Mystery Tree and Fruit

July 19, 2017 2:55 PM

The tree is located in the front yard of my sister's new home. We have no clue what it could be

Here are some pictures of the tree and the fruit on the tree - Pictures

This is in Upstate New York.

posted by Julnyes to Home & Garden (21 answers total)

Looks like a fruit we call a feijoa?
posted by yogalemon at 2:58 PM on July 19, 2017

I'm pretty sure it's not a feijoa - the fruits are smaller and more rugby ball shaped and never red (source: have eaten a few million). I'm getting black sapote vibes but it's hard to tell. Have you opened a fruit up?
posted by teststrip at 3:10 PM on July 19, 2017

Response by poster: teststrip - the first picture is of one that is opened, but that is a smaller one so maybe the bigger ones look different. I'll ask my sister to open a larger one.
posted by Julnyes at 3:16 PM on July 19, 2017

Definitely not a feijoa. The leaves and fruit when on the tree look nectarine-like to me, but the inside of the fruit seems to be missing the pit.
posted by kinddieserzeit at 3:28 PM on July 19, 2017 [1 favorite]

As a guess, this looks similar to a pawpaw tree; but I am not botanist. Upstate New York would make sense for the area it would grow in.
posted by graxe at 3:30 PM on July 19, 2017

My first guess was a paw paw but I've only ever read about them.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 3:31 PM on July 19, 2017 [1 favorite]

quince
posted by peachfuzz at 3:37 PM on July 19, 2017

I'm on team quince too.

If so, Oh my, you are all so lucky.
posted by Keith Talent at 3:42 PM on July 19, 2017

For future reference, the arborday.org website has a tree identification feature that I've found very helpful.
posted by she's not there at 3:51 PM on July 19, 2017 [1 favorite]

The quince that you use to make traditional membrillo are cydonia sp., and to my knowledge they do not have serrated leaves. The fruit in the photo also looks incorrect, to me, for immature true quinces.

These may be "Chinese quinces" or pseudocydonia, which have serrated leaves and are hearty to zone 5b. (I mention zone because it's pertinent here.) Wikipedia also says there's another family of ornamental "quinces," which are in chaenomeles, but I have never seen them.

Good luck!
posted by migrantology at 3:57 PM on July 19, 2017

It looks like a crab apple to me.
posted by dilaudid at 4:25 PM on July 19, 2017

Peach.
posted by jferg at 4:26 PM on July 19, 2017

Crab apple. Those don't look like quince leaves to me.
posted by pecanpies at 4:45 PM on July 19, 2017

This is a job for Cornell Cooperative Extension.
posted by plastic_animals at 5:07 PM on July 19, 2017 [4 favorites]

Maybe nectarine? Another pic here.

The fruit also looks a bit like an apricot., although I think apricot trees usually have more rounded leaves.
posted by pseudostrabismus at 5:31 PM on July 19, 2017

That looks like the Chinese date tree we had in our yard in Orange County. Also called a jujube.
posted by Kafkaesque at 5:39 PM on July 19, 2017

I'm on team nectarine (or plum) until a mature fruit is opened.
posted by elsietheeel at 6:22 PM on July 19, 2017

I had a quince tree with fruit that looked like that. The tree had been cut down at some point, and 3 new branches grew, eventually becoming a tree with 3 main trunks. Most fruit trees are grafted - a sturdy root tree gets a new top of the desired variety. I think my tree was cut below the graft, and the tree that grew was the rootstock. When pruned severely, it was really lovely and rather Japanese-looking. The hard, apple-like fruit was incredibly high in pectin. I used some with strawberries to make jam, and it was quite sturdy. The fruits were quite sour. My son and other kids in the neighborhood made great use of them as ammunition.
posted by theora55 at 6:33 PM on July 19, 2017

My vote's on jujube.
posted by aniola at 8:05 PM on July 19, 2017

I'm pretty sure it's a nectarine - the fruit, leaves and branches all look exactly like the nectarine tree in our backyard. The fruit are growing on spurs from what looks like previous years' growth, so I don't think it's a jujube (which, according to google image search, grow on new shoots), and quinces have much more obvious calyxes (the leftover flower part).
posted by A Thousand Baited Hooks at 7:17 AM on July 20, 2017

Response by poster: The leaves for the nectarine look pretty close. I'm still waiting for pics of the ripened fruit.
posted by Julnyes at 12:47 PM on July 20, 2017