# Help me ID a tree **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 6, 2004, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-id-a-tree/248906 "2004-06-06T03:39:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2004, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-id-a-tree/248906/1 "2004-06-06T03:39:56Z")
I see these trees from the freeway on my way to work and I want to know what kind of trees they are. I have been to numerous tree sites but have yet to see a picture of them. They run in 60-70 ft range. They look like pine. They have the evergreen-type needles. But the branches and needles not point up, but fan out and the groups of needles seem to sag. A cross between a tall pine and weeping willow, if you will. For some reason, I associate these trees with swamps. That is, if showed me pictures of swamps, I would expect to see these types of trees. But I could be completely off base there. If you are from southern California, these tress are along the 210 freeway in Arcadia, near the Santa Anita racetrack exit. They line the freeway for a mile or 2. ---
**Author:** ![Lamar\_Mundane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2004, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-id-a-tree/248906/2 "2004-06-06T03:47:54Z")
[Bald Cypress?](http://www.oplin.lib.oh.us/products/tree/fact%20pages/baldcypress/baldcypress.html) ---
**Author:** ![Darwins\_Finch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darwins_finch/32/20304_2.png) [@Darwins\_Finch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darwins_Finch)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2004, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-id-a-tree/248906/3 "2004-06-06T03:51:26Z")
As a shot in the dark, how about [a longleaf pine](http://hort.ifas.ufl.edu/trees/PINPALA.pdf) (.pdf doc)? If not, you can try checking out the most common North American pines [here](http://forestry.about.com/cs/treeid/a/the_pines.htm), and see if any of those fit. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2004, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-id-a-tree/248906/4 "2004-06-06T04:07:09Z")
Definately not a bald cypress. Longleaf pine is closer, but still not quite right. At least, not from the photos I’ve seen on line. ---
**Author:** ![Tikki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5daacb/32.png) [@Tikki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tikki)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2004, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-id-a-tree/248906/5 "2004-06-06T04:44:48Z")
Some kind of cedar? They can be kind of droopy. ---
**Author:** ![Helena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c68b51/32.png) [@Helena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helena)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2004, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-id-a-tree/248906/6 "2004-06-06T05:20:36Z")
If the tops of the trees are saggy, I would say they are larches. But they don’t have really long needles. (Long enough to tell from the road that they fan out, that is.) ---
**Author:** ![LifeOnWry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/96bed5/32.png) [@LifeOnWry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LifeOnWry)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2004, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-id-a-tree/248906/7 "2004-06-06T05:49:35Z")
Do deciduous trees in Southern California lose their leaves in autumn? I’m in Northern Illinois. The reason I ask is that we have some trees that sound like what you describe, but they are “false evergreens” - they look like droopy pines, but they lose their needles in the autumn. I believe the official name of these trees is tamarack (I think that’s the right spelling.) ---
**Author:** ![Helena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c68b51/32.png) [@Helena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helena)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2004, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-id-a-tree/248906/8 "2004-06-06T06:01:46Z")
Ah ha, google tells me that larches and tamaracks are the same thing. ---
**Author:** ![Ogre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecb155/32.png) [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2004, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-id-a-tree/248906/9 "2004-06-06T06:02:44Z")
Might it be a [mayten tree](http://www.svcn.com/archives/cupertinocourier/02.06.02/gardening-0206.html)? Keep in mind that I’m searching blind, and that though botanically inclined, I am in the Southeast US and am totally unfamiliar with the flora of California. ---
