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Can you identify this tree only by the leaves?

Started by Mesquite Man, October 27, 2002, 07:42:53 PM

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sawmill_john

From my limited sources it sure looks like Black Cherry to me, my referance book shows a bark and leaf that look about as close as you can get.  

Black Cherry or "Wild Cherry" or "Rum Cherry"
Prunus serotina

source; National Audubon Society Field Guide

Saki

When I first looked at it I thought black cherry until I read where it was. Didn't know there might be a sub-strain or variation. If the variation is similar to the common black cherry there are a couple other " possible" ways to ID. The bark ON THE TWIGS near the leaf ( NOT ON THE TRUNK) will have small oval white or light colored marks. I think the text books call these marks lenticels or lentzels or something. On a fresh sample you can also scratch the bark off a twig and smell it. It will have a strong bitter odor. This ( if memory serves ) is a poison of the cyanide family. That is why so many farmers in the midwest have waged an all out war on this tree. Livestock that are silly enough to eat the leaves of a storm damaged tree can and have died. The bark on the standard strain is quite chippy or flaky. I had a little kid on a nature hike tell me it looked like burnt corn flakes had been glued on that tree. He was pretty well dead on with the description. Hope that this helps. Let us know what it is for sure. Best of Luck, saki.

Don P


Tom

I love to listen to the "proper" pronunciation of the latin names of plants.  Not only do I learn something but generally get a good belly-laugh out of it to when I compare my pronunciation to the person who is doing it right.

Then I try to figure out where that person is from.  On the second link, the zonemap one, it sounds like an oriental pronouncing Latin to a Southeast United States boy.  Boy, that will get your ear all tripped up. :D

Squirrell_Boy

 From what i can tell of the leaves it's some member of the Rose Family(Rosaceae) of which cherrys, plums, hawthorns, etc. come from. That bark is definately different though. Are there legumes hanging from it in that one picture? That would change everything. Never seen anything with legumes that had cherry looking leaves.
"Of course we don't know what we're doing. That's why they call it research." Albert Einstein

SwampDonkey

HI:

Concerning the leaves you posted. Can you see fine light-brown hairs along the mid-rib on the underside of the leaves? Can you see 2 dark pin-head sized glands at the base of the leaf where the blade meets the petiole? Is the underside of the leave light brown and the leaf margins finely serrated? And at the base of your tree do you find 0.5 cm sized pits? In spring, are there long racimes with white blossoms oppositely arranged around it? In my region there are two possibilities, the Choke Cherry and black cherry. And one big give away for a sweet cherry such as these is that it will usually be infected by black-knot disease which looks like scat on the infected stems. Choke cherry is a shrub, usually under 4 meters in height. Black cherry is open grown usually, or on disturbed sites. The heart-wood of mature trees is pink in color.

 ;D
"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

Stephen_Wiley

Although not native to your area their is some similarities to Nannberry Viburnum  lentago.

Need more info. for a + ID

1st pic. clearly shows serrulated leaves, but does not show distinguishable veins.

Cannot rule out previous suggestions, although I am not inclined to think carolina laurel because lack of serrulated leaf edge.

Prunus spp.
American Plum,  Black Cherry

Also slighty Possible:
                Stewartia     Oxydendrum
" If I were two faced, do you think I would be wearing this one?"   Abe Lincoln

Bud Man

The groves were God's first temples.. " A Forest Hymn"  by.. William Cullen Bryant

SwampDonkey

HI Steve:

Hmmmmmmm, you sure about your suggestion of viburnum? They are shrub spcies here, but not the same species your suggesting. We have 3 viburnum species in our region, all under 10 m in height. The tallest is high-bush cranberry (trilobum) found on field edges and poplar swamps, wild raisin (angustufolium) found on fens and soils with highwater table, and hobblebush (forget spec name)found on moist hardwood sites. The flowers of all vibernum are arranged so that the surface appears flattened with many white flowers, most are false with no stamens. One exception to this arrangment is snow-ball (an ornamental shrub).

I am sure this tree is a prunus species, the fine hairs on the underside of the leaves along the mid-rib and the oil glands on the leaves are a dead ringer. If they exist. I'm not sure the serotina is found in Tx though since its on limey soils of the Niagra excarpment, the Appalachians from PA to NC and the southern portions of the Acadian forest region. From what I've read and heard its best sites are in PA. A log buyers wet dream if you can get logs without block-knot infections.

regards
"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

Mesquite Man

Guys,

I cut the tree down and milled it.  It is definately Escarpment Black Cherry (Prunus serotina var. eximia).  I was surprised to find that we have cherry in central Texas.  There is no doubt that is what it is, though.  I have already made a picture frame out of it and it works, looks, and smells like cherry.

Thanks for all the replies!
"Mesquite Man"
Curtis O. Seebeck
TimberKing 1220

SwampDonkey

"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

Stephen_Wiley

QuoteHI Steve:

Hmmmmmmm, you sure about your suggestion of viburnum?  
 

No, was just a suggestion based upon tree description and the observance that many people will transport trees from one region to another although it is not conducive to its native growth.

Black Cherry was my first thought, but do the unclarity of the pics. was leaving room open for other possibilities.

Mesquite Man - show us pics of your prize !!!!!!
(If you have the ability to do so)

Smells like Cherry ..........definately not Nannberry it smells like  skunk.  :o
" If I were two faced, do you think I would be wearing this one?"   Abe Lincoln

SwampDonkey

Far enough Stephen  :) Good approach


Black cherry in my region varies by bark descriptions. Some areas the bark peels like birch on maturing trees and some regions it looks like sugar maple bark. I live at its most northern tip of its range. If I go 10 miles north, not a sign of it. Just Choke Cherry (sweet) and Pin Cherry (sour) and the bark is birch-like here. Forty miles south and the bark is more maple-like. The quality of black cherry here is quite poor because of black-knot. It has best quality in mixed hardwood stands here.


regards
"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

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