Deciduous trees in winter can be starkly beautiful, in a state of dormancy, stripped of all their greenery. Their bare silhouettes have shut down for winter, but they have been carefully planning their hibernation exit strategy since the previous summer.
Waking up
Trees need a source of energy to start their new growth in springtime, otherwise they are unable to grow new leaves and collect further energy. So how do they do this? Tree buds!
Next summer, take a careful look through the leaves of a tree, and you will spot tiny buds already beginning to form. This is the tree’s way of taking advantage of all the summer sunlight, and storing it away in the buds as energy to be used during the darker months of winter. Towards the end of winter, the tree will access these reserves of energy and create new leaves, branches and flowers.
The budburst
The small buds are formed in the summer months because the plant has access to so much sunlight that it is able to store some of it away as energy for later in the year. It stores this energy inside the buds.
When the end of winter comes, the ‘budburst’ takes place! Hormones within the buds begin to promote growth and encourage cells to divide. The tree is able to form new leaves, branches and flowers, and can begin photosynthesizing as soon as the first rays of sunlight appear.
Identifying trees from their buds
Reds, purple, greens, blues… tree buds come in a huge array of colours and can often be one of the very first touches of colour in the forest. Next time you’re on a winter walk, why not try your hand at identifying a deciduous broadleaved tree from its buds?
Here are a few pointers of what to look out for. You can use this information and a tree ID guide to help you work out what you’ve found.
- What colour are the buds?
- Are they smooth or scaly?
- Are they rounded, or narrow and pointed?
- Are the buds ‘opposite’ i.e. arranged in symmetrical pairs on either side of the twig?
- If not, are the buds ‘alternate’ i.e. taking turns on either side of the stem?
- A third option is ‘spiral’ where the buds grow curving round the stem.
