Once again, I journeyed into Centennial Woods, and I walked my typical trail until I came across an American Beech tree. This tree is rather easy to identify based off of its bark. The bark is smooth and gray and easy to distinguish from other trees. This was how I was able to make sure it was not a young maple, which may look similar. A young maple has bark that is browner in color and has more texture. The American Beech is also known to keep its leaves late into winter, but my tree did not have any leaves left that I could easily see. All accessible branches were at the very top of the tree, so twig I was unable to ID a twig as well, but in this case, it was not necessary.
