# Identify my trees please **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 14, 2006, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-my-trees-please/364498 "2006-07-14T17:57:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![LateComer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b5ac83/32.png) [@LateComer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LateComer)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2006, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-my-trees-please/364498/1 "2006-07-14T17:57:42Z")
We’ve lived in our house for 5 years now and I still don’t know what type of trees are in my front yard (aside from calling them the generic conifer or pine tree). [So, what type of trees are in these pictures?](http://www.people.iup.edu/donspade/tree/) And next week you can help me find out if my elm is an American elm! thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2006, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-my-trees-please/364498/2 "2006-07-14T18:26:52Z")
I can’t get a good look at the bark, but they look like Fir to me, possibly Spruce. If you could show a close up of the bark that would help. Then we can work on identifying which species. They’re not pine trees. ---
**Author:** ![LateComer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b5ac83/32.png) [@LateComer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LateComer)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2006, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-my-trees-please/364498/3 "2006-07-14T18:30:38Z")
[QUOTE=Telemark] I can’t get a good look at the bark, but they look like Fir to me, possibly Spruce. If you could show a close up of the bark that would help. Then we can work on identifying which species. They’re not pine trees. [/QUOTE] Fair enough. I’ll take a picture of the bark tonight. ---
**Author:** ![Jurph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/50afbb/32.png) [@Jurph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jurph)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2006, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-my-trees-please/364498/4 "2006-07-14T18:36:43Z")
Looking through this guide to [common trees of PA](http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/forestry/commontr/index.aspx) (are you in Homer City?) I thought the [Eastern Hemlock](http://www.treegroup.iwarp.com/images/tree_group_044.jpg) was probably a good guess. I can’t tell if these trees have tiny cones or big cones, but none of the other ones native to PA looked nearly as close a match as this one. As a bonus, it turns out to be your [state tree](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_Hemlock)! ---
**Author:** ![vetbridge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5e925/32.png) [@vetbridge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vetbridge)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2006, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-my-trees-please/364498/5 "2006-07-14T18:44:01Z")
Looks like Hemlock to me. BTW, I’ve been through Homer City a few times. Nice, quaint lil town. ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2006, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-my-trees-please/364498/6 "2006-07-14T19:03:31Z")
It’s a spruce. I would deduce a diseased blue spruce, from the characteristic needle drop common to the species. A Black Spruce is resistant to the disease and large ones look full from top to bottom. I don’t think it’s White Spruce because of the needle length and color. A Blue Spruce can range from a light blue to a bright green in hue. The variation occurs because they all are seedlings and the variance won’t show until the trees are many years old. Growers don’t want to throw out the majority of the plants at that stage and charge a premium price for the bluest. I think if grows only alowed for the crossing of the best blues they could get a better percentage of blue. The trees may be some other variety of spruce, but I’ll go with it being a Blue Spruce. ---
**Author:** ![LionelHutz405](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lionelhutz405/32/536_2.png) [@LionelHutz405](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LionelHutz405)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2006, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-my-trees-please/364498/7 "2006-07-14T19:39:57Z")
Looks like a Spruce to me too. Roll a single needle around between your fingertips. You should be able to feel the edges. (Almost square in cross-section.) If you can’t roll it because it is oblong in cross-section, then it’s likely a Hemlock. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2006, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-my-trees-please/364498/8 "2006-07-14T20:41:00Z")
I am far from an expert, but the trees in the OP’s pix sure look different from what I generally think of as a blue spruce. [http://www.friendsofsaguaro.org/spruce-blue.html](http://www.friendsofsaguaro.org/spruce-blue.html) Not just the color, but the habit is quite different - less full. ---
**Author:** ![Antigen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/848f3c/32.png) [@Antigen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antigen)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2006, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-my-trees-please/364498/9 "2006-07-14T20:48:48Z")
Hm. I woulda gone with Larch. But I don’t know trees. ---
**Author:** ![Danalan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/76d3ee/32.png) [@Danalan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Danalan)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2006, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-my-trees-please/364498/10 "2006-07-14T21:04:06Z")
You might want to put some security on that link – I wouldn’t want to allow unfettered access to some of those files. Particularly the one with directions to your house, your names, address, and phone number. The trees look like Douglas Fir to me, but are more likely Eastern Hemlock given your location. Go [here](http://forestry.about.com/library/treekey/bltree_key_id_start.htm) to find out more surely. ---
**Author:** ![Sal\_Ammoniac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@Sal\_Ammoniac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sal_Ammoniac)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2006, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-my-trees-please/364498/11 "2006-07-14T21:43:57Z")
Hemlock have very small cones, so I don’t think it’s what you have. I think you have _Picea abies_, the Norway Spruce – same as I have in my yard, in fact. Good photo [here](http://static.flickr.com/46/120261150_a89628b971.jpg), looking very much like your trees. ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2006, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-my-trees-please/364498/12 "2006-07-15T03:14:37Z")
[QUOTE=Dinsdale] I am far from an expert, but the trees in the OP’s pix sure look different from what I generally think of as a blue spruce. [http://www.friendsofsaguaro.org/spruce-blue.html](http://www.friendsofsaguaro.org/spruce-blue.html) Not just the color, but the habit is quite different - less full. [/QUOTE] I can see the severe needle loss againt the background in one picture, and that indicats a common malidy of spruce in the US. The aspect of a blue spruce when diseased is this unfurtunate form. I see many blue spruce like that in Wisconsin since the 80’s. The trees were a solid filled in tree with no gaps, now the ones that don’t die look like the pictures. I can’t say it isn’t a different spruce, but it looks like the sick ones I see around here, including the one in my yard. The new soft needle growth on the tree shows that it is a spruce no matter what variety. I had thought after posting of a type I didn’t mention, that of a Norway Spruce and I will agree that it may be a Norway Spruce. ---
**Author:** ![LateComer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b5ac83/32.png) [@LateComer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LateComer)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2006, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-my-trees-please/364498/13 "2006-07-17T12:24:10Z")
[QUOTE=Sal Ammoniac] Hemlock have very small cones, so I don’t think it’s what you have. I think you have _Picea abies_, the Norway Spruce – same as I have in my yard, in fact. Good photo [here](http://static.flickr.com/46/120261150_a89628b971.jpg), looking very much like your trees. [/QUOTE] Based on this picture, I think Norway Spruce may be correct. I would have thought this would be be easier. These trees are all over my neighborhood. For the sake of completeness, here are pictures of [the bark](http://www.people.iup.edu/donspade/tree/DSCF1995.jpg) and a slightly blurry picture of [a pine cone from the tree](http://www.people.iup.edu/donspade/tree/DSCF1998.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2006, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-my-trees-please/364498/14 "2006-07-17T12:59:23Z")
They are, IMO [Douglas fir](http://forestry.about.com/od/conifers/ss/dougfir.htm). Spruce have smoother bark. The needles of the two are similar. They look ratty, because they aren’t native to your area. It’s pretty obvious, they were planted back in the day. ---
**Author:** ![Danalan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/76d3ee/32.png) [@Danalan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Danalan)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2006, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-my-trees-please/364498/15 "2006-07-17T21:32:41Z")
Oh yeah, the cone & needle picture cinches it – Douglas Fir.