fabaceae – legume family (Caesalpinoideae) Gleditsia triacanthos honey locust Sight ID characteristics Vegetative Features: • Leaf: pinnately or bipinnately compound, alternate and deciduous, leaflets with more or less acute apex, entire margin. • Twig: often has abundant thorns up to 3" long - some branched. • Bark: grayish brown and broken into superficially scaly ridges separated by fissures, often with prominent thorns. • Form: A medium size tree with an airy, spreading crown, reaches up to 80" tall. Reproductive Features: • Flowers whitish green, zygomorphic, arranged in narrow, hanging racemes. • Fruit is a brownish legume 6-18" long. 119 NOTES AND SKETCHES 120 Fabaceae – legume family (Faboideae) Robinia pseudoacacia black locust Sight ID characteristics Vegetative Features: • Leaf: pinnately compound, alternate and deciduous, leaflets with rounded apex. • Twig: upper branches of mature trees and vigorous young growth have stipular spines. • Bark: nearly black with deeply furrowed interlacing ridges. • Form: medium sized tree to 70", trunk relatively straight, crown of crooked branches - often forms thickets by root suckering. Reproductive Features: • Whitish flowers, strongly zygomorphic (pea-like), arranged in long, pendant racemes. • Fruits are brownish legumes ca. 2-4" long. 121 NOTES AND SKETCHES 122.