In message , Nick Maclaren
writes

In article ,
Stewart Robert Hinsley writes:
|
| If there are fruits present now we can probably narrow it down a bit.

Or even quite a lot, depending on what they are like!

One of the oddities that I thought about is that a fruit with a
single, large, somewhat flattened stone is pretty distinctively a
plum relative, if it is native - but that type of fruit and stone
is NOT distinctive at all once you leave northern Europe.

I first had that idea when eating a loquat :-)

I was under the impression that the fruit of the loquat was a pome, not
a drupe. Or do I misunderstand you?


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

--
Stewart Robert Hinsley

In article ,
Stewart Robert Hinsley writes:
|
| One of the oddities that I thought about is that a fruit with a
| single, large, somewhat flattened stone is pretty distinctively a
| plum relative, if it is native - but that type of fruit and stone
| is NOT distinctive at all once you leave northern Europe.
|
| I first had that idea when eating a loquat :-)
|
| I was under the impression that the fruit of the loquat was a pome, not
| a drupe. Or do I misunderstand you?

And the OP would know the difference? Well, actually, I have to look
it up - I can never remember it :-)

My point was that the fruits have a very similar appearance, to the
casual eater, but are not all that closely related. And there are
even less related tropical fruits that are similar.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

"Ben" wrote in message
...
Des Higgins wrote:
"Ben" wrote in message
...
The leaves are think, dark green and waxy, a bit like privet but they
have
that slightly sawtooth edge like pieris. They come in pairs, with each
pair rotated 90 degrees compared to the previous pair. The flowers are
pinky white, they look and particularly smell like hawthorne.

Could it be Escallonia (except leaves do not come in paires, methinks?)?
Verily, thou cans't Google images of it?

I rode past someone's Escallonia last night and turned my bike round to
have a look at the leaves, individually they look fairly similar, but
they aren't in pairs at 90 degrees.

Could it be one of the privets? there are quite a number.

--
Charlie, Gardening in Cornwall
http://www.roselandhouse.co.uk
Holders of National collections of Clematis viticella
and Lapageria rosea cultivars

In article ,
Stewart Robert Hinsley writes:
|
| One of the oddities that I thought about is that a fruit with a
| single, large, somewhat flattened stone is pretty distinctively a
| plum relative, if it is native - but that type of fruit and stone
| is NOT distinctive at all once you leave northern Europe.
|
| I first had that idea when eating a loquat :-)
|
| I was under the impression that the fruit of the loquat was a pome, not
| a drupe. Or do I misunderstand you?

Having reminded myself of the precise meanings of these words, and
of what loquat fruit are like, you are correct. And the fruit that
I was eating was NOT a loquat.

And it was only a decade ago that I grew some loquats from seed!


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

In message , Charlie Pridham
writes

"Ben" wrote in message
...
Des Higgins wrote:
"Ben" wrote in message
...
The leaves are think, dark green and waxy, a bit like privet but they
have
that slightly sawtooth edge like pieris. They come in pairs, with each
pair rotated 90 degrees compared to the previous pair. The flowers are
pinky white, they look and particularly smell like hawthorne.

Could it be Escallonia (except leaves do not come in paires, methinks?)?
Verily, thou cans't Google images of it?

I rode past someone's Escallonia last night and turned my bike round to
have a look at the leaves, individually they look fairly similar, but
they aren't in pairs at 90 degrees.

Could it be one of the privets? there are quite a number.

Similarity is in the eye of the beholder (mixing up mallows and
geraniums is quite common), but I don't expect a privet flower or
inflorescence to be described as similar to a hawthorn flower or
inflorescence.

--
Charlie, Gardening in Cornwall
http://www.roselandhouse.co.uk
Holders of National collections of Clematis viticella
and Lapageria rosea cultivars



--
Stewart Robert Hinsley

Stewart Robert Hinsley wrote:
Similarity is in the eye of the beholder (mixing up mallows and
geraniums is quite common), but I don't expect a privet flower or
inflorescence to be described as similar to a hawthorn flower or
inflorescence.

Its the similarity to hawthorn (especially the smell) that I thought
would be most helpful. I've passed the tree this morning with a camera
and ended up not taking any photos as it was clear from looking at the
leaves that it could be anything. I take the point that other posters
have made now about needing photos of the flowers too.

In article , Ben writes:
|
| Its the similarity to hawthorn (especially the smell) that I thought
| would be most helpful. I've passed the tree this morning with a camera
| and ended up not taking any photos as it was clear from looking at the
| leaves that it could be anything. I take the point that other posters
| have made now about needing photos of the flowers too.

The trouble is that there are several dozen species of hawthorn that
will grow in the UK, it has three closely related genera that do,
too, and it is superficially similar to several unrelated plants.

Now, if you had said that a plant looked like a blue laburnum, we
could have identified the family straight off and given you a small
number of possibilities (well, some people could - I would have to
look them up). But, if you had seen such a plant around the
Mediterranean, it would have been harder!


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

In message , Nick Maclaren
writes

In article , Ben
writes:
|
| Its the similarity to hawthorn (especially the smell) that I thought
| would be most helpful. I've passed the tree this morning with a camera
| and ended up not taking any photos as it was clear from looking at the
| leaves that it could be anything. I take the point that other posters
| have made now about needing photos of the flowers too.

The trouble is that there are several dozen species of hawthorn that
will grow in the UK, it has three closely related genera that do,
too, and it is superficially similar to several unrelated plants.

~50 Crataegi in Hillier.

What's been making me uncertain is the description of the texture of the
leaves as being similar to privet. On further cogitation this could
apply to some types of Cotoneaster. (One assumes that it's not a
Pyracantha, as no thorns were mentioned.) But I don't recall a
Cotoneaster with serrated leaf margins.

Now, if you had said that a plant looked like a blue laburnum, we
could have identified the family straight off and given you a small
number of possibilities (well, some people could - I would have to
look them up). But, if you had seen such a plant around the
Mediterranean, it would have been harder!


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

--
Stewart Robert Hinsley

In article , Sacha
writes


Good advice, to put it mildly. And Stewart is probably right that it's e.g.
Crataegus crus-galli but that can only be a guess right now.

I've got that in the front garden Sacha, I'll get a picture and put it
up. It's unlike any other hawthorn that I know. It has huge leaves and
flowers by comparison and the leaves are much rounder.

The berries are quite pale at the moment, maybe the OP can see berries?
That will rule out some trees altogether.



Janet

--
Janet Tweedy
Dalmatian Telegraph
http://www.lancedal.demon.co.uk