basic plant id

family Pinaceae

• mostly evergreen trees/shrubs
• needle-like leaves
• seeds mostly wind dispersed
• have cones

notable genera within Pinaceae

• uhhh basically Every* evergreen tree you could think of. this is gonna be one of the most common and well known families of your liiiife
• *except cupressaceae. but we're gonna get to that later

listen up i love this tree family so i'm going in depth. listen to my trees boy

the pinaceae family has a ton of different genuses. genera. whatever. it feels like 'dang, these genera are really hard to tell apart from each other. but actually you just have to look at the needles for three seconds, usually. there are other characteristics as well that can help you identify specific species. you may be tempted to be like Yeah its just an evergreen tree but actually this family has trees with tons of secrets and diff. personalities.

Genus Abies- Firs

first up we got Abies. these are firs. the fir genera. firs tend to have flat needles that are pretty distinctive and upward pointing cones that often disintegrate when they're reproducing. because of this you generally don't find intact fir cones, you find 'scales' scattered around on the ground. firs have this resin called turpentine. so you can often see they are pretty sticky. allegedly you can use their needles to make an aromatic bath or a tea. i dont know. ive never tried it. maybe i should

Abies- notable species

• Abies concolor/white fir- branches/needles smell like citrus when scratched

Abies concolor/white fir- Can I Eat It??? Answer: YEA. You can use the needles to make tea. Also the inner bark- the 'cambium'- is edible. Allegedly the resin is edible too but it tastes bad. I haven't tried any of these things, so I can't verify this.

Genus Larix- larches, tamarack

larches are an interesting guy because they're deciduous. their needles turn yellow in autumn along with all the other deciduous tree leaves and then they fall off. if you see a yellow needled tree abouts its usually either larix or has a disease. also the needles are grouped up together. they have small cones that fall off like normal. super edible tree btw. the sap is sweet and edible. also the needles bark resin all have medicinal properties. a tea can be made with the needles to help with gas. but if you eat too much you can mess up your kidneys. you can eat the needles when you're out on the trail. yum

Larix- notable species

• Larix laricina/eastern larch, tamarack- often found in swampy bits alongside Picea mariana and/or Thuja occidentalis

Genus Picea- spruces

ok yeah big one here. spruces! they like damp soil. they come in many varieties, both shade tolerant and shade intolerant. they have a particular way of growing needles. its sort of all around the branch instead of flat like the firs or the hemlocks or in groups like the pines. if you know about needle arrangement you should never mess up this genera again. their cones are usually pretty small compared to the pines although there is of course some size range when you compare them to each other. apparently they are good at shedding rain so you could wait out a storm underneath them quite nicely. i'm assuming that people aren't talking about picea mariana when they say this. spruces have really good wood for making musical instruments. theyre so good for musical instruments that sometimes people will fight about whether they should keep a forest or make 1000 violins. overall a very excellent kind of tree. huge fan!

Picea- notable species

• Picea glauca/white spruce- enormous guy, climax species. needles are glabrous which means they are smooth and have no pubescence (hairs). also needles have a distinctive glaucous coating which means they're kind of white-blue-green. go look at it, like, once, and then memorize the glaucous color. it's just glaucous and after that you'll know if when you see it. the needles are also prickly which should distinguish them well from firs since fir needles are kindof soft. this tree is super important in climax northern forests. it means everything. theres a ton of tales and legends about it because its sooo important. food and shelter and medicine and everything.

Picea glauca/white spruce- Can I Eat It??? in order to answer this question i'm going to copy paste a description i found on floem tea dot com. "White spruce unfolds a symphony of forest aromas, a true immersion in boreal purity. Its young spring shoots, tender and vibrant, offer tangy, slightly lemony notes and a delicate resinous freshness. Crushed, the mature needles exude a more assertive, woody, camphoraceous fragrance with lingering balsamic nuances." so the answer is Yes you can eat the white spruce. but howso? basically you can make a tea from the shoots thats quite good for you ive heard. this goes for the other spruces as well. the older needles can also be made into a tea. allegedly the dried needles can also be used as an interesting spice kind of like a substitute for rosemary. what the hell, why not? let's try it, guys.

other fun things to do with white spruce: just dry a bunch of needles and use them to do all sorts of stuff. looks like for drying people recommend putting it out on a rack and just letting it hang out in dry and moderate temperature conditions for several days/weeks. should be good for half a year just put them in a jar. i dont know too much about the spiritual properties of white spruce but i dont think having some aspect of the Great Guardian of the Northern Boreal Forest around would be too bad for general wellness and awesomeness of daily life. just be respectful when harvesting obviously. forager rules

Genus Pinus- Pines

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Genus Pseudotsuga- Douglas-Fir

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Genus Tsuga- Hemlock

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Heath family- family Ericaceae

There are very many heaths in the world. Heaths are also known as heather. Most heaths are shrubs with alternating leaves. They commonly grow in poor, acidic soils. Often, they can be found in bogs.

Family Ericaceae, subfamily Vaccinioideae

Vaccinioideae is the blueberry subfamily, but it also incudes a bunch of other berries. There are 2 genera within this subfamily- Gaylussacia, which is huckleberries, and Vaccinium, which includes blueberries, huckleberries, cranberries, bilberries, and lingonberries.

The types of Vaccinium I am working on identifying in the wilderness are the lowbush blueberry (Vaccinium angustifolium) and the highbush blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum).