Woody Plants in North America is the best multimedia tree identification tool  I've found to date.  I recommend it for any tree buff or tree identification hobbyist.  It is also the perfect purchase for a forester who needs some brushing up on dendrology skills.

John R. Seiler, John A. Peterson, and Edward C. Jenson are creators/ university professors representing several major U.S. Universities who have developed the package for their students.  The package has been extensively tested on students and subsequent developmental improvements make Woody Plants easy to use. You might like to visit their Virginia Tech Dendrology Class Homepage.

In addition, they have published one of the best tree identification sites on the Internet at http://www.cnr.vt.edu/dendro/dendrology/ and I link extensively to their site from my site 100 Trees of North America.

One slight disappointment - there is no way to key out a tree.  I am hoping that will be fixed in the next version.  In the meantime, you can go to the free twig and leaf keys they are developing over the Internet.

SO WHAT'S IN THE PACKAGE?

The 2-CD set is split into angiosperms (hardwoods) and gymnosperms (softwoods). The software was developed over a 6-year period by Virginia Tech in cooperation with tree identification experts at Oregon State University, Pennsylvania State University and the University of Georgia.

 The software includes a morphology section that familiarizes you with terms used in the identification of plants. The
main body of the tutorial contains over 9,500 pictures and full text descriptions of leaves, twigs, fruit, flowers, bark, form, and range maps for 470 species of woody plants. Multiple pictures of important distinguishing features are given so that you can develop a "feel" for normal variation expected in the field where the plants grow.

Similar species can also be compared side by side for each plant feature, with the most distinguishing features highlighted. A quiz section allows users to evaluate their success in identification. Users can customize their quiz list so that only plants previously identified or learned will appear in quizzes.

WHERE CAN I PURCHASE THE PACKAGE?

You can find this package for sale at Kendall/Hunt Publishing.  Order it online at http://www.cnr.vt.edu/dendro/wpina/index.html