As a writer, it’s important to know your trees. When I bike or walk through the city, I always look at them, especially at this time of year, noting their color, leaves, and branches. Here are a few of the more common trees in our borough:

The London Plane Tree is my personal favorite. Also called sycamores, these trees have  spotty bark and wide growing limbs as seen below:

Ash trees are another popular Brooklyn tree. There is the white ash and the green ash, and their corrugated bark and relatively small ovular leaves are their distinguishing features.

The varieties of oak are many, and include the Northern Red Oak, the Swamp White Oak, the Shingle Oak, the Pin Oak, the Fastigiata Oak and the Willow Oak, the leaves of which are longer and thinner, and resemble a linden more than the traditional oak.

Lindens are another very popular tree in the city. The American Linden, the Crimean Linden, and the Silver Linden are varieties that can be found. They have thin leaves and spindly, long-reaching branches, and the male trees carry pods of seeds.

The American Elm is another popular tree, picture here.

While those five are the most popular, the sweetgum tree also makes frequent appearances with its star shaped leaves and prickly ball shaped seeds.

And the gingko with its tall leaning trunk and fan shaped leaves is also a cool tree.

Now that you know which trees are which, go out and spot them for yourself!