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Quiz: Can you recognise a Tree from its Leaves?

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How well do you know your trees? The single most important element in identifying a tree is its leaf. Assess your arboreal acumen, delve deep into your dendric discernment! (Okay, that just means, check out your tree knowledge ? ) As always, feel free to share your score and any feedback below, and don ‘t forget to upvote if you enjoy!

If you like this quiz, be sure to check out my 75 Amazing Quizzes on a Wide Variety of Topics! – “Guaranteed to make you smarter!”

Caveat: These are all trees I’d find in the woods in Ireland or Britain. While many are found in other parts, their appearance may vary, and the local common name may differ. For avoidance of doubt, I’ve included the botanic name in brackets.

  • Question of

    Which leaf is Holly (Ilex)?

    • Holly
    • Hawthorn
    • Hazel
  • Question of

    Which leaf is Maple (Acer)?

    • Horse Chestnut
    • Maple
    • Oak
  • Question of

    Which is the leaf of the Elder (Sambucus)?

    • Birch
    • Sycamore
    • Elder
  • Question of

    Which is the Oak (Quercus) leaf?

    • Beech
    • Oak
    • Hawthorn
  • Question of

    Which is the leaf of the Ash tree (Fraxinus)?

    • Rowan
    • Horse chestnut
    • Ash
  • Question of

    Which is the leaf of the Sycamore aka Sycamore Maple (Acer pseudoplatanus)?

    • Sycamore
    • Horse Chestnut
    • Hawthorn
  • Question of

    Which is the Birch (Betula)?

    • Alder
    • Beech
    • Birch
  • Question of

    Which is the leaf of the Hawthorn (Crataegus)?

    • Hawthron
    • Rowan
    • Alder
  • Question of

    Can you pick out the Horse Chestnut (Aesculus hippocastanum)?

    • Beech
    • Horse chestnut
    • Hazel

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Written by Norman Darlo

65 Comments

  3. This is a really well-prepared quiz. I cheated a bit because I have field guides next to me and all the trees in the quiz don’t grow in my area. I wanted to learn more about the trees I didn’t recognize, since I’d like to be as knowledgeable as possible about trees.

    1

    • Thanks very much, Barbara. That’s really not cheating, in my opinion; it’s making use of the quiz 🙂 When making quizzes, I find there is often a tension between my natural instinct to stick with what I know, and the desire to widen the appeal of the quiz. Sometimes I go one way, sometimes another, but in this case I was more comfortable staying with the trees I know well, but the result is that if you live outside western Europe, some proportion of the trees I mention are going to be unfamiliar. Oh well 🙂 Thanks for taking the quiz!

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    • Woof woof yourself! TBH I can’t tell the difference between the rowan and the ash based solely on leaf. I find a tree’s habit tells a lot too. And the birch leaf, in isolation, wasn’t all that different from a beech or alder, but in reality you don’t see just one leaf, you see a bunch of them and for me I can tell a birch at quite a distance from the way its leaves, all together, catch and reflect the light. But these things are hard to incorporate into a quiz!

      2

  19. You got 8 out of 9 right!

    Perfect. You rock!

    Haha, seems to me I have deep dendric discernment….but a couple were lucky guesses and I know 5 of them because of my son’s science book.

    1

      • Yeah, it’s nothing but palm trees mostly. So according to that, I should have gotten the answers right. Just kidding! Ha ha! But yeah, the island is healing. I live in the US now, but I have some family members over there that are healing.

        1