This tree is growing in my daughter's front yard in Pitt Meadows (British Columbia) and I have been unable to identify what it is. Can you help me?
I checked the coffee tree out on the web and it is an interesting tree that apparently does grow in Ontario, Canada - which should mean it could live in the Vancouver area (because we have a warmer climate out west in BC), but this tree hasn't bloomed like the coffee tree and doesn't get the pods that the coffee tree gets. Also the leaves on our tree appear to be longer and they have a more serrated edge. Thank you for the suggestion; please let me know if you have any other ideas.
What sort of flowers and/or seeds does the tree produce? How about the bark? Rough, smooth, etc.? Am puzzling over what tree has alternate leaflets like this.
We haven't noticed any fruit or flower growing on the tree, and the only thing my son-in-law can remember raking up is lots and lots of leaves! As far as the bark goes, I will take another look when I am over there and will send a description in a reply. I will also try to take a close up picture of the bark. I have tried to identify this tree using the tree identification sites I could find on line and haven't had any luck. I also cannot remember seeing a tree like this before, so it could be something that doesn't usually grow here. Thanks for your help!
I have no doubt that one of our omniscient members will take one look at your tree and know what it is. Wish I did! Hornbeam? Some long-leafleted birch or beech species? Willow, even.
Wondering if it is Castanea dentata? American chestnut. http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?q=ca...&ndsp=14&ved=1t:429,r:3,s:14&biw=1270&bih=500 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Chestnut By the way Togata, just for intersts sake, Gymnocladus dioicus leaves are very very unusual. They are doubly pinnate. They are enormous, can get to 3ft. This link shows just one single leaf which is made up of many leaflets. Quote wiki..."Leaves: Alternate, bi-pinnately compound, ten to fourteen pinnate, lowest pinnae reduced to leaflets, the other seven to thirteen foliate. One to three feet long, eighteen to twenty-four inches broad," http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?q=gy...0&ndsp=15&ved=1t:429,r:3,s:0&biw=1270&bih=500
Ditto to a chestnut Castanea; I'd guess most likely Sweet Chestnut C. sativa, as that's the species best adapted to Vancouver's climate, and is widely available.
The leaves do look just like the chestnut leaves in the links you sent. However, is it possible to have a chestnut tree that does not produce the catkins or seed pods? In the two years they have lived in the home, there haven't been either catkins or seeds... I will investigate further...
Possibly a bit young yet, but it should be producing its first catkins and nuts by around this sort of age / size.
Yes, you were heading towards the correct species by the sounds of it. The leaves do look like the chestnut leaves, so now we just have to wait and see if catkins and nuts will appear next year! Thanks again for your help.
Multiple large American chestnut trees are known from this region, the climate is not a problem. Numbers of different hybrid chestnuts, combining various species have been offered by retailers serving markets here. A given planted tree does not have to be a representative of one of the pure species at all. For example: http://www.burntridgenursery.com/nutTrees/index_product.asp?dept=53&parent=3
Thanks so much for everyone's help identifying this tree. I hope we will