Mystery Tree

Re: Mystery Tree

Keith Tompkins

>they look like choke-cherry, but 5' diameter doesn't seem to jive. I don't think they get that big.

Hene- the mystery!

steve antonucci

>My hypothesis was also something in the cherry family, but it would be large for any type of Cherry. (certainly for a choke) It's also never had fruit that I could recall.

I won't cut it, but I might just climb it and prune some dead limbs to get a better look at the wood.

Steve

POSSIBLE DANGER

Chuck Ludwigsen

>First of all, I SURE HOPE I am wrong. I have a link to a tree ID site called "What tree is it - Home". According to the leaf pattern I see, it is poison sumac. DO NOT TOUCH IT.

Please check this out to verify me...

What Tree is it - Poison Sumac

Hope this helps and gets to you in time.

Chuck in Memphis, TN.

Re: Mystery Tree

Tony Reynolds in Newark, Ohio

>That's what it looks like to me. My in-laws have several 3' across trees on their place and I thought that was big.

Tony

Re: POSSIBLE DANGER

JamieDonaldson

>Definitely looks like sumac to me, but I've never heard of one nearly that big!

Appreciate the warning

steve antonucci

>I looked at the same site, and I haven't been able to ID it. The Sumac appears to have a considerable number of leaves per stem, this one only has 5.

I hope that it's not a sumac, because I've been handling the leaves today (no ill effects).

Steve

Don't rule out cherry cause of the size!

Dominic Greco in Sunny Richboro PA

>Bill Grumbine and I can testify that we cut up a choke cherry tree that was just under 38" in diameter. They do grow that big if the climate and soil is right. You just don't see then that often.

See ya around,

Dominic

Re: Black Cherry

DaveZ

>Is what it looks like to me. A picture of the trunk should confirm. You can check those flowers and see if they look like this

Re: POSSIBLE DANGER

John Veerkamp

>This tree is definitely not poison sumac. I agree it is cherry. I have seen many choke cherry trees that are bigger than 5" in dia. They can get fairly big, but often when growing in crowded areas they will be very tall and slender. The cherries are quite bitter, thus the name "choke". Birds love the fruit.

John

Re: Hene- the mystery!

Dale Stansbery

>They definitely have fruit, but never, never, never try to make wine out of them. It'd as bad as the fruit.

Re: Mystery Tree

Jon Arno

>Steve, I think you should do a little more detective work. First of all, check the bark. Cherry bark has a characteristic, scaley appearance when mature. Also, check the bark on a young twig. does it have birch-like cross grain markings (lentices)? When the bud opens, does it have 5 petals? And finally, once the fruit or berry develops, does it have a single pit (seed) inside?

If you score on all of these clues, it's probably a cherry, or at least a member of the genus Prunus.

OOPS!

Jon Arno

>...Make that lenticels...I lost an "L".

Re: Mystery Tree

Frederick Nelson

>Certainly the leaf arrangement, width, and staggered arrangement on the stem, as well as the arrangement of the fruiting body, all suggest Prunus virginiana, or Common Choke Cherry, but the picture doesn't show how serrated the edges of the leaves are. If they are more serrated than they appear in the picture, then it could well be Common Choke Cherry.

It is definitely NOT Poison Sumac: leaf arrangement, number of leaves, and arrangement of the fruit on the stem all rule this out.

My own experience with Common Choke Cherry is that the wood is quite like that of Prunus serotina, Black Cherry, and behaves the same way when worked. The wood that I worked with all came from suckers that grew from a previously cut stump that was nearly one foot in diameter when the new growth was cut off it. None of the shoots was larger than about four or five inches in diameter, however. Once I quartered some of these shoots, I did get some nice handles out of the wood, for files and such like.

If this tree is five feet in diameter a picture of it would be nice to see.

FNelson

Re: Don't rule out cherry cause of the size!

Keith Tompkins

>I finished cutting up a 30" plus black cherry, the tree grew extremely slowly, somehow surviving amongst huge maples and oaks that shaded it.

The growth rings are so close together, it's hard to count them.

Re: POSSIBLE DANGER

Keith Tompkins

>sumac leaves are referred to as "bipinnately compound" , or growing in symetrical pairs, such as ash or walnut.

the photo is surely not sumac. HOwever if it is a cherry, don't eat the leaves or make tea from them! Believe it or not , very toxic.

Re: Don't rule out cherry cause of the size!

Larry

>38" might be big but isn't even in the same order of magnitude as a 60" diameter tree. That's like comparing a largemouth bass to a striper. I wonder if the 5' is a guestimate or a measurement or could it be a circumference? The leaves and flowers do look like choke or "wild" cherry to my eye.

Re: Mystery Tree

Joseph

>I cruise timber just about every day. Looks like a cherry to me. Got a picture of the bark?

Re: Where is this Mystery Tree?

William R. Duffield on the Cohansey

>It looks a lot like a Carolina laurelcherry. There is very little overlap in the natural ranges of Prunus caroliniana and P. virginiana, the choke cherry, so where the tree is growing could make a difference. The leaf magin serations on black cherry and choke cherry are much more pronounced than on the laurel cherry.

So, where is it located? Also, when did you take the photos of the flower buds? Have you seen it in fruit? The laurelcherry is not hardy enough, as far as I know, to grow in New Jersey, even down here on the Cohansey.

Re: fuggedaboutit!

William R. Duffield on the Cohansey

>I got up your way this evening (well north of the Mason-Dixon). There are choke cherries blooming all over the place. That's what you've got. Their racimes (flower stalks) are about twice as long as the Carolina laurel cherry, and match those in your picture.