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Old 26-07-2008, 09:44 PM posted to rec.gardens
John McGaw John McGaw is offline
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First recorded activity by GardenBanter: Aug 2006
Posts: 321
Default What Kind of Tree is This? Stumped.

wrote:
What kind of tree is this? I took a few leaves to the local nursery
and they were stumped. The tree has been losing leaves this summer
like crazy - it looks like Fall in my yard! The nursery said it's
probably stressed from the wet summer we've had in Northwest Arkansas
and now it's really hot. They told me it might have a fungus but just
to leav it alone. What kind of tree do you think it is and should I
be doing anything to help it? Thanks for any replies.

Here are a few pictures:

http://s528.photobucket.com/albums/dd327/wahoo677/

The leaf pictures were the best you provided but don't show enough detail
for me to make more than the most tentative guess. That guess would be
Ashleaf Maple a.k.a. Box Elder. This is a common tree which grows all over
North America.

A good close image of the point where the opposite leaves meet the twigs
would be more definitive. How many leaves are there on each stem? Most
often this species has 5 but anything from 3 to 7 is within the realm of
possibility. The leaves are variable in shape. I'd say that the bark
picture and the silhouette you provided are within the range I remember.

Box Elder is a favorite of many woodturners because the wood is easy to
work and it often shows a wild coloration which looks to me like someone
smeared raspberry jam all over the basically cream-colored base wood. If
the tree does die and if it has been identified as Box Elder, please get in
touch with your local woodturning club as soon as you can -- they will
thank you for it!

--
John McGaw
[Knoxville, TN, USA]
http://johnmcgaw.com