Web-Based Tree Picker Helps You Branch Out

LOGAN, Utah -- Utah State University Extension Forestry released a new online tree browser, http://www.treebrowser.org, in January to replace the Utah Tree Browser CD-ROM available from USU since 2002. This new interactive browser contains more than 1,000 full-color photographs of and information about 241 native and introduced trees growing in Utah and the Intermountain West.

Users can browse through a complete list of trees or narrow their choices by selecting from 21 general, growth-related, cultural and ornamental characteristics, including whether a tree is native or introduced. For each species there is a fact sheet, usually including descriptions of the leaves, twigs, buds, flowers, fruit, bark, wood, general comments about the tree's native habitat, and a description of its uses in cultivated landscapes, including its USDA Plant Hardiness Zone designation.