Help with identifying weed tree

[Paschale]

Hi all,

This bugger, and its cousins, seem to like to sprout all over my backyard.  I don't recognize the tree at all, and I can't seem to see any parents of the tree nearby either.

Any ideas on what this pest could be?




Thanks!

[Tom]

I found this leaf to be similar

Cranberry Viburnum Viburnum opulus var. americanum (Viburnum trilobum)
Link to picture

[Paschale]

Thanks Tom--they're very similar, but I don't believe this is a Viburnum.  I have a couple different varieties of viburnum on my property.  They all are flowering bushes, that have berries.  This tree doesn't do either of those.   

It's a bit of a mystery!

[Riles]

Are all the leaves the same shape or do you have some "one thumb mittens?"

It could be a male red mulberry.

http://www.cnr.vt.edu/dendro/dendrology/syllabus/factsheet.cfm?ID=58

[Paschale]

Riles,

I think you hit it on the head.  But...upon closer inspection, sure enough, this puppy flowers, though more like an oak tree flower--not really showy. 

I looked more intently at my border back there, and sure enough, I saw one of these sticking out.  I bet a bird passed along the seed a few years ago--it took, and then this one came up from the being passed the same way.

The ironic thing?  I was thinking about planting a mulberry tree in my border area.  So I guess it ain't a weed tree after all!  I'm going to be looking out for berries on it this summer!    

Roxie turned me on to them here.

[Riles]

I missed an "A" in dendro this quarter by one missed-ID. I got the red mulberry wrong on the final quiz. Every single leaf on the tree he showed us had no lobes at all.

Just for the record, I got the bitternut hickory wrong (I thought it was off site), I got the persimmon wrong (tiny twig of a sample and the leaves weren't fuzzy) and I got the big leaf snowbell wrong, thought it was a Carolina buckthorn. Any one of those, and I would have had an "A" for the class.

[Tom]

Be glad he didn't slip you a White Mulberry.  Even a Sassafras can have you scratching your head. 

[Riles]

We never collected white muberry, although we talked about it. We did take sassafras, which has the same four leaves as red mulberry - no lobes, three lobes, left lobe, and right lobe. But sassafras is easy, just crush the leaf and smell it. Of course, that's when he shows you the tiny sample with three leaves on it and there's 15 students in the class.

[Pullinchips]

I would second riles on the red mulberry (Moreacea Morus rubra).  That was my first thought and will second riles.  I thought mullberry ass soon as i saw the pic before any other replies then scrolled down to reveal them.  Like he said look for "mitten leaves on the tree also male tree has no fruit the female has a dark red black fruit similar in looks to a black berry.  They are also etible and good too (the berries of course).

Riles i got that A, and ID'ed red mulberry right when it wass given.

-Nate

Tom, i don't beleive that that is a Sasifrass leaf.

If some bark pics are posted we can tell you for sure though.

Also if it is a male tree there will be no berries.  But if it flowers it sould be a female.

[Tom]

Your right, Nate,  Not Sassafras.  I was just joshin' with him about his "A" effort.

[SwampDonkey]

Try a red spruce in shade without the shiny yellow green look to it's needles and no hairs (atypical) and you could confuse it for white spruce.

[SwampDonkey]

Another plant with extremely variable leaf shapes in the rattlesnake root. Some triangular, and some with the general triangular shape but could have 1 to many lobes.