Illustration for Describing Trees: A Comprehensive Guide to Adjectives

Describing Trees: A Comprehensive Guide to Adjectives

ByNathan Cole

The most useful adjectives for a tree describe one thing at a time: its size (towering, stunted), its age (young, ancient, gnarled), its shape (spreading, weeping, conical), its bark and leaves (furrowed, glossy, feathery), its health (lush, bare, diseased) or the feeling it gives (stately, lonely, sheltering). Pick the group that matters to your sentence, then choose the most exact word in it. “A gnarled, wind-bent hawthorn” tells a reader far more than “a big, beautiful tree”.

Below, the words are grouped by what they describe, each with a sentence that shows it in use. There is also a quick picker, a list of words that are easy to misuse, and a short practice set with answers.

Contents

Quick picker

If you want to say the tree is… Try
very tall towering, lofty, soaring
small or kept small dwarf, stunted, low, bushy
old and full of character ancient, gnarled, venerable, weathered
wide and shady spreading, broad, leafy, shady
graceful slender, willowy, weeping, elegant
healthy and full lush, flourishing, thick-leaved, vigorous
without leaves bare, leafless, skeletal, wintry
dying or damaged diseased, rotting, storm-damaged, hollow
impressive majestic, stately, imposing, grand
sad or alone lonely, solitary, forlorn, wind-bent

Size and height

“Big” and “tall” are fine in speech, but a more exact word usually says how the tree is big: upward, outward, or in the trunk.

Adjective What it suggests Example
towering very tall, often taller than what is around it Towering redwoods blocked out most of the afternoon light.
lofty high, a slightly literary word Rooks nested in the lofty elms behind the church.
soaring rising high, with a sense of upward movement The soaring pines made the cabin look like a toy.
massive heavy and thick, especially the trunk It took four of us, arms linked, to circle the massive oak.
broad / wide spreading sideways A broad chestnut shaded the whole lawn.
giant huge; also part of names like “giant sequoia” The giant sequoias in the grove are thousands of years old.
stout short and thick-trunked A stout little apple tree stood by the gate.
dwarf a small variety, bred or naturally kept small Dwarf fruit trees suit a patio because they stay under two metres.
stunted smaller than it should be because of poor conditions Only stunted birches grew that high on the mountain.
spindly tall and thin in a weak-looking way The spindly saplings needed stakes to survive the wind.
low close to the ground, easy to reach The children climbed the low branches of the fig.

Age

Note that sapling is a noun, not an adjective: you write “a young sapling” or simply “a sapling”, not “a sapling tree”.

Adjective What it suggests Example
young recently grown, not yet full size The young maples along the new road were barely head height.
newly planted just put in the ground Newly planted trees need water every few days in the first summer.
mature fully grown A mature beech can be wider than a house.
established has settled in and is growing well Established trees cope with drought far better than new ones.
old the plain, always-correct word We tied the swing to an old walnut tree.
ancient very old, often hundreds of years Ancient yews grow in many English churchyards.
venerable old and respected The venerable cedar had been planted when the house was built.
gnarled twisted and knotted with age Gnarled olive trees lined the hillside terraces.
weathered marked by years of wind, sun and rain A weathered thorn tree leaned away from the sea.
centuries-old a direct way to say how old The village meets under a centuries-old lime tree.
primeval from the earliest times; used of forests more than single trees Fragments of primeval forest survive in the national park.

Shape and branches

Adjective What it suggests Example
spreading branches reaching out wide We ate lunch under a spreading oak.
weeping branches hanging down (willows, some birches and cherries) The weeping willow trailed its branches in the pond.
conical shaped like a cone, wide at the base Conical firs covered the far side of the valley.
columnar tall and narrow, like a column Columnar cypresses lined the drive to the villa.
slender thin in an attractive way A slender birch stood alone at the edge of the field.
bushy full and dense, with many small branches The bay tree had grown bushy and needed trimming.
twisted turned out of a straight line Wind had left the pines on the cliff twisted and low.
crooked bent, not straight A crooked apple tree leaned over the wall.
lopsided heavier or fuller on one side After the storm the plane tree was badly lopsided.
wind-bent / windswept shaped by strong steady wind Windswept hawthorns all pointed inland.
sprawling spreading untidily over a wide area A sprawling fig had swallowed half the courtyard.
multi-trunked with several trunks from one base The multi-trunked crape myrtle looked like a small grove.

