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If it weren’t for trees, we would not be able to breathe.

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In fact, we would never haveevolved in the first place: treesare the mini oxygen factoriesthat make animal life possible. ON

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They have been on earth over300 million years.

(Humans have been on earthless than 3 million.)

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And there are over 300 billiontrees in the United States alone.

That’s one thousand trees forevery person.

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From trees we get fruit, oil, coffee, tea, rubber, and (of course) the paper you’reholding.

The oldest living thing on the planet—dated at 5,000years old—is a tree.

(So is the largest living thing,but we’ll get to that later.)

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Our ancestors relied on trees forfuel and to build shelter, so theyfelled a lot of them.

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You would not have gotten farin the New World (or the Old)without knowing your trees.

But how many can you identifytoday?

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About 30 minutes from nowyou will recognize plenty.

Ready? ONE

Take a look at these two leaves.

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The one at the top is from anoak tree; the one at the bottomis from a maple.

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o ak

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You probably recognize themaple from the Canadian flag,but it’s also the most commontree in 16 us states.

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The sap of maple trees is used to make maple syrup, a part ofthe American diet for hundredsof years.

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The oak is the most commontree in 8 states.

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Can you tell a maple from an oak?

Notice that the pattern of veinsin the two leaves is different: the oak veins are in a fishbonepattern; maple veins are in a fan shape.

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If you’re a fan of maple syrup,this should be easy to remember.

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So have you got these two fixedin your mind?

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Sure?

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Okay, find a maple leaf here.

It’s this one.

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And find an oak leaf here.

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There is either a maple or an oakleaf here. Your task is to find itand name it.

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Maple.

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Too easy? Let’s make it moreinteresting.

This is the leaf from an aspentree. Aspen leaves are shapedlike a spade. (Try rememberingit this way: a-spen / a-spade.)

Since aspen leaves dangle fromthin stalks, they rustle andshimmer in the slightest breeze.So they’re often called“trembling aspens”.

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This is the leaf of a sweetgum tree.

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You could confuse it with amaple, but the sweetgum ismore of a star shape.

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Not sweetgum

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And this is the leaf from a tupelotree (like “toop-a-low”).

Tupelo is the town in Mississippiwhere Elvis was born.

Its leaf has no teeth, giving it a smooooth edge.

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So now we have five leaves.

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Tupelo

Maple

Aspen

Oak

Sweetgum

Got them all?

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This one—the one with the fan-shaped veins—is a…what?

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Maple.

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The one shaped like a spade is a..?

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An aspen.

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The star-shaped leaf is a..?

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Sweetgum.

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These leaves with fishbone veins are..?

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Oak leaves.

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And the one with the smooth edge?

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Tupelo.

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All the leaves we’ve seen so far are from trees that are calleddeciduous (“di-sid-you-us”),which means they shed theirleaves for the winter.

Got them all?

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Sure?

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So what tree is this leaf from?

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Oak.

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And this?

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Aspen.

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One of these is a tupelo.

Which?

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Of course, usually the leaves youare trying to identify will be ona tree, like this.

So what tree do you think this is?

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This is an oak tree.

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ONE