How to ID trees?

[Gary350]

I did a google search it wants me to ID the tree by the Leaf it has. There are no leaves this time of the year. I reconize one as being wild cherry. There are some that look like Black Locus with no throns smooth gray bark. There are some with extremely ruff bark that is very light brown color. There must be a place on the web that shows tree pictures so they can be ID by the way they look with no leaves. I know none of the trees are oak or maple or pine. I am trying to give away trees as free firewood but people refuse to come unless they know what type tree it is. I have probably 75 trees that can be cut down. Lots of free firewood.

[Kisal]

Try these sites. They describe how to ID a tree during its dormant period, using characteristics of the bark and the formation of the twigs. I can also sometimes recognize a tree by the shape of it's crown, but not always. Still, that can kind of give you an idea of some specific trees to look at. Then you might be able to google images of the bark and twigs.

https://www.utextension.utk.edu/publications/pbfiles/PB1756.pdf

https://forestry.about.com/od/treeidentification/a/winter_tree_id.htm

[!potatoes!]

one of the textbooks for a winter plant biology course I took in college was w. trelease's winter botany. with a hand-lens, a fresh twig, and some patience, it could take you down a dichotomous key to ID to species any woody plant of north america. a lot of the fine-tuned IDing requires counting and noting formation of various structures in last year's leaf-scars.

one thing that comes to mind for something like a black locust with no thorns and smoothish bark is the thornless hybrid honeylocust that's in so many cities these days.