This page has been set up to share photos & video relating to the "Common Coniferous Species" chapter of "Step By Step, A Tree Planter's Handbook." Visit www.replant.ca/books to see books about tree planting.
Evergreen is a colloquial term that refers to "trees that stay green year-round." Many evergreens have needles for leaves. Someone who lives in Canada understands this term, because our winters are cold enough that many species of trees drop their leaves in the winter. However, someone who lives a lot closer to equator might be confused by this term.
Coniferous is probably a more useful term than evergreen, although the two words don't mean exactly the same thing. A conifer is a cone-bearing tree. Most conifers do have needles that remain on the tree year-round, so most conifers do appear to be "evergreen."
Some trays of balsam fir cones that have been collected by a forest nursery to be used as a seed supply.
A deciduous tree (in Canada) has leaves that drop off during cold seasons. Some people refer to these as broad-leaf trees. Deciduous trees don't have needles.
This drawing illustrates the difference between coniferous trees and deciduous trees.
What IS the difference between a hardwood and a softwood? The difference depends on the density of the wood. There are not just two different densities. Think of hardwood and softwood being opposite ends of a scale, and all the different types of trees occupy different positions along that scale, depending on how density they are. In general, most coniferous trees are on the softwood side of the scale, and most traditional deciduous trees found in Canada are on the hardwood side of the scale. A few deciduous species, such as aspen and poplar and cottonwoods, are considered to be "soft hardwoods" since they are less dense than other common Canadian hardwoods such as maple, oak, elm, birch, cherry, apple, and ash.
This graphic illustrates that the hundreds of different species of trees found around the world have widely disparate densities.
A group of trees of the same species, clustered closely together, is called a stand.
A germinant is a very young and small tree, only a few months old.
After a seedling has been growing for a while, it starts to be called a sapling.
Larch (also known as Tamarack in some parts of Canada, although it's a slightly different species) is a coniferous tree, but it is NOT an evergreen. Larch and Tamarack drop their needles each winter, unlike all the other coniferous species. This photo was taken in the fall, and you can easily identify the larch trees by the golden colour of their needles, only a few weeks before the needles drop off.
Here's another plantation in which the larch trees are easy to identify. Of course, if this photo was taken in the summer, the larch needles would be green, and they'd be harder to differentiate from the pine trees at a distance.
Here's the box-end label for a box of Amabilis Fir trees. Technically, these are called Pacific Silver Fir, although most people just commonly refer to them as Balsam Fir, even though Balsam Fir (the provincial tree of New Brunswick) is a slightly different species. To add to the confusion, there is another type of fir tree (Douglas Fir) which is not actually a true fir! So when planters in BC talk about Douglas Fir, they're referring to a tree that isn't a real fir tree, and when they talk about Balsam Fir, they're probably referring to Amabilis Fir or Subalpine Fir. It may be easier for everyone if we just stick with the common terms, and refer to them as Doug Fir and Balsam.
Here's the box-end label for a box of Douglas Fir trees (coastal variety). The abbreviation would be Fdi if these were the Interior BC variety of Douglas Fir.
Are these balsam fir needles? I think they might be. They definitely appear to belong to one of the varieties of true firs.
Are these balsam fir needles? I think they might be. They definitely appear to belong to one of the varieties of true firs.
Are these balsam fir needles? I think they might be. They definitely appear to belong to one of the varieties of true firs.
Here are some Douglas Fir needles. Look at the pointy buds. Now go back and look at the previous three photos, and you'll see that the buds on the "Balsam" branches are more rounded at the tips.
Look closely again, and remember that "pointy buds" means Douglas Fir.
It isn't as easy to see in this photo, but these are some more pointy buds, so this is a Douglas Fir.
A close-up of a bundle of Douglas fir seedlings.
Here's a great photo showing the pointy buds of a Douglas Fir.
Here are some pine needles. In the future, I'll expand more about the different types of pine planted across Canada. For example, on the coast and southern BC, White Pine and Yellow Pine are common. In northern BC and Alberta, Lodgepole Pine are common. In Ontario, Jack Pine is common. In the Maritimes, Red Pine or Eastern White Pine are common.
Here are a couple bundles of White Pine from coastal BC.
A juvenile pine tree with a light dusting of snow in the fall.
Here's the box-end label for a box of Lodgepole Pine seedlings.
Here are some spruce needles. Like pine, spruce is planted all across Canada, with many different varieties commonly being planted. On the coast and in southern BC, Sitka Spruce or Englemann Spruce are common. In northern BC and Alberta, White Spruce and Black Spruce and Hybrid Spruce (Se/Sw cross) are common. Black Spruce and White Spruce are also common in Ontario. In the Maritimes, Red Spruce is a very dominant tree.
The spruce tree on the left side of this photo looks significantly different than the pine behind it to the right.
Here's a tree planted close to an obstacle, which may protect it somewhat from snow press during the winter.
Here are some juniper bushes.
These are juniper berries. Juniper berries, among other things, are used in the distillation and production of gin. Try squeezing one and smelling it, if you come across a juniper bush on the block. Even when the berries are still hard and white, there's a hint of gin.
Wikipedia has a page about Amabilis fir.
Wikipedia has a page about Bigleaf Maple.
Wikipedia has a page about Black Cottonwood.
Wikipedia has a page about Douglas Fir.
Wikipedia has a page about Engelmann Spruce.
Wikipedia has a page about Generic Fir.
Wikipedia has a page about Grand Fir.
Wikipedia has a page about Lodgepole Pine.
Wikipedia has a page about Mountain Hemlock.
Wikipedia has a page about Paper Birch.
Wikipedia has a page about Generic Pine.
Wikipedia has a page about Red Alder.
Wikipedia has a page about Sitka Spruce.
Wikipedia has a page about Generic Spruce.
Wikipedia has a page about Subalpine Fir.
Wikipedia has a page about Tamarack.
Wikipedia has a page about Trembling Aspen.
Wikipedia has a page about Western Hemlock.
Wikipedia has a page about Western Larch.
Wikipedia has a page about Western Red Cedar.
Wikipedia has a page about Western White Pine.
Wikipedia has a page about White Spruce.
Wikipedia has a page about Whitebark Pine.
Wikipedia has a page about Yellow Cedar.
Wikipedia has a page about Yellow Pine.
Here we can see two foresters doing seedling audits, to see what condition the seedlings are in, coming from the nursery.
Click here to see a page listing books related to reforestation in Canada. If you received a photocopied version of this book from your planting company, or you're a trainer at a Canadian planting company, click on this link for more information.
