I can identify a few trees, but not many. This one has me stumped. The leaves are 4 to 5 inches in length. I know it’s not a beech or a birch. Anyone know what it might be?

“Stumped”?

hahahaha

you sure it aint a beech or birch?

heart-to-lobe shaped leaves.

looks like it to me.

you can wade through this website:

http://www.ibiblio.org/pic/nctrees.htm

That looks like a Witch Hazel, Hamamelis virginiana. It should be a small tree or even shrub like. It blooms in Nov/Dec and may have remnant flowering stems close along the stems.

http://www.hort.uconn.edu/Plants/h/hamvir/hamvir1.html

Thanks for the website. I’ve looked at other websites, as well as an Audubon Society tree book. It looks a little like the chestnut oak, but I’m still not sure.

No, it’s definitely not a beech or a birch. Beech leaves have little sharp sawtooths at the ends and between the ends of the veins - unlike this one, and birches have sharp sawtooths as well, but at the ends the veins - and you can’t mistake the distinctive birch wintergreen smell when you break off a leaf or a small twig.

I just saw your post, Christopher. It does look like exactly like witch-hazel leaves. It wasn’t a shrub though (I cut it down for a craft project), it was a young tree about 15 or 20 feet tall, trunk diameter about 2 or 2 1/2 inches at the ground. Also I’ve read that witch-hazel has a distinctive aroma, but I didn’t smell anything unusual.

Maybe Box Elder? They propagate like mad when it rains like it has been….

I’m pretty sure it’s not a box elder. Though the leaves look somewhat similar to pics of box elder leaves, they look a lot more like witch-hazel leaves. So far, I think it’s probably a witch-hazel.

Box Elder has a pinnately compound leaf. This has a simple leaf arranged alternately. It is a Witch Hazel. The key is the uneven base where the leaf meets the petiole.

Thanks, Christopher. That was the closest to it of any other tree I looked at in my research. You seem to know a lot about trees. I may be asking you about others from time to time, if it’s OK with you.

Here’s a question.  I have a mockernut hickory tree in my yard that has several holes in the leaves.  Near the holes is a hard seed-looking thing (looks like a rosehip).  Any idea what this could be or if I need to worry about this spreading to other trees in my yard?

Sounds like a leaf gall. It is a response to an insect or pathogen. They are generally nothing to worry about. About a third of the way down the page are photos of Hickory leaf galls.

http://www.hsu.edu/content.aspx?id=2151

chirstopher c nc is the ####### treeman!

Just keepin’ it arboreal ya’ll.

brebro - 15 August 2009 07:05 PM

Just keepin’ it arboreal ya’ll.

It is these kinds of posts that has made me try so very hard to emulate brebro.

maybe another 5k and i’ll get there.