I have an unknown tree for identification

[Robert Long]

I need help to identify this tree!

It stands about 40 feet tall and takes up a large area of the yard.   It is very late to leaf out in the spring and it's seeds/flowers come out before the leaves in the spring.

Please help to identify!



Thanks for input!

Robert

[Robert Long]

Sorry, I copied the same pic 

I will add other pics but I'm being called to supper!   Got to go!

Robert

[Robert Long]

let me try to post another pic 



Sorry for the bad post!  I will get more pictures as needed

Robert

[tyb525]

Looks like it might be box elder, it looks like there are slight lobes on some of the leafs. Maybe a variety with little to no lobe?

Edit: after more searching, it could be: birch, some kind of poplar, beech, or something else.

If you could get a picture of the bark, that would help alot.

[Robert Long]

tyb525

That's my problem.....I have box elder or Manitoba maple at the back of the property and they do not look the same as this one, also they produce winged seeds, this one does not.  also, they are infested with the box elder bugs (those red and black ugly bugs) and this one has no sign of them, yet?

The leaves appear to be in clusters like a cluster of grapes

Robert

[tyb525]

What do the seeds and flowers look like?

[isawlogs]

 Da Swamdonkey will be here soon and will tell ya what ya got there ....  He is purdy good at those game s, thats if Danny dont get here before him . 

  Oh!!!!  I have no clue to what you got there . A pic of the bark and of the tree would be a good clue for me.

[tyb525]

I figured a pro would come along eventually 

[Robert Long]

Here is the tree and bark, I should note it always has sap leaking from the crotch.

As to the seeds, they come before the leaves in the spring and are little bud like green clusters. 



Hope this helps!

Robert

[Gary_C]

Pictures need to be bigger, but a guess would be Basswood.

[SwampDonkey]

Looks like a non-native birch by those leaves. Too glossy for yellow or white birch, too big for gray birch. Too big for blue-beech. Not an elm or hackberry because the leaf base is symmetrical in the pics. Does the tree produce catkins (long slender fruit or oblong cone-shaped fruit on branch tips)? Basswood doesn't flower until mid summer. Birch leaves tend to have a big tooth every once in awhile on the leaf margin that looks kinda like the beginnings of a lobe.

[Riles]

The dangers of using ID keys; they get you so close...

http://www.cnr.vt.edu/dendro/dendrology/syllabus/key/alternatesimplenolobesserratecordate.cfm?zone=3

[SwampDonkey]

I'd rule all those out Riles.  It ain't native. 'Bud-like green clusters' tells me it's a birch catkin. Female ones are erect.

Kinda like the forth thumbnail in this link (female catkin). Male ones hang down, 1-4 in a cluster, maybe more for non-native. On yellow birch female are usually solitary, but may be twinned occasionally. Non-native might be clustered, not familiar with the multitude of birch species.

http://www.northernontarioflora.ca/description.cfm?speciesid=1004133

[Robert Long]

Riles

Great thread...I looked at all the examples listed and I ruled out all of them except the sample leaf picture looks a lot like the tree I have?

Robert

[SwampDonkey]

Yes, possibly a populus sp. but not eastern cottonwood. They have a long slender fruit (ament) with oval shaped pods. Flowers look like pussy willow with gray hairs. Possibly a hybrid poplar. Might fit your 'green clusters' description a bit closer. Do you get 'cotton' floating on the wind in the early summer?

[isawlogs]

  I will be glad when I get highspeed here to be able to open and enjoie all the links 

[Gary_C]

My first impression was popular, aspen, or cottonwood until I saw the form of that tree. Just does not appear like any of those I have seen.

[Robert Long]

I know cottonwood well and yes we have a lot of fuzz , but the bark and the look of it is not cottonwood.....the leaves are too elongated to be cottonwood or poplar.....I believe

Robert

[Riles]

Great thread...I looked at all the examples listed and I ruled out all of them except the sample leaf picture looks a lot like the tree I have?

Yeah, that's what I meant by getting close. No key is perfect, especially when you get species planted out of range.

I thought the same thing, that the sample picture looked the closest, although one is more finely serrated than the other. If you click on the sample picture in the link, you get the description for Italian alder.

By the way, Italian alder, Alnus cordata is present only in California, according the the USDA plants database. Explains why it wasn't one of the key search results.

[SwampDonkey]

Sounds like a hybrid poplar to me. Is there a hybrid with birch-like leaves? It sure isn't native. As Gary said, the form isn't aspeny. Looks more like a birch or elm form. Branch tips look too stout for birch, but would favour aspen/poplar. I'm sticking with populus.