Which tree has peeling bark? Sort it by the color underneath

White or cream underneath: paper birch and sycamore

Paper birch peels in horizontal, papery strips of chalky to creamy white bark, with orange inner bark where it has come away (Virginia Tech). It is a northern tree; the white bark guide separates it from the white birches that barely peel.

American sycamore sheds thin bark in patches, leaving what Virginia Tech's fact sheet calls "camouflage" bark of brown, green, tan and white; older trunks turn gray-brown and scaly at the base. The white shows best on the upper trunk and limbs, and big maple-like leaves and round seed balls on long stalks confirm it. In cities, London plane, a hybrid of the American sycamore and the Oriental plane, also has seed balls and peeling bark; the sycamore page tells them apart.

Salmon, cinnamon or red underneath

River birch is the peeling tree of the Southeast and of countless yards. Virginia Tech's river birch sheet describes young bark as smooth and salmon to rust, later peeling in papery scales and developing coarse scales on old trunks; leaves are diamond-shaped, 1 1/2 to 3 inches long, doubly toothed with a wedge-shaped base. The birch page compares all the birches.

Paperbark maple is a small planted maple, 20 to 30 feet (6–9 m), from central China. NC State's profile describes purple-brown outer bark peeling back in papery curls to reveal rose-brown inner bark, curls that stay on the tree instead of falling. Its leaves are unusual for a maple: three leaflets, silvery and finely hairy underneath.

Pacific madrone is the red-barked tree of the West Coast. The USDA Forest Service's Silvics of North America describes smooth reddish-orange bark on trunk and limbs, peeling off in thin layers, and shiny, tough, leathery leaves. Its range runs from the east coast of Vancouver Island and mainland British Columbia south to San Diego County, and it is common on the western slopes of the Coast Ranges in Washington, Oregon and California.

Mottled patchwork and small leaves: lacebark elm and crape myrtle

Lacebark elm, also called Chinese elm, is the answer to "peeling bark and small leaves". NC State's lacebark elm profile gives leaves 1 to 2 1/2 inches long and bark exfoliating in irregular patterns in brown, tan, gray, olive and cinnamon. Unlike most elms, it blooms in late summer and sets small papery seeds in fall. Native to China, Korea and Japan, it grows 40 to 50 feet (12–15 m), and NC State warns that it can be weedy through self-seeding. The elm page compares it with American and Siberian elm.

Crape myrtle is the answer to "peeling bark and pink flowers". NC State's crape myrtle profile describes thin, smooth, pale brown to gray bark that peels and exfoliates, mostly opposite, smooth-edged leaves, and flowers from July to September: rose to red on the wild species, white, pink, red or purple on cultivars. Brown, six-part seed capsules about 1/2 inch wide stay on through winter. Plants range from 6 to 30 feet (2–9 m) depending on the variety.

Long shaggy plates: shagbark hickory

Shagbark hickory peels in a different way: Virginia Tech's fact sheet describes smooth gray young bark breaking into long, wide plates attached at the middle that curve away from the trunk. The plates stay gray, so nothing colorful shows underneath. Compound leaves and nuts in thick husks confirm it; the hickory page separates the hickories.

Florida: gumbo limbo and melaleuca

Gumbo limbo is native to south Florida, the West Indies, Central America and northern South America. UF/IFAS's fact sheet describes resinous, smooth, peeling coppery bark that comes off in thin layers or curly strips to reveal olive green beneath, compound leaves of 3 to 9 leaflets, and a height of 25 to 50 feet (8–15 m). UF/IFAS Gardening Solutions notes the nickname "tourist tree": the red, peeling bark recalls a sunburned visitor.

Melaleuca, also called paperbark, is an Australian tree with whitish, spongy, many-layered peeling bark, narrow leaves up to 5 inches (13 cm) long with nearly parallel veins, and small white flowers crowded in bottlebrush spikes, according to the UF/IFAS Plant Directory. The same page lists it as a Florida Invasive Species Council Category I invasive and as a plant on both the Federal Noxious Weed List and the Florida Noxious Weed List.

Eucalypts are the other Florida and California candidates. The Australian National Botanic Gardens describes their bark shedding as an annual summer event, with cinnamon patches on blue gum and pink turning to white on brittle gum.

Using a photo

Peeling bark photographs well because the pattern and colors are distinctive. Take one photo of the trunk at chest height, close enough that the peel fills the frame, and one of a leaf. Tree Identifier names a tree from one photo, and paper birch, American sycamore, crape myrtle, melaleuca and Tasmanian blue gum are in its Collection. It shows no confidence score or alternatives, so check its answer against the color-underneath table. For smooth, ridged and plated barks, see the bark identification guide.