help tree id

[davedeneweth]

Can you tell me what tree looks like a mulberry but has seed clusters 1" long right before the leaves start growwing. A t least some of the leaves have 5 lobes on them but otherwise are mulberry looking leaves. its in michigan and its huge
thanks dave
there might be a pic of it in the photos i had a hard time posting it

[Jeff]

You got pretty close Dave. It was in the gallery. If you want to email me a big picture I will optimize it and see if we can get something we can work with. I can't tell much from this photo.

jeff@forestryforum.com

[Jeff]

Dave sent me this picture. Not sure if we can get it from the form of this urban tree. Being a city tree its possible it could be an ornamental of some type. Can you get us a pic of the leaves when they open up?

[Jeff]

Do you mean the tree is huge or the leaves? Are they compound leaves? Or simple leaves?

[Jeff]

First wild guess with the limited info.

Planetree Maple
Acer pseudoplatanus
Sycamore Maple


Description Large, introduced shade tree with widely spreading, rounded crown and large, paired, palmately 5-lobed leaves.
Height: 60' (21 m).
Diameter: 2' (0.6 m).
Leaves: opposite; 3 1/2-6" (0-15 cm) long and wide. The 5 shallow lobes short-pointed and wavy saw-toothed; with 5 main veins from notched base; long slender leafstalk. Dull dark green with sunken veins above, pale with raised, sometimes hairy veins beneath; turning brown in autumn.
Bark: gray; smooth or with broad flaky scales.
Twigs: gray, hairless.
Flowers: 3/16" (5 mm) wide; with 5 greenish-yellow petals; male and bisexual; in narrow branched drooping clusters 5" (13 cm) long; in early spring.
Fruit: 1 1/4-2" (3-5 cm) long; paired keys with elliptical body and long wing; light brown; maturing in summer.

Habitat Hardy in exposed places and adapted to seashore gardens, tolerant of salt spray; sometimes escaping along roadsides.

Range Native of Europe and W. Asia; planted across the United States.

Discussion Although fast-growing, this species is not as hardy northward as Norway Maple. It is an important timber and shade tree in Europe, where it is called Sycamore. The species name, meaning "false Platanus," refers to the resemblance of the foliage to that of the sycamore or planetree genus.

[Tom]

Not being from way up yonder, I'm not familiar with all those foreign trees ;D but the first picture, blown up in Adobe, looks like mulberry.  Mulberry down here has fruitings or flowers or whatever you would call it before the fruit sets that looks like a string of little seeds or something.  :-/ :-/

Our mulberry's don't have the bark that is on that tree though. ???

[davedeneweth]

tree is pretty huge i mean for the city anyway ,it never gets berrys on it. ill get theleaves and the seeds on here.
thanks i've been wondering for years about this thing

[ohsoloco]

Some of us were discussing mulberry trees in another thread, and someone mentioned that only the females produce berries...perhaps this is a male mulberry tree.  The bark looks like a lot of the bigger mulberries I see around here

[LeeB]

the burl on it looks like the two mullberries I just took down this week. LeeB

[bitternut]

I am going to cast my vote for a male mulberry. I planted one in my yard at home and it produced tons of flowers like you described that would drop off and litter the ground. It had thousands of blossoms but never produced any fruit so I cut it down. I bought two more and planted them at the farm and this year they both had very similar blossoms but only one produced fruit. They are planted 10 feet apart and it was real easy to compare the blossoms. They were definitely very similar but there was a difference. Deer like munching on the trees also. Birds got all of the fruit before I could get any. When I was a kid the farm next to ours had a couple of mulberry trees planted in with his block of sweet cherries. I guess the theory was that the birds would go for the mulberries and leave the cherries alone. I know I came home with purple fingers and face on many occasions.

[Squirrell_Boy]

  I have seen this same tree in the Mississippi valley area here where i live. I believe it is Red Mulberry ( Morus Rubra )
probably a male like they said. I can't say for positive, but tonight i was walking along the mighty miss and saw a tree with the exact same look and pulled a leaf to check it out. Pretty sure it's Mulberry. You might want to ask Burlman or even send him a sample he collects wood specimens.