The pictures linked here are of the leaves and the trunk of a tree in our back yard, in the Austin TX area. We have two of these, and would love to know what they are so we could treat them right. We have gotten a variety of answers from people who have seen the leaves or the trees but there was no agreement. There are many of these trees in our area but they tend to grow wild and I think ours did too. Any one know what they are? Thanks.
Leaves
Bark
That is the rare 403 error tree.
The OP left us in the Lurch.
The Lurch.
We’ll just have to Fester until the links are fixed.
Fester.
This prompted me to try to find another tree I had been meaning to identify… and I came across this very cool list of trees. Not tree species, but famous individual trees, with their backstory. There’s some interesting browsing here.
I think I may have found my bucket list - to hug every tree on this list.
The links work for me. What should I do to fix them? They go to Flickr and the pictures are public. Help!
A 403 means the content is forbidden. Double-check your permissions.
OK, I think I have fixed the links. The stupid Flickr has Public and Private in a couple of places but I believe the pix are public now.
Definitely elm family; possibly zelkova. What kind of seeds/berries does it have?
I retract zelkova – bark is wrong. Definitely an elm.
Looks like a cedar elm, but I’m no botanist.
You might not be a botanist, oliversarmy, but I think you hit the nail on the head! Thanks so much.
That’s a hackberry. Some consider it a trash tree.
I don’t think so. The leaves are the wrong shape. Look at the base of the leaf. In the hackberry the leaf base extends perpendicular to the petiole, and the base of the leaf is distinctly wider than the tip. Or in some species the leaf is cordate (with the petiole in a cleft).
These leaves are elliptic.
I’m by no means an expert, but I was testing my tree i.d. skills and independently came up with Cedar Elm too, I think that’s correct.
Different trash tree: the Siberian elm.
https://www.texasinvasives.org/plant_database/detail.php?symbol=ULPU
It will take over if you don’t control it.
I’ve got a hackberry - leaves are quite different. Also, OP would have likely noticed the galls.
IMO, far from a trash tree, it is a nigh-indestructible native. VERY hard wood!
When I saw the leaves, elm jumped out at me. Beyond that, no thoughts.
Subtle!
According to Texas A&M Forrest Service it’s a soft wood:
http://texastreeid.tamu.edu/content/TreeDetails/?id=27
They tend to grow up along fence lines and will warp a chain link fence if you don’t get rid of the saplings. They also are messy and tend to have webworms. They’re messy, too. almost as bad as mimosa.
Cool. I’m just going by my personal experience trimming branches w/ lopes and saw. VERY hard. Of course, trees (and men) are likely tougher up north here than down in Texas! 