What am I?

[Tcornell]

 

[Tcornell]

We recently bought the property and this huge tree just came partially down in a storm. I would like to know what it is. It grows new shoots like crazy and clearly has not been maintained properly. I can’t find a match for the leaves.

 

[Jonny]

Pretty sure it’s box elder.
If it was mine I’d get rid of it.
If you don’t get the stump removed it’ll come back.

 

[Tcornell]

We’re in the process. No one has been able to identify it for us. I believe that, considering the way it has shoots growing everywhere. Thanks

 

[Reach]

I don’t believe it’s Box Elder, or if it is it has a very different leaf than they do around here. I will crack open a book later on and try to see if I can find it, the two differently shaped leaves are interesting to me though.

 

[KTSmith]

Does the tree have simple or compound leaves? Sorry to get all botany geeky here, but that's like near the top of the list that a botanists asks to identify trees and other flowering plants. At the top of the list of botany ID questions is: are the leaves/branches attached opposite each other or alternating along the stem? I don't know if we have resolved this either. This can quickly put boxelder out of contention.
Unlike all other maples I can think of, which have simple (individual) leaves with sharp lobes (or mega-teeth), Boxelder (Acer negundo) is pinnately compound. That means that each leaf is composed of a number of leaflets (where the "compound" term comes from) attached to a stalk (the pinnate part). So the photos are either of simple leaves (then not boxelder) or leaflets of a compound leaf (maybe but not necessarily boxelder). I can't tell which from which in the first image at the start of the thread. A clear image of a few leaves splayed against a uniform background could resolve the boxelder question.

 

[Jonny]

If I’m wrong, beers are on me!

@Tcornell a pic of some live leaves on the tree would be perfect, not wilted ones off the broken stem.

 

[ATH]

in the first post, look like compound leaves, but with 7 leaflets.

Divide that picture into 4 quadrants Go to top right quadrant. Then bottom left of that quadrant (quadrant 2 going back to middle school math)... looks like it is opposite branching.

I don't know what it is.

The second picture: that tree on the left sure looks like Box elder, but the one on the right does not.

 

[JD3000]

I seem to recall some regional differences in how boxelder appear but that is an odd duck to me

 

[Woodwork]

The first photo reminds me of hackberry, but the three-lobed leaves don't fit, and the bark on the tree doesn't look like hackberry...the bark reminds me of a maple, so maybe it is box elder...?

 

[Tcornell]

Does the tree have simple or compound leaves? Sorry to get all botany geeky here, but that's like near the top of the list that a botanists asks to identify trees and other flowering plants. At the top of the list of botany ID questions is: are the leaves/branches attached opposite each other or alternating along the stem? I don't know if we have resolved this either. This can quickly put boxelder out of contention.
Unlike all other maples I can think of, which have simple (individual) leaves with sharp lobes (or mega-teeth), Boxelder (Acer negundo) is pinnately compound. That means that each leaf is composed of a number of leaflets (where the "compound" term comes from) attached to a stalk (the pinnate part). So the photos are either of simple leaves (then not boxelder) or leaflets of a compound leaf (maybe but not necessarily boxelder). I can't tell which from which in the first image at the start of the thread. A clear image of a few leaves splayed against a uniform background could resolve the boxelder question.

 

[Tcornell]

Here is the other leaf. They aren’t wilted, they naturally curl.

 

[ATH]

Those are leaflets. I know...it seems petty, but it makes a big difference. See the picture @Bango Skank posted? That drawing contains the image of 1 leaf. There are 5 leaflets, but one complete leaf. take a closer picture of the leaves on the tree if you can. And a better picture of the bark and another of the twigs. Are the 2 trees in the picture different or the same?

 

[Tcornell]

Those are leaflets. I know...it seems petty, but it makes a big difference. See the picture @Bango Skank posted? That drawing contains the image of 1 leaf. There are 5 leaflets, but one complete leaf. take a closer picture of the leaves on the tree if you can. And a better picture of the bark and another of the twigs. Are the 2 trees in the picture different or the same?

 

[Tcornell]

I can only post one picture per post, so this is one of three. There are two trees next to each other, but they are the same kind.

 

[Birdyman88]

Boxelder would account for both of the leaves shown. Some leaves, develop into the 3 lobes and others dont.

 

[oldoakman]

I'm not convinced it is Box Elder.

 

[KTSmith]

Indeed so. So the evidence is permissive yet not compelling. Box elder leaflets are variable to be sure. That’s the challenge of comparison ID using images of individual leaves. Still, are leaves simple or compound? Is leaf attachment opposite or alternate ?

 

[JD3000]

Cultivar. Forget the name but it's male.

 

[oldoakman]

Who the hell would develop a cultivar for box elder? Musta been someone from Ohio State.