with successive buds …
always 180° around stem, often making stem zig-zag between buds or spiral around stem, with stem NOT zig-zagging :
bark=very thick vertical ribs, looks covered with warts or puffy paint; often has dark 🍒︎ cherry-like fruithackberry Celtis occidentalis buds=very small, partly hiding beneath twig bark; often has dry seed capsulessourwood Oxydendrum arboreum buds=not hiding :
buds= centered over ⬮ leaf scar or buds=not centered over ⬮ leaf scar :
side-buds=same width as twig; twigs=light-brownmulberry genus Morus
side-buds=wider than twig; bark=long ◼︎ square-ended strips peel upwardAmerican hophornbeam or ⚒ ironwood Ostrya virginiana side-buds=wider than twig; bark=gray or dark-blueAmerican hornbeam or 💪︎ musclewood Carpinus caroliniana
some twigs have 1–4 ✦ corky wingsrock or cork elm Ulmus thomasii twigs=very thinSiberian elm Ulmus pumila buds=dark, fuzzy; inner bark=slipperyslippery elm or ◼︎ red elm Ulmus rubra buds=brown, not fuzzyAmerican elm Ulmus americana
⬮ leaf scars[?]=raised; lenticels[?]=light-colored and raised, conspicuous against dark shiny bark
⬮ leaf scars=compact, with 3 bundle scars,[?] centered directly above is side bud scale[?]aspen/cottonwood/poplar genus Populus
⬮ leaf scars =🌙︎ thin crescent; buds=hairy and blunt; tree=wide🍎︎ common apple Malus pumila ⬮ leaf scars =🌙︎ thin crescent; buds=wooly tips; twigs=smooth🍎︎ wild crabapple Malus coronaria ⬮ leaf scars =🌙︎ thin crescent; buds=wooly tips; twigs=wooly🍎︎ prairie crabapple Malus ioensis
🏠︎ 🌳︎🍃︎ broadleaf branches, ╟ alternate, list of attributes, no catkins thorns pods, w/terminal buds