name the tree...

March 15, 2006 1:52 PM

Photofilter: can anyone identify this tree?

The photo was taken this past weekend in north Georgia, where these trees were blooming all over the place and we couldn't decide what exactly they were. The petals are white and sort of diamond-shaped, the flowers grow in clusters (which is why we didn't think it was a peach tree) and there are no leaves yet. Crabapples maybe?

posted by casarkos to Science & Nature (14 answers total)

How tall was the tree? Looks like a crabapple to me too, they don't get too terribly big generally.
posted by Pollomacho at 2:00 PM on March 15, 2006

Using my tree book, it appears that you're correct on the crab apple assumption. Specifically, sweet crab apple.
posted by Atreides at 2:00 PM on March 15, 2006

Could it be some kind of cherry tree? Sakura flowers are pink, but it doesn't look that different. Here's an image from WikiPedia's Cherry page for comparison.
posted by mikel at 2:03 PM on March 15, 2006

Bradford pear, I think. They're all over here in Columbia, SC and quite lovely too.
posted by chiababe at 3:01 PM on March 15, 2006

GIS for Bradford Pear.
posted by chiababe at 3:02 PM on March 15, 2006

The branch pattern looks to open for a Bradford pear. (The Bradgord Pear has a dense crown, which was once considered its primary benefit but is now frowned upon as being too top heavy and suscpetable to storm damage.) The blossom looks like a cherry to me but I can not pinpoint exactly. The branch pattern could certainly be cherry. Could be crab apple as well although the branching looks more elgant than most crap apple trees I've seen. In the end though, I would maybe lean toward the peach. (And you were in Georgia, after all.)
posted by Dick Paris at 3:48 PM on March 15, 2006

You might also try joining the ID Please group on flickr.
posted by WhiskeyTangoFoxtrot at 3:50 PM on March 15, 2006

Doesn't look like a bradford pear to me... they're all over my town. If they smelled like a chemical spill crossed with rotting dead animal, they were probably bradford pear. Ah, nothing like walking around in a warm Texas spring, downwind of dozens of blossoming trees that smell like dead animal.
posted by MadamM at 5:00 PM on March 15, 2006 [1 favorite]

I'd say something in the prunus family, like apricot.
Almonds also have white blooms, so do some plums and cherries- so it's a little difficult to say for sure.
posted by oneirodynia at 9:05 PM on March 15, 2006

Number One: The Larch.
(Sorry... I have no idea.)
posted by The Deej at 9:43 PM on March 15, 2006

Looks like crabapple to me. My second guess would be dogwood.
posted by trip and a half at 10:04 PM on March 15, 2006

Not apricot. My money's on cherry because of the clusters and shape of the branches and buds. Need to see the bark.
You can always tell a dogwood by the bark.
Thank you. Try the veal.
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 12:21 AM on March 16, 2006

Looks like a cherry tree (Prunus spp.) of some sort to me too: here's another Flickr pic for comparison. This genus is quite varied though with lots of varieties in all sorts of colours...
posted by jonesor at 3:53 AM on March 16, 2006

Cherry blossoms tend to have long stems (if they're fruiting cherries). Think of the stems on cherries in the store. This tree doesn't have that characteristic, i.e. the buds are formed right on the branches. It is very consistent with the form of the apricot in one of my client's gardens- if there are still blossoms on it this week, I'll take a picture of it (and the 3-in1 cherry as well). The apricot pretty much looks like this, though it's notoriously difficult to tell fruit trees apart from solely blossoms. Apricots and peaches prefer mild winters, cherries like a cold snap, so the climate in N. Georgia will be an indicator as well.
posted by oneirodynia at 7:08 PM on March 17, 2006