April 2, 2015…The tree is getting leaves. I’m hoping someone can ID it.
Does this look like an alder leaf? I’ve looked at dozens of alder leaves, but they look slightly different…wider, with less exaggerated serrations. Alder leaves are supposed to be egg-shaped.
This is what the back of the leaf looks like.
Are these the female flowers? I apologize for the blurriness of this photo, but it shows them as they are on the tree. The below photo is sharper.
I snipped the branch and took it home to get a sharper photo.
I don’t think this is a cottonwood even though the leaves are serrated, or a Balsam Poplar, or a Cascara Buckthorn, but I guess it still could be an Alder or even a birch.
You might think that I followed up on a decision to cut the ivy off this tree, but that’s not factual. After reading a comment by Steve Mitchell (in my last post) about the value of ivy growing on a tree, I hesitated.
The trimming was not done by myself, and at this time, I don’t know ‘who dun it.” The owners don’t know either.
Just for a point of reference, these fir trees across the street from the mystery tree have ivy growing up their trunks. They don’t seem to be in any danger of dying, so what I’ve read on several web sites about ivy not being a parasite might be true.
Gardening Know How says… “Alder trees (Alnus spp.) are often used in reforestation projects and to stabilize soil in wet areas, but you seldom see them in residential landscapes.”
I suppose this tree could have been started just from a bird dropping a seed, but I would really like to know what it is. Any ideas?
Adventures in Natural Beekeeping 