Is this a Juneberry/Serviceberry tree?

[Paschale]

Hi all,

I'm wondering if you all can help me with IDing this.  I found it on my dad's land this September, and if it's Juneberry, I plan on going up next year, and harvesting a bunch to make some jam.  It makes me wonder too if there are any poisonous tree fruits--I don't know the answer to that.   ???

Thanks!

Dan

[WDH]

Looks like a carolina buckthorn to me.

[Dana]

It's definitely not a Juneberry.

[JimTwoSticks]

Vote #2 for buckthorn. Though it's probably Rhamnus cathartica and not the carolina buckthorn (R. caroliniana???)

[WDH]

Yep.  I am not familiar with it since we do not have it down here, only the native carolina buckthorn.

[SwampDonkey]

It's not serviceberry.






Toothed leaf margins
Fruit like blueberries, flowers on end of branches

[Paschale]

Thanks for all the responses.  It looks like it definitely is a buckthorn...a rather invasive species, I understand.   :

Oh...and mildly poisonous to humans, so I better not make any jam with it!

[WDH]

Yes, I would pass on the jam  .

[Jeff]

You could always try Dog Berry.

[Paschale]

You could always try Dog Berry.

Is that in the same family as the dingle berry?

[Jeff]

Not quite, but almost...

https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php/topic,32784.0.html

[SwampDonkey]

Out back, where we are still cutting brush, I found a few mountain ash. Almost everything except aspen (what precious few there are) and birch are about bare of leaves with 3 frosty mornings this week. About the only thing green is fir and spruce. The places not cutover have hardwoods with bare tops and some leaves at mid to lower crown now. But anyway, I have not seen any sign of a berry on those mountain ash, not even a stem. A herd of darn moose those. This morning at daylight an old cow was saying hello from down in the swamp woods. After I walked on down the road she came out onto the road to have a look around. The boss said he heard 3 or 4 over on his corner of the woods. A couple of lakes and some brooks nearby to work site. One Lake is called Christmas Lake. It looks like it could snow any day out there in that place. 3-5 degrees Celcius colder out there in the mornings. The frost has not his the peonies here at the house yet. I don't think I had a frost, as it's been about 40 F every morning before going to work. The European ash that have naturalized around here have berries until the robins fleece them.

Oh, and birds. I've gotta take a few extra slices of bread some sunny day. We have whiskie jacks, they have mostly been shy so far. But, no one yet even knows they are around. I know how to draw those beggers in. :D

[Paschale]

Cool!  I never knew you could make jam from mountain ash!  I've made jelly from crabapples before, and I love trying all of those odd, rare fruits.  I planted viburnum around my house, in part because I wanted to use the fruit to make jam, but this is the first year it's fruited, and there wasn't much at all.

Anyway, I've never heard of dogberry jam!

[SwampDonkey]

Anyway, I've never heard of dogberry jam!

That Jeff.  : :D

[Jeff]

Paschale, you should probably read that thread in its entirety. Its got a not-so-happy ending. :D

[letemgrow]

Thanks for all the responses.  It looks like it definitely is a buckthorn...a rather invasive species, I understand.   :

Oh...and mildly poisonous to humans, so I better not make any jam with it!

Hopefully you all kill that tree!!

[John Mc]

I agree it's a buckthorn. However, Michigan is a bit far north for Carolina Buckthorn. It's range is generally from extreme southern Ohio southward. Also, Carolina Buckthorn has nearly straight side veins, where the one in the photo has curved ones.

European Buckthorn (Rhamnus cahartica) has finely toothed leaves. From what I can see in your photo, these look like they are smooth, which would probably make it Glossy Buckthorn (Rhamnus frangula). Both are highly invasive species. If you see them, get rid of them. You do not want this stuff getting a hold in your woodland. There is no timber value to it, and it will crowd out other more desirable species. Wildlife will eat the berries (which can stay on the tree well in to winter), but they have almost no nutritional value, and have some laxative properties (probably not a great candidate for jam). I've heard it said that the proliferation of buckthorn is contributing to the decline of migratory songbirds... they load up on the stuff, then "run out of gas" on their migration.

The berries are dark purple to black when ripe, and stay on the tree for a long time. They also tend to be the first trees to leaf out in the spring, and the last to lose their leaves in the fall. This can make them easy to spot at those times of year. (that's also part of what gives them a competitive advantage over most native species.)  4 or 5" DBH tends to be a good sized buckthorn, though I have seen them as big as 10 or 12".

They are tough to get rid of. They will stump sprout when you cut them (and likely sprout again if you cut the sprouts). They are also prolific seed producers, so expect to see seedlings coming up in future years as well. I've taken to treating the cut stumps by brushing on concentrated glyphosate (Round-up). 25% concentration is the absolute minimum I've found to be effective... I usually buy the 40 or 50% concentration and dilute to about 30+%. It should be brushed on the stump shortly after cutting for best effectiveness.