Leaves

We just finished up our Deciduous Trees Unit and it was wonderful! One of the things I love about homeschooling is that I get to learn right along with the kids.

This might not be interesting to anyone but me, but here are some of the beautiful leaves we found on our Leaf Walk. We have the Fandex Family Trees identification guide. I highly recommended it for family nature study.

White Oak (left) and Red Oak (right)

Something interesting about these Oak trees is that squirrels love the acorns from the White Oak, but not the Red. The acorns from the Red Oak are very bitter. Or so I read, having never eaten any acorns myself. =)

Red Maple

These are from our beloved Maple. She dazzles us each Fall with her slow change from green to bright red. Right now she is about half and half.

Sycamore (leaf and bark)

This is one of Caleb's favorite trees. It has very distinctive bark that is light in color and looks like it is peeling or molting. In the Winter the Sycamore tree has fruit that hangs from the branches all Winter long. Last Winter Caleb looked for Sycamore trees on every walk we took so he could collect the fruit and examine it.

Indian Bean Tree (leaf and seed pod)

This is quite the ever changing tree. In the Spring the Indian Bean Tree is covered in beautiful white flowers, it has very large bright green leaves in the Summer and in the Fall you can see lots of bean like seed pods growing all over it. We have one in the yard across the street from us and quite enjoy watching its ever changing beauty.

Quaking Aspen

Here in Colorado we have many beautiful Aspen trees. They make such a pretty tinkling sound when the wind blows all of their little leaves. And in the Fall we get to enjoy their stunning golden color. Most people probably already know this, but for those who do not, when you see a grove of Aspens it is really all from one tree. The whole grove shares a singular root system. So it's basically lots of Aspen tree clones you are seeing. Wikipedia does a better job describing it than I can.

Crab Apple

There are more than 30 different varieties of Crab Apple trees. Their fruit are normally red or reddish orange, like in the picture below, but there are some varieties that produce yellow fruit as well. I've always thought Crab Apples are such pretty trees all year round. Covered in blossoms in the Spring or in Crab Apples in the Fall, I always enjoy looking at them.

Cottonwood

I do not know if you see cotton floating through the air where you live. But here in Colorado this is a normal occurrence in the Summer time. The cotton of course comes from the seeds of the Cottonwood tree. Caleb so enjoys trying to catch the cotton puffs as they float on the breeze.

Honeylocust

This tree grows fast, likes all sorts of soil and light conditions and will put up with droughts or floods. We happen to have one on the side of our house. A very large Honeylocust tree for that matter. The problem is that it is a messy tree. It drops all sorts of tiny leaves in the Fall and in the Spring it gets pollen everywhere. So I really wanted to find something positive about this tree, since God made it and He gave us one. Caleb helped me out in the positive search. "It gives us nice shade in the Summer and the bark is very cool looking." That is a direct quote. I still recommend a different type of tree if you can choose though.

STAG HORN SUMAC

This tree started our family on the nature study path. So I am very fond of it. I have posted about it at length before. Click here to see our first nature walk and read about the Stag Horn Sumac.

Mystery Tree

I cannot seem to figure out what type of tree this leaf is from. If anyone knows I would love to find out. Leave me a comment pretty please!