Trees with opposite leaves, sorted by simple and compound

How to check that leaves are really opposite

1. Find a node. A node is the point where a leaf stalk joins the twig. On an opposite tree two stalks leave the same node, facing each other.
2. Check three or four twigs. Leaves get torn off by wind and insects, so a single twig can lie. Pairs repeated on every twig are the real thing.
3. Look at the side branches too. Twigs grow from buds in the leaf angles, so on an opposite tree the side twigs also come off in pairs, and the whole crown looks symmetrical.
4. Find the bud to rule out leaflets. The leaflets of an ash or walnut also sit in pairs along a stalk, but that is one compound leaf. The bud sits where the whole leaf meets the twig, never at the base of a leaflet. The leaf identification guide explains the leaf-versus-leaflet test in more detail.

Three or more leaves at one node is a whorl, which the catalpa often shows. Treat a whorl as a variant of opposite for this page.

Opposite and simple: maples, dogwoods and the big-leaved pair

Maples are the commonest answer. The leaf is one blade with three to five lobes, the main veins fan out from the base, and the seeds are paired wings. Red maple, sugar maple, silver maple and Norway maple in North America, and sycamore maple and field maple in the UK, all follow this pattern. The maple guide separates the species by lobes, teeth and sap.

Flowering dogwood has a smooth-edged oval leaf, and NC State gives the detail that settles it: 6 or 7 pairs of veins that curve from the base toward the tip. The leaves are about 2.5 to 6 inches long. In spring the tree carries four white, notched bracts around a button of tiny flowers, and from August to October clusters of glossy red fruit. The bark breaks into small scaly blocks with age. More on the dogwood page.

Catalpa and paulownia are the two trees with enormous paired leaves. NC State describes northern catalpa leaves as whorled or opposite, 6 to 12 inches long, with white bell-shaped flowers striped orange and purple inside and bean-like capsules up to 22 inches long. Paulownia, also called empress or princess tree, has opposite, oval to heart-shaped leaves 5 to 12 inches long with velvety hairs on both surfaces. NC State lists it as invasive in North Carolina and by the USDA National Invasive Species Information Center; its flowers are pale violet and its fruit is a woody capsule 1 to 1.5 inches long full of winged seeds. Long thin pods mean catalpa; egg-shaped capsules mean paulownia. The catalpa page covers both.

European spindle is a shrub or small tree with small, finely toothed leaves in pairs. NC State gives leaves 1 to 3 inches long and pinkish-red capsules that split to show seeds coated in orange, and reports all parts, berries included, as poisonous. It is native to Europe and western Asia and has spread into eastern Canada and the eastern US.

Opposite and compound: ashes, boxelder and buckeyes

Ashes carry a feather-like leaf. For white ash, NC State gives leaves 8 to 12 inches long with usually 7 leaflets, sometimes 5 or 9, and bark with deep furrows that form a net of diamond-shaped ridges. The seeds are single-winged samaras up to 2 inches long in hanging clusters, often still on the tree in winter. NC State no longer recommends planting ash because emerald ash borer usually kills a tree within 3 to 5 years. The ash page separates white, green and European ash.

Boxelder is the maple with a compound leaf, so people often mistake it for an ash or even for poison ivy. NC State gives usually 3 to 5 leaflets, occasionally 7, green new twigs and paired samaras that hang on into winter. Paired wings mean maple; a single wing means ash.

Buckeyes and horse chestnut have palmately compound leaves: five to seven leaflets radiating from the top of one long stalk. For Ohio buckeye, NC State describes 5 to 7 smooth leaflets and a warty or prickly leathery husk holding shiny brown seeds with a pale scar, maturing in October. It lists the seeds, leaves and bark as poisonous. The planted European horse chestnut follows the same pattern; the chestnut vs buckeye page shows why neither is a true chestnut. The compound leaves guide covers the alternate compound leaves as well.

Elders are shrubs or small trees with opposite, feather-like leaves, the "Cap" of the acronym along with the viburnums; see the elder page.

Alternate trees people mistake for opposite

• Walnuts, hickories, sumacs and black locust. Their leaflets come in pairs, but the leaves themselves are alternate. Find the bud at the leaf base and count one per node.
• Short spur shoots. On cherries, apples and ginkgo, leaves crowd on short stubby shoots and can look paired. Look at a long new shoot instead.
• Oaks. Leaves cluster near the tips of twigs, but along the twig they are alternate.

Using a photo

A photo of a twig with two or three pairs of leaves shows the arrangement; a single picked leaf does not. Tree Identifier names a tree from one photo, and red, sugar, Norway and Japanese maple, European ash, horse chestnut, flowering dogwood, southern catalpa and paulownia are among the species in its Collection. It shows no confidence score and no list of alternatives, so check the answer against the table above. If the name surprises you, the follow-up chat under the result can explain how that species differs from the one you expected. Tree Identifier's Toxicology notes are AI-written and are not a safety verdict.