what did I just cut?

[chuckwood]

I've been doing a bit of clearing, and cut this unusual small tree I've never noticed before. It has a pungent, funky odor when you cut it in pieces with the chainsaw. The sapwood is yellowish, the heartwood is reddish brown. It has some tiny green berries. Ideas?

 

[Thornton]

Mulberry?

 

[chuckwood]

Mulberry?

That was my first thought, but the leaves aren't mulberry leaves, and mulberry wood doesn't have a strong odor. The smell reminded me a bit of Chinese Tree of Heaven, which also has a strong smell when you cut it.

 

[treeseer]

Maybe ID'ing *before* cutting will save your assets. chokecherry?

http://leafsnap.com/

 

[Guido Salvage]

How about pepperidge (black gum)?

 

[ATH]

Give some scale...how big are those leaves/diameter of the stem in the picture with the leaves?

 

[chuckwood]

Give some scale...how big are those leaves/diameter of the stem in the picture with the leaves?

The leafs were around 2 1/2" to 3" long. That chunck of wood is around 3 1/2" diameter. Someone suggested chokecherry. The leaves look a lot like cherry leaves, but at least twice as large. They have the same gloss appearance and dark green hue of cherry leaves.

 

[chuckwood]

Maybe ID'ing *before* cutting will save your assets. chokecherry?

http://leafsnap.com/

Leafsnap is a really good site, I just bookmarked it. I'm afraid what I cut was an Allegheny Serviceberry. It has blossoms in spring and produces very tasty fruit, but the birds get it first. I won't be cutting anymore and don't feel too good about cutting this one. I'm selectively taking out a lot of small trees, mostly maples, hackberrys, privet, oak, hickory, which I have plenty of in big mature trees. Exotic and photogenic stuff like dogwoods and serviceberry I want to keep. I may need to take the internet with me when I'm going wild with my new Stihl brush cutter.

 

[Raintree]

Try again Serviceberries don't have glossy leaves.

 

[VA-Sawyer]

I think it may have been a Yellowwood tree. Very uncommon, but their limited range does include your area.

 

[Raintree]

Nyssa sylvatica

 

[Twindad]

I agree with raintree, its definitely not serviceberry.
But, leaves and fruit look like Nyssa sylvatica but the bark doesn't. A 3.5" blackgum should have furrowed bark. Could be N. aquatica- water tupelo?

 

[ATH]

I think Nyssa is good guess. To confirm, pull off a leaf. If there are 3 bundle scars, that confirms it. Persimmon is another possibility. Not great pictures...to tell by.

It is not yellowwood. That has compound leaves.

 

[HuskStihl]

Dogwood?

 

[chuckwood]

Try again Serviceberries don't have glossy leaves.

I'm trying again. I just viewed a another pic of a serviceberry leaf online, and the edges of the leaves were a bit serrated instead of smooth, and not glossy. The leaves on my tree had a sort of semi-gloss similar to cherry leaves. What has confused me is that the pic on leafsnap.com shows an Allegheny Serviceberry with some semi-gloss leaves. Next, on another site, I read that Serviceberry heartwood is dark brown with a reddish tint, which is what my mystery tree also has. But the site didn't mention yellowish sapwood, which is also what my tree has. So my research so far is still inconclusive. Serviceberries are ripe in June, and on my tree the couple of berries in the pic are tiny and green. So there is another mismatch. I hope I didn't cut anything truly exotic. Maybe the stump that's left will sent up a new tree........

 

[ATH]

Maybe buckthorn??? Every time I look, I think of something else. Just not enough in those pictures. Do you have more you can take better pictures of? More bark detail would help.

Have you ruled out Persimmon and the two species of Nyssa?

 

[B Harrison]

I don't see persimmon bark either, mulberry would have a mulberry on it, dogwood looking leaf, but too big and barks not right, I agree not serviceberry since the berries aren't even close. Did the tree have flowers early in the spring, because the service berry is the first blooming tree anywhere around me. Many of them bloom during hard frosts.

 

[ATH]

How about spicebush Lindera benzoin

http://dendro.cnre.vt.edu/dendrology/syllabus/factsheet.cfm?ID=123

I was walking through a sea of it today, and thought "why didn't I think of that before!" Do the crushed leaves smell sorta like lemon-scented cleaner (which, smells nothing like lemons best I can tell)?

 

[buzz sawyer]

Maybe buckthorn??? Every time I look, I think of something else. Just not enough in those pictures. Do you have more you can take better pictures of? More bark detail would help.

Have you ruled out Persimmon and the two species of Nyssa?

I agree - Glossy Buckthorn - Rhamus frangula

http://www.eddmaps.org/ipane/ipanespecies/shrubs/frangula_alnus.htm

 

[lone wolf]

Gumwood.