[kuther]

@eucman Agreed, bark is often unreliable as an identification characteristic as you point out. Buds and scars are very useful, I need to learn more about these.

Another way to tell trees is by their silhouettes , I was fortunate to have several tree classes while going to college. A good book for identification is ( A FIELD GUIDE TO TREES AND SHRUBS by George A. PETRIDES ) I was lucky to have him as an instructor years ago.