Bark and trunk

Bark words help most in close-up description, such as a child’s hand on a trunk or a hiker leaning against one.

Adjective What it suggests Example
rough uneven to touch The rough bark scraped her palms as she climbed.
smooth even, like beech or young birch Lovers had carved initials into the smooth grey beech.
furrowed / ridged with deep lines running along it Old oaks have deeply furrowed bark.
peeling coming away in strips or sheets The paperbark maple has peeling, copper-coloured bark.
scaly broken into small plates Scaly pine bark flakes off when you rub it.
mossy / moss-covered covered in moss, usually in damp places The mossy trunks were green right to the ground.
knotty full of knots The knotty trunk was useless for timber but perfect for climbing.
hollow empty inside An owl lived in the hollow ash at the end of the lane.
sturdy strong and solid Choose a sturdy branch for the swing.
silvery / white pale bark colour (birch, aspen) Silvery birch trunks shone in the moonlight.

Leaves and colour

Adjective What it suggests Example
leafy with plenty of leaves Leafy plane trees keep the square cool in summer.
dense leaves packed closely together The dense canopy kept us dry in the shower.
feathery light and soft-looking (larch, jacaranda) Feathery larches turn gold before they drop their needles.
glossy shiny leaves (holly, magnolia) The magnolia’s glossy leaves reflected the street lights.
evergreen keeps its leaves all year Evergreen hollies give birds shelter in winter.
deciduous loses its leaves each year Most of the park’s trees are deciduous, so it looks bare by December.
blossoming / in blossom covered in flowers The blossoming cherries drew crowds every April.
golden yellow in autumn, or yellow in light Golden poplars lined the river in October.
russet / copper red-brown autumn colour Russet beech leaves clung on all winter.
crimson / scarlet deep or bright red (maples, sumac) One crimson maple stood out against the dark firs.
dark green deep summer or evergreen colour Dark green cypresses gave the cemetery its quiet look.

For more leaf words, see adjectives for leaves.

Health and season

Adjective What it suggests Example
lush healthy, green and full The lush mango trees showed how wet the season had been.
flourishing / thriving growing very well The orchard was flourishing after years of neglect.
bare / leafless without leaves, usually in winter Bare branches scratched at the window.
skeletal bare in a stark or eerie way Skeletal trees stood black against the snow.
wintry looking as it does in winter The wintry oaks were full of crows.
fruit-laden / heavy with fruit carrying a lot of fruit Fruit-laden branches bent almost to the ground.
diseased affected by a disease The council felled the diseased elm before it could fall.
dying losing its life slowly The dying pine had brown needles on every branch.
dead no longer alive A dead tree near a path is a real danger in high wind.
rotting decaying wood Fungi grew from the rotting stump.
storm-damaged broken by a storm Storm-damaged trees blocked the road for two days.
uprooted pulled out of the ground, roots and all An uprooted spruce lay across the stream.

Avoid wilted for a whole tree; wilting is what leaves and soft stems do. Write “the tree’s leaves had wilted” instead.

Sound, smell and movement

Searchers often ask for words for the sound of trees. Most of these are verbs or participles, which work well as adjectives in front of the noun.

Adjective What it suggests Example
rustling soft dry sound of moving leaves We fell asleep to the rustling poplars.
whispering a quiet, gentle sound Whispering pines surrounded the lake.
creaking slow strained sound of wood The creaking branches kept the dog awake.
swaying moving slowly from side to side Swaying palms lined the beach road.
trembling / quivering small fast movement (aspen leaves) The trembling aspens flashed silver in the breeze.
fragrant / sweet-smelling with a pleasant smell Fragrant lime trees filled the street with scent in June.
resinous / piney smelling of resin or pine The resinous air of the forest cleared his head.
still / motionless not moving On the hottest days the trees were completely still.

