Trees with scale leaves

Tiny scales pressed along the shoot, in flat sprays or all round it. Crush a spray and smell it: each of these has its own scent.

What to look for

Lawson cypress: spraysLawson cypressFlat fern-like sprays smelling of parsley Western red cedar: spraysWestern red cedarFlat glossy sprays, pineapple when crushed Giant redwood: shoots and scalesBen Hayden, CC BY 4.0Giant redwoodHard scales clasping the shoot, smelling of aniseed
In the app

Not sure? Ask the app

  • Name it from a photoA leaf, the bark or a flower, and Treely names the tree
  • No signal? The guided keyOne simple question at a time, about what you can see
  • Every part, through the yearSo you can name it in winter as surely as in June
  • A short round each dayUntil you know them on sight
App StoreGoogle Play

Free to download.

Photographs: steve_mcwilliam (CC0), quillipede (CC0), Ben Hayden (CC BY 4.0). With thanks to everyone who shares their photographs on iNaturalist and Wikimedia Commons.