Mystery trees, grant me some knowledge
January 3, 2012 4:20 PM Subscribe
Can you help me identify these potted fruit plants/trees to be?
Two on the left and one on the right are some kind of citrus - at least one (maybe two) are lemon, and one might be grapefruit or clementine or something. Not completely sure. Is there any good way to tell the difference?
Not sure what the three in the middle could be - one we believe might be a date plant, but we're not really sure.
Two more pictures: image 1, image 2
I unfortunately don't have bigger or additional pictures :-\ Any identification clues would be appreciated!
Two on the left and one on the right are some kind of citrus - at least one (maybe two) are lemon, and one might be grapefruit or clementine or something. Not completely sure. Is there any good way to tell the difference?
Not sure what the three in the middle could be - one we believe might be a date plant, but we're not really sure.
Two more pictures: image 1, image 2
I unfortunately don't have bigger or additional pictures :-\ Any identification clues would be appreciated!
Dates grow on tall palm trees. Maybe a fig, maybe.
posted by halfbuckaroo at 5:00 PM on January 3, 2012
posted by halfbuckaroo at 5:00 PM on January 3, 2012
Where are you? How did you happen upon these plants? I'm fishing for clues here.
There is no date palm or fig tree in those photos.
I don't think there's any reliable way to tell citrus apart without waiting for fruit. The flowers will also be indistinguishable. I mean, some have tendencies -- Meyer lemons have big, lush leaves and thorns, while key limes have smaller leaves and more thorns -- but where I live in Northern California, the lemons, grapefruit, and some oranges all look like the plants in your photo.
Frankly, the pot fourth from the left seems to have volunteers (weeds?) growing in them.
posted by purpleclover at 7:01 PM on January 3, 2012
There is no date palm or fig tree in those photos.
I don't think there's any reliable way to tell citrus apart without waiting for fruit. The flowers will also be indistinguishable. I mean, some have tendencies -- Meyer lemons have big, lush leaves and thorns, while key limes have smaller leaves and more thorns -- but where I live in Northern California, the lemons, grapefruit, and some oranges all look like the plants in your photo.
Frankly, the pot fourth from the left seems to have volunteers (weeds?) growing in them.
posted by purpleclover at 7:01 PM on January 3, 2012
Citrus is hard to identify at this stage. Lemons and limes have slightly pointier leaves than oranges and grapefruits, but until you have a mature tree, this can be hard to distinguish. Oranges and grapefruit also usually have darker leaves, but this can also be hard to know because you don't know if all of the plants are healthy.
posted by judith at 7:01 PM on January 3, 2012
posted by judith at 7:01 PM on January 3, 2012
Response by poster: purpleclover, they were planted by my dad who passed away last year. Yep, one of them does seem to have some weeds in them. The plant in that pot looks like a piney plant. In person, it almost looks like it's a planted clipping of some type of pine tree, but i cannot conceive why in the world my dad would have done that. He was mostly interested in experimenting in trying to grow some edibles.
posted by raztaj at 7:07 PM on January 3, 2012
posted by raztaj at 7:07 PM on January 3, 2012
Here's a citrus leaf ID chart. Citrus grown from seeds can be a combination of a couple of varieties due to cross pollination so it might not match anything exactly.
posted by tinamonster at 9:25 PM on January 3, 2012
posted by tinamonster at 9:25 PM on January 3, 2012
The one second from the right, with the long leaves, looks a little bit like a peach/nectarine to me.
In person, it almost looks like it's a planted clipping of some type of pine tree, but i cannot conceive why in the world my dad would have done that. He was mostly interested in experimenting in trying to grow some edibles.
A pine-nut tree, maybe?
posted by A Thousand Baited Hooks at 2:19 AM on January 4, 2012
In person, it almost looks like it's a planted clipping of some type of pine tree, but i cannot conceive why in the world my dad would have done that. He was mostly interested in experimenting in trying to grow some edibles.
A pine-nut tree, maybe?
posted by A Thousand Baited Hooks at 2:19 AM on January 4, 2012
I can't tell in the picture, but the piney one isn't rosemary, is it?
posted by maryr at 8:48 AM on January 4, 2012
posted by maryr at 8:48 AM on January 4, 2012
Response by poster: maryr -- good question! it's definitely not rosemary, but really I wish it was! yumm.
posted by raztaj at 9:12 AM on January 4, 2012
posted by raztaj at 9:12 AM on January 4, 2012
This thread is closed to new comments.
Though they may end up needing photos including flowers to really know for sure? But perhaps not, because again, I'm not so good with citrus. I know a lot of cacti IDs need flowers to tell for sure...
posted by vegartanipla at 4:47 PM on January 3, 2012