How to Identify a Type of Tree With Bluish Green Foliage

Trees come in all shapes, heights, and colors, so identifying a particular species can be a difficult task. If you encounter a tree with foliage of blue-green shades, identifying this plant becomes a bit easier because these distinguishing tones narrow the possibilities. Whether these colors come in the form of needles or flat leaves, you have the option to identify the tree by taking notice of the foliage's key traits.

• 1

  Inspect the bluish green foliage of the tree to see the form that the leaves take. For example, coniferous trees like the white spruce grow needles, while trees like the katsura have broad, flat leaves.

• 2

  Note the growth pattern of the needles (if the tree has these), and measure how long they are. For instance, the Scots pine grows needles in clusters of two that measure no more than 3 inches in length.

• 3

  Watch to see if the foliage displays different tones during different seasons. To illustrate, the boulevard tree's silvery, blue-green foliage changes to grayish green in the winter.

• 4

  Record the growth habits of the blue-green foliage during the year. If the tree loses most of its leaves at the end of the growing season, this indicates that the tree is deciduous. If the plant retains most of its leaves, this identifies it as an evergreen.

• 5

  Access an Internet database like the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Plants Database or the Arbor Day Foundation Tree Guide to enter your findings (see the Resource section of this article). Use the menus on the pages to select the choices that match your data, then click the "Display Results" or "Search" buttons to come up with a list of results.