# Unknown tree

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unknown-tree/587728>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [July 3, 2011, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unknown-tree/587728 "2011-07-03T16:51:00Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\
**Post date:** [July 3, 2011, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unknown-tree/587728/1 "2011-07-03T16:51:00Z")

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Anybody know what this tree is? This is a [leaf and sprig](http://i789.photobucket.com/albums/yy176/aruvqan/263958_200069140040579_100001124828.jpg) of some sort of fruiting bodies. It is about 15 feet tall, has been about that size for at least 3 or 4 years that I remember.

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**Author:** ![No\_umlaut\_for\_U](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ea5d25/32.png) [@No\_umlaut\_for\_U](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/No_umlaut_for_U)\
**Post date:** [July 3, 2011, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unknown-tree/587728/2 "2011-07-03T17:25:43Z")

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Looks a little like a mountain ash, with unripe berries.

> **[Sorbus](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sorbus)**
>
> Sorbus is a genus of over 100 species of trees and shrubs in the rose family, Rosaceae. Species of Sorbus (s.l.) are commonly known as whitebeam, rowan (mountain-ash) and service tree. The exact number of species is disputed depending on the circumscription of the genus, and also due to the number of apomictic microspecies, which some treat as distinct species, but others group in a smaller number of variable species. Recent treatments classify Sorbus in a narrower sense to include Sorbus is...

Trivia: the genus name _Sorbus_ is reflected in ascorbic acid.

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**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\
**Post date:** [July 3, 2011, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unknown-tree/587728/3 "2011-07-03T17:57:27Z")

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Most likely the American Mountain Ash to be more specific.

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**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\
**Post date:** [July 3, 2011, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unknown-tree/587728/4 "2011-07-03T18:40:36Z")

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Thanks!

And as an odd sort of mention, we have one of a _very_ few American Chestnuts left, my Dad knew a guy that was working on saving them, and he got several babies as a present back in the late 70s … he planted most of them at our summer cottage and one at our town house, but now the town one is the only survivor [the jackass that bought the cottage off us chopped them down because he wanted more sunlight :smack:]

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**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\
**Post date:** [July 4, 2011, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unknown-tree/587728/5 "2011-07-04T13:54:01Z")

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Further note: while native “unimproved” American chestnuts have a poor prognosis (the blight is bound to get them sooner or later), [new blight-resistant hybrids](http://www.fs.fed.us/r8/chestnut/) appear to be doing well and are getting a chance to repopulate forests.

If I can find room on the property I’d like to grow one.