Im trying to decide whether I have one or not. I can't tell from the photos so far that Ive seen and mine has never bloomed so dont have that to draw from. My tree was a volunteer and I let it grow to see what it would become. It grew for 4 years before it ever had a branch. It is now about 20 ft tall. The leaves look like fern fronds and grow directly on the tree trunk and then... fall off in the fall, leaving a strange skinny sapling. Finally this past year it branched a little at the top. The leaf stems are about 18" long and are kinda messy compared to regular leaves when they fall. If it is a CBT, Im pretty sure I want to remove it but if not, I might keep it. Does this sound like one to anybody out there? TIA for your help.
Melia azedarach, China Berry Tree
Can you post a photo? (Even one taken now, with no leaves.) I'd tend to guess not, based on what you're saying about how the form of the leaves and how they attach, but that's pretty much a guess.
Chinaberry tree;
http://www.nps.gov/plants/alien/fact/meaz1.htm
Here is Tree of Heaven
http://www.ncsu.edu/goingnative/howto/mapping/invexse/treeofhe.html
Smooth Sumac
http://www.fcps.edu/islandcreekes/ecology/smooth_sumac.htm
It could be any of these, but by your description it might be a Smooth Sumac, did the leaves turn color in the fall?
Josephine.
The trunk of this tree is straight as an arrow and is now about 3" in diameter, It has the little scars where each of the leaflets fell off from the beginning. I dont believe it is sumac. They usually tend to sucker and form a thicket and the trunks are not straight. This is a singular trunk with no signs of suckering. It is definitely hardy to the freeze in Dec 09 here in Houston where most of my plants froze to the root. I did not have a photo so that is why I did not post in Plant ID forum. I would not call it fast growing. I have an acer rubrum about the same age and they are similar in height. The only branches this tree has are about three very near the top. For several years now it has been a straight stick that dropped its fronds in about Oct. they do turn yellow before they fall but does not give a show. One frond yellows and falls off, then another, and later another.
steadycam3,
It could be either the Tree of Heaven or the Chinaberry although I have seen smaller Chinaberry trees in bloom. Both are considered trash trees and very invasive. Josephine provided two good sites. This spring take a look at the edges of the leaflets. If they are serrated, toothed or notched (same thing, but people use different words for it.), it is a Chinaberry. If the leaflet edges are smooth and when crushed smell of rancid peanut butter, it is a Tree of Heaven. Tree of Heaven bears male and female flowers on different with the female producing few and smaller bunches. The flowers tend to be greenish and may be harder to see than on Chinaberry trees. One site says Tree of Heaven can start to produce flowers in as little as a year old although it may take a little longer.
I have a couple of CBT's. They volunteered from a stretch of "no man's land" at the back of the lot - the houses behind us are in a different city. I let these stay for bird nesting sites and I enjoy the flowers.......huge panicles of very fragrant white blossoms. The berries aren't very attractive once they shrivel and become translucent yellow but I manage to tolerate them. The berries will sprout readily so I periodically troop around the yard with a mattock and root out the volunteers. Your description of straight smooth trunks and yellowing fronds seems to match what I have. My trees are now more than 12 years old, very tall and really quite handsome.
Thanks Betty and Yuska. I found a fallen frond and the leaves are serrated so we have a solution!!! DG folks are the greatest. Thanks, everyone.
Yuska, are the berries you have whitish yellow or are they amber and so translucent that you can see the seed inside? If you can see through them, they are Soapberries and not Chinaberry. Soapberries are a native tree that produces berries that are used for washing your clothes. They are a good tree to replace the invasive Chinaberry as the look very similar.
I had learned about the soapberry tree in another DG forum somewhere a year or so ago, and was hoping I would be lucky! Alas, these berries do not produce any lather. They appear more yellowish than white and the shadow of the seed is apparent, but no soap.
Oh,yes indeed! It was a thread you began in Sustainable Alternatives and just back in July! Do you use them regularly?
This message was edited Jan 28, 2011 4:26 PM
So not these?
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/showimage/34053/
Hello everyone! Update: It bloomed for the first time about a week ago. The bloom is at the very top so I cant figure out how to photograph it. The flowers are a beautiful bright pink. and they stand erect, not drooping. The tree is now 8 years old. It still has that pattern of not branching. About 2 yrs ago the power company cut the trunk off at about 5 feet. That produced 4 limbs which grew and grew without branching, just like the main trunk and finally this year they branched a little at the top and I have one spray of blooms. Ive. never seen anything like it and Ive been all over my neighborhood. It is definitely not china berry. And I dont think it is tree of heaven. The leaves are serrated and they have no scent.
Ive found it!! The things I was calling blooms are seed bracts. Apparently I missed the yellow blooms since they were at the very top of the tree. It is Koelreuteria bipinnata, the Chinese Flame Tree or Southern Golden Rain Tree. At least it's not tree of heaven. I had already decided if it turned out to be tree of heaven, I was ordering silkworms and turn the loose on it. Chuckle.
Wow! it will be very nice to find out what it is. Pink erect flowers, I can't wait to find out.
Oh well, I guess we were typing at the same time. It is a pretty tree.