# Id this tree? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 15, 2014, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-tree/678833 "2014-01-15T00:08:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Gymnopithys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/fbc32d/32.png) [@Gymnopithys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gymnopithys)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2014, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-tree/678833/21 "2014-01-16T20:17:02Z")
Rule out black cherry (Prunus serotina), the fruit of which are in clusters. ---
**Author:** ![MacCat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maccat/32/216_2.png) [@MacCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacCat)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2014, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-tree/678833/22 "2014-01-16T20:18:46Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > However, both P. serotina and P. virginiana have serrate leaf margins. The photo is pretty crappy, but it doesn’t look like they have serrate margins to me. > > I think we need better photos and more information from the OP. Agreed on photo and info. The photo linked below shows serration as being quite fine so they may just not be distinct in OP’s linked pic. Here on Long Island, Choke Cherry is very common, pretty much the same zone as NC so I would guess it could be very common there also. From what I’ve read, Black Cherry is common there too, here I’m not so sure. [P. serotina Leaf close up](http://plants.usda.gov/java/largeImage?imageID=prse2_004_avp.jpg) > [@yabob](#): > > How about hackberry? Alternate leaves, little purple berries arranged that way. Leaves are serrated, but there’s a lot of species. They commonly grow as “weed trees” also. Maybe? Larch it’s not though, that’s an easy one 🙂 I do need to read up some on Black Cherry and Hackberry to see if it’s more common around here than I knew. I’ll be doing some winter pruning soon, but I’ll likely need to wait until leaves come out to learn more. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2014, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-tree/678833/23 "2014-01-16T20:31:08Z")
> [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](#): > > Yeah. Botanical presciptivists. Can’t live with 'em, and it’s against the rules to make fun of > 'em. 😛 It would be helpful if you could provide better photos and more info. Do the fruits have a single stony seed like a cherry, or multiple seeds? Are the edges of the leaves smooth, or do they have fine teeth? It looks like the stems that bear the fruits have scars where other fruits were attached, although there is only one at the tip now. Are the fruits borne in groups on a single stem, or is there just one per stem? If you crush the leaves or break the stems, do they smell of almonds? ---
**Author:** ![August\_West](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/august_west/32/18069_2.png) [@August\_West](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/August_West)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2014, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-tree/678833/24 "2014-01-16T21:23:20Z")
> [@Isilder](#): > > No, clearly not. Tupelo fruit may look similar, if you look only at it, but tupulus flower and fruit only at the end of the branch. You clearly paid way more attention in Forestry class than I did (and I think we skipped Tupelos here in Wisconsin), but there are a lot of Google images of Tupelo trees that disagree with this assertion. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2014, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-tree/678833/25 "2014-01-16T23:28:56Z")
> [@August\_West](#): > > You clearly paid way more attention in Forestry class than I did (and I think we skipped Tupelos here in Wisconsin), but there are a lot of Google images of Tupelo trees that disagree with this assertion. However, the stem of the fruit on a tupelo seems to be smooth, and the fruits usually more elongated. The stems of the fruits in the OP are rough, as if they originally had more fruits along them. It doesn’t look like a tupelo to me. ---
**Author:** ![Honey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honey/32/5074_2.png) [@Honey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Honey)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2014, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-tree/678833/26 "2014-01-17T06:34:32Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > The leaves are completely different. Not to pick on you, but perhaps some fundamentals of plant identification are in order. White ash has opposite compound leaves (a very unusual combination among North American trees), while the tree in the photos has alternate simple leaves (very common). Even the shapes of the leaflets/leaves are rather different, ash having somewhat ovate leaflets with a broad base, while the leaves in the photos are more elliptical and narrow towards the base. Since we have lots of experts here, it’s better not to jump in with your first impression.😉 K. I’ll consider myself spanked then. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2014, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-tree/678833/27 "2014-01-17T13:30:04Z")
Crappy? Indeed! Next time I want something ided, I’m going to ask my cousin who proudly sports a set of DDs to model the specimen. Then I’ll double dog dare anyone to denigrate my photographic endeavors. Until then, though. . . [some pics taken with a real camera and lighting.](http://s294.photobucket.com/user/badger60/library/#/user/badger60/library/tree?sort=3&page=1&_suid=138996536017107565087083477284) ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2014, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-tree/678833/28 "2014-01-17T15:05:08Z")
[Carolina Laurel Cherry](https://www.google.com/search?q=%27Carolina+Laurelcherry%27%20tree&safe=active&tbm=isch) ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2014, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-tree/678833/29 "2014-01-17T15:24:37Z")
Thank you! ---
**Author:** ![Foxy40](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a9a28c/32.png) [@Foxy40](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Foxy40)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2014, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-tree/678833/30 "2014-01-17T17:50:17Z")
I don’t know but my neighbor had one growing up and as a child we all walked around with berry stained feet from running around without shoes. ---
**Author:** ![MacCat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maccat/32/216_2.png) [@MacCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacCat)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2014, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-tree/678833/31 "2014-01-18T05:59:33Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > [Carolina Laurel Cherry](https://www.google.com/search?q=%27Carolina+Laurelcherry%27%20tree&safe=active&tbm=isch) Well done. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2014, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-tree/678833/32 "2014-01-18T06:09:05Z")
> [@MacCat](#): > > Well done. Thanks. I have no idea why I don’t just go find a tree key online in the first place when these questions come up instead of trying to Google things like “entire lanceolate”, “glossy”, “black fruit”… ---
**Author:** ![MacCat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maccat/32/216_2.png) [@MacCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacCat)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2014, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-tree/678833/33 "2014-01-18T06:37:41Z")
I _thought_ it was Prunus but the color in the first pic had me thinkinking deciduous. Up here the Cherry Laurels - Otto Luykens, Skips, Portuguese and a few new cultivars are all dark green and they are all shrubs, not trees. Carolina Cherry Laurel is new to me, none that I know of around here. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-tree/678833.md?page=1)