Mood and character

These words describe how a tree feels to the viewer rather than how it looks. Use one at a time; two in a row (“majestic, noble tree”) usually sounds forced.

Adjective What it suggests Example
majestic grand and impressive A majestic oak stood in the middle of the meadow.
stately dignified and calm Stately limes lined the avenue to the house.
imposing large enough to feel a little overwhelming The imposing cedar threw the whole garden into shade.
sheltering giving protection Sheep huddled under the sheltering beech.
solitary / lone standing alone A solitary hawthorn marked the old boundary.
lonely alone, with a feeling of sadness One lonely pine survived on the burnt hillside.
eerie strange and slightly frightening In the fog the dead trees looked eerie.
resilient able to recover from damage Olive trees are resilient; cut back to a stump, they sprout again.
sacred holy to a community The sacred fig at the temple is hung with prayer flags.

For writing about many trees together, the adjectives for forests page has words such as dense, overgrown and sun-dappled.

Words that are easy to misuse

  • Oak, pine, maple are nouns. In “an oak tree” the noun works like an adjective, which is correct, but “a very oak tree” is not possible. For the wood, use oak or oaken (old-fashioned): “an oak table”.
  • Sapling is a noun. Write “a sapling”, not “a sapling tree”.
  • Wooden means made of wood: a wooden fence. A living tree is not “wooden”; for the texture, say woody (woody stems).
  • Elderly is a polite word for old people. For trees, use old, ancient or venerable.
  • Barren means producing no fruit or no plants: a barren hillside, a barren pear tree. For a tree without leaves, use bare.
  • Evergreen / deciduous are facts about the species, not the season. A pine is evergreen even when you photograph it in summer.
  • Tall vs high: a tree is tall; its branches are high. “A high tree” sounds odd to most speakers.

Putting several adjectives together

When you stack adjectives, English prefers opinion, then size, then age, then shape, then colour, then type: “a beautiful tall old tree”, “a huge ancient oak”, “a little gnarled grey olive”. In practice two adjectives are usually enough. Strong writers often move extra detail into a phrase instead:

  • Weak: a big old green leafy tree
  • Better: a huge old chestnut, still green in October

Hyphenate compound adjectives that come before the noun: a wind-bent pine, a moss-covered trunk, a fruit-laden branch. After the verb they usually lose the hyphen: “the branch was laden with fruit”.

If you are writing a whole outdoor scene, the adjectives for nature and adjectives for flowers pages pair well with this list.

Practice with answers

Choose the best adjective for each sentence.

  1. In January the orchard was full of ______ trees. (bare / barren / wilted)
  2. The ______ willow dipped its branches into the stream. (weeping / conical / stout)
  3. Only ______ pines grow near the summit, where the soil is thin. (lofty / stunted / lush)
  4. We carved our names into the ______ grey bark of the beech. (smooth / furrowed / scaly)
  5. The ______ oak had been standing since before the town existed. (elderly / ancient / young)
  6. Correct the phrase: “a sapling tree with wooden branches”.
  7. Put in order: tree / old / huge / apple.
  8. Which sounds natural: “a high tree” or “a tall tree”?

Answers: 1. bare (barren means it gives no fruit, not that it has no leaves). 2. weeping. 3. stunted. 4. smooth (beech bark is smooth). 5. ancient. 6. “a sapling with slender branches” (or “a young tree”). 7. a huge old apple tree. 8. a tall tree.

Checked against Merriam-Webster, the Chicago Manual of Style and the AP Stylebook. Spotted an error? Tell us — see our editorial policy.

Nathan Cole writes the adjective guides and word lists on Grammar Simplified. Every guide he publishes is checked against Merriam-Webster for spelling and usage, the Chicago Manual of Style for punctuation, and the AP Stylebook where a convention is specific to web writing. Where a rule is genuinely disputed among those authorities, he says so in the guide rather than picking a side quietly. Corrections are welcome and get acted on — see the editorial policy.

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