# ID this tree, please. **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 20, 2004, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-tree-please/260775 "2004-08-20T20:36:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Casey1505](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dc4da7/32.png) [@Casey1505](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Casey1505)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2004, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-tree-please/260775/1 "2004-08-20T20:36:24Z")
Outside of our building, there are two trees, both about 7-8 feet tall, with thin bark and kind of scalloped edged leaves. One one of these trees, there are some sort of fruit I guess…not really nuts, and not really berries. They’re about the size of an acorn (some a little larger) and resemble raspberries but firmer. The less “ripe” ones are green, but the more “ripe” ones are red, and the darker red they are, the squishier the fruit. What kind of tree is it? ---
**Author:** ![sarcophilus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f4b2a3/32.png) [@sarcophilus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sarcophilus)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2004, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-tree-please/260775/2 "2004-08-20T21:31:20Z")
It sounds like an _Arbutus sp._ most commonly [Arbutus unedo](http://hortiplex.gardenweb.com/plants/p1/gw1002465.html), the Irish Strawberry Tree. You could eat a fruit, but you’d probably only eat one. Hence the generic name _unedo_ ---
**Author:** ![sarcophilus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f4b2a3/32.png) [@sarcophilus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sarcophilus)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2004, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-tree-please/260775/3 "2004-08-20T21:38:29Z")
The fruitless one is probably a male as _Arbutus_ are dioecious. Although the male isn’t necessary for female fruit production it is a nice touch to have both. That is, of course, if I am right. ---
**Author:** ![Casey1505](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dc4da7/32.png) [@Casey1505](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Casey1505)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2004, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-tree-please/260775/4 "2004-08-20T21:38:41Z")
No, the fruit on the tree you linked to looks to be too round and smooth. The fruit on the tree I’m attempting to describe looks kind of like a cross between a pineapple and a raspberry, and is no bigger than a quarter. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2004, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-tree-please/260775/5 "2004-08-20T21:39:55Z")
> [@sarcophilus](#): > > It sounds like an _Arbutus sp._ most commonly [Arbutus unedo](http://hortiplex.gardenweb.com/plants/p1/gw1002465.html), the Irish Strawberry Tree. > > You could eat a fruit, but you’d probably only eat one. Hence the **generic name** _unedo_ Very minor nitpick, **sarcophilus** , on a good job of finding a quick answer: _Arbutus_ is the generic name. _unedo_ is technically called the trivial name – that’s not a deprecation, but the technical term for the latter half of a binomial nomenclature name standing alone. The _species name_, of course, is the full binomial: Arbutus unedo. ---
**Author:** ![Casey1505](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dc4da7/32.png) [@Casey1505](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Casey1505)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2004, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-tree-please/260775/6 "2004-08-20T21:54:56Z")
Indeed. I don’t mean to sound ungrateful, but I am, really. I have a feeling you know exactly what tree I mean, but it’s my vague description that’s preventing you from ID-ing it. I did some more looking around, and was able to find out that the leaf could be considered [lanceolate,](http://www.clemson.edu/extfor/publications/bul117/images/leaf_shapes.gif) I guess. ---
**Author:** ![Casey1505](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dc4da7/32.png) [@Casey1505](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Casey1505)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2004, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-tree-please/260775/7 "2004-08-20T21:57:32Z")
> [@Casey1505](#): > > but I am, really. :smack: I am really grateful. ---
**Author:** ![violet9](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/ea666f/32.png) [@violet9](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/violet9)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2004, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-tree-please/260775/8 "2004-08-20T22:01:23Z")
Sure sounds like mulberry trees to me - here’s a link to a close-up picture, though the mulberry fruits I’ve known are less elongated - more raspberry shaped. [http://www.crfg.org/pubs/ff/mulberry.html](http://www.crfg.org/pubs/ff/mulberry.html) Mulberry fruits make a natural dye (smells heavenly when you’re cooking it up) and can be used in recipes like any other berry, though different varieties have slightly different flavors, and some are considered more desireable for cooking. Mulberry leaves are the only food domestic silkworms eat. George Washington had a notion to start an American silk industry, and many trees were planted in Virginia to feed them. Of course, the project was not successful. ---
**Author:** ![betula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bbe5ce/32.png) [@betula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/betula)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2004, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-tree-please/260775/9 "2004-08-20T22:03:42Z")
Could it be a mulberry, genus Morus? ---
**Author:** ![sarcophilus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f4b2a3/32.png) [@sarcophilus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sarcophilus)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2004, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-tree-please/260775/10 "2004-08-20T22:12:37Z")
Hmmm, yes I see Polycarp botanical jargon. I derived generic from the _Genus species_ format. Well Casey, now i’m completely buggered! but will keep thinking! ---
**Author:** ![Casey1505](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dc4da7/32.png) [@Casey1505](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Casey1505)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2004, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-tree-please/260775/11 "2004-08-20T22:16:32Z")
Close, based on [this](http://waynesword.palomar.edu/images/mulber3b.jpg) picture, but the leaves on a mulberry appear to be wider than mystery tree. Also, there’s not as much fruit on “my” tree as there appears to be on a mulberry. I still think we’re getting close. I really wish I had a digital camera at work… ---
**Author:** ![Casey1505](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dc4da7/32.png) [@Casey1505](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Casey1505)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2004, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-tree-please/260775/12 "2004-08-20T22:20:22Z")
Hey! Maybe I discovered a new mutant species of tree! I can retire a filthy righ botanist now! If we can’t ID the tree over the weekend, I will come to work and declare it to be a Stery Tree. Get it? It’s My Stery Tree (_nameofit stumpedallovus_). ---
**Author:** ![Bewildebeest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/779978/32.png) [@Bewildebeest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bewildebeest)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2004, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-tree-please/260775/13 "2004-08-22T03:03:32Z")
Accept for the scalloped edged leaves, I’d guess Cornus Kousa, Chinese Dogwood. [http://www.oplin.org/tree/fact%20pages/dogwood\_chinese/dogwood\_chinese.html](http://www.oplin.org/tree/fact%20pages/dogwood_chinese/dogwood_chinese.html) ---
**Author:** ![Casey1505](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dc4da7/32.png) [@Casey1505](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Casey1505)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2004, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-tree-please/260775/14 "2004-08-22T05:22:53Z")
> [@Bewildebeest](#): > > Accept for the scalloped edged leaves, I’d guess Cornus Kousa, Chinese Dogwood. > > [http://www.oplin.org/tree/fact%20pages/dogwood\_chinese/dogwood\_chinese.html](http://www.oplin.org/tree/fact%20pages/dogwood_chinese/dogwood_chinese.html) I think we have a winner. Please except( 😉 ) my apologies for being unclear in my description, but the leaves–when I said “kind of scalloped”–were wavy around the edges, not scalloped like the seashell. But **Bewildebeest** ’s suggestion encouraged me to do a Google Image Search, where I came uopn [this photo.](http://www.djroger.com/chinese%20dogwood%20fruit.JPG) That, combined with the picture of the bark provided in his link, makes me pretty confident that we have identified the actual name of the Stery Tree. Thanks.