Trees don't carry ID

May 15, 2013 2:40 PM

Does anyone know what kind of tree this is? It came up in one of my raised beds last year, just a single stick with dark red leaves. I left it alone to see what it would turn into. This picture is what it looks like now, and the leaves have turned much more green, although they did come out red again at first. I've never noticed any flowers or fruit on it so far. The very tips of the branches are covered with little green aphids and the occasional ant. I'm trying to decide if I want to cut it down or try to move it, but I've not been able to get a definite ID to help me.
posted by dilettante to Home & Garden (8 answers total)

Where are you geographically? I tried this "What is this tree" chooser and it seems like it could be a cottonwood, hackberry or more likely a mulberry bush. These are best guesses if you're in Ohio, based on what i could see from your photos but you might want to step through it (if you're near OH) or try to find an identifier that is closer to where you live. There are, of course, a lot of other options but there are ways to narrow it down fairly easily. Good luck.
posted by jessamyn at 2:56 PM on May 15, 2013

Best answer: It looks like a wild plum to me, but the pictures aren't large enough to get a positive ID.
posted by oneirodynia at 3:13 PM on May 15, 2013

Best answer: I think the plum guess is a good one. If you have made & applied any compost containing stone fruit pits, there's an excellent chance that one of them sprouted. You may be able to find the remains of the pit near the taproot if/when you move it.
posted by pullayup at 3:35 PM on May 15, 2013

Your pic is a bit small for ID. Is it evergreen or did it drop its leaves in the winter? If it's evergreen it might be a Red Tip Photinia.
posted by jfuller at 4:36 PM on May 15, 2013 [1 favorite]

Looks to me like a rose volunteer or sucker. Not that it would necessarily ever flower.

Got any rose bushes in the general vicinity? Did there used to be? An old part of a stump below ground can totally sprout a sucker. (Roses are a pain to keep pretty but the damn plant is awfully hard to actually kill dead.)
posted by desuetude at 11:16 PM on May 15, 2013

Best answer: It looks like a wild cherry tree to me (Prunus serotina). They have small fruits, and seed like crazy, helped along by birds :) They can be rather pretty, but will get rather large, so you may not want it in your raised bed...
http://www.ncwildflower.org/index.php/plants/details/prunus-serotina
posted by PlantGoddess at 5:09 AM on May 16, 2013

Response by poster: It's definitely not a hackberry, mulberry, cottonwood, or rose. We have those everywhere, and I'm pretty familiar with them. There's actually at least one little hackberry seedling that I haven't pulled up yet in the first picture. And it isn't evergreen, so that rules out the Photinia. The cherry looks like the closest match and there are cherry trees on the next street over, but the plum could also be it. When I was looking at the info on wild cherries, I also found something called a downy serviceberry that also looks like a possibility. I'll try to move it later and see what it turns into, if it survives. Thanks for the help!
posted by dilettante at 5:33 PM on May 16, 2013

Response by poster: Just an update if anyone ever looks at this again: I had a tree service out today for some unrelated stuff. I asked the guy who runs the company, and he said crabapple.
posted by dilettante at 3:57 PM on July 18, 2013