**Author:** ![peri](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/67e7ee/32.png) [@peri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peri)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2004, 7:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-id-a-tree/248906/10 "2004-06-06T07:20:55Z")
Perhaps an _Abies_ sp.? They grow in an amazing variety of branch/needles forms. Reading the word _swamps_ made me think of trees that looked like the second photo on [this Italian site](http://www.medicina.it/generale/allerg/pinaceae.htm). Two _Abies concolor_ are shown [here](http://www.sci.sdsu.edu/plants/sdpls/plants/Abies_concolor.html). This tree has the more familiar conical shape when young, the drooping branches becoming more apparent as the tree grows. Cultivated varieties grow to 60-80’. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2004, 7:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-id-a-tree/248906/11 "2004-06-06T07:24:11Z")
We may be on the right track with the tamarack/larch, but I cannot find a good picture online. ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2004, 7:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-id-a-tree/248906/12 "2004-06-06T07:24:44Z")
> [@LifeOnWry](#): > > Do deciduous trees in Southern California lose their leaves in autumn? Deciduous trees loose their leaves by definition. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2004, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-id-a-tree/248906/13 "2004-06-06T11:49:04Z")
Getting closer and closer. These are very similar. [The Lawson-Cypress](http://www.domtar.com/arbre/english/p_chlaw.htm) and [the yellow cedar](http://www.domtar.com/arbre/english/p_chjau.htm). It closely resembles the [eastern white pine](http://www.domtar.com/arbre/english/p_pin.htm). The white pine is the closest I’ve seen yet. But the one I’m talking about is droopier, especially at the top. ---
**Author:** ![LifeOnWry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/96bed5/32.png) [@LifeOnWry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LifeOnWry)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2004, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-id-a-tree/248906/14 "2004-06-06T14:25:40Z")
> [@Q.E.D.](#): > > Deciduous trees loose their leaves by definition. Well, yeah, I know THAT, but I also know that some plants that are considered annuals in the north are perennials in the south. In gardening catalogues I have seen the description “evergreen in zones 8-9”. And if you’re gonna nitpick, evergreens do lose their leaves, just not all at once like deciduous trees. So there 🙂 Larches and tamaracks are the same thing, huh? Neat. ---
**Author:** ![Winkie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/41988e/32.png) [@Winkie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Winkie)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2004, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-id-a-tree/248906/15 "2004-06-06T15:03:24Z")
Is it a [Norway Spruce](http://www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/treeselector/index_tree.cfm?id=74) ? Here are some [other photos](http://www.dnr.state.oh.us/forestry/Education/ohiotrees/sprucenorway.htm) And a [few more](http://www.cnr.vt.edu/dendro/dendrology/syllabus/pabies.htm) - Winkie, former dendrology student (who unfortunely is a good exhibit for “use it or lose it”) ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2004, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-id-a-tree/248906/16 "2004-06-07T01:42:43Z")
Definately not a Norway Spruce. ---
**Author:** ![bare](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bare/32/471_2.png) [@bare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bare)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2004, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-id-a-tree/248906/17 "2004-06-07T04:20:29Z")
How about a [Western Hemlock.](http://images.google.com/images?q=western+hemlock&ie=UTF-8&hl=en&btnG=Google+Search) ---
**Author:** ![sunstone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunstone/32/3372_2.png) [@sunstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sunstone)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2004, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-id-a-tree/248906/18 "2004-06-07T04:31:09Z")
Try an Atlas Cedar or a Deodar Cedar…At least those were the trees in that location 40 years ago, if my memory serves correctly. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2004, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-id-a-tree/248906/19 "2004-06-07T05:01:33Z")
Close, but no cigar yet. Dammit! I MUST KNOW WHAT THEY ARE!!! AAARRRRGGGHHHHH!!! pant:pant:pant OK. These trees do not come to a point at the top. Also, the needles _may_ be more like a juniper. ---
**Author:** ![Darwins\_Finch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darwins_finch/32/20304_2.png) [@Darwins\_Finch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darwins_Finch)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2004, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-id-a-tree/248906/20 "2004-06-07T05:07:58Z")
Any chance you could gather some leaves from the trees (I know you mentioned you see them from the freeway, but not whether they were accessible)? That would allow for a fairly definitive ID if you could. How about a photo? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-id-a-tree/248906.md?page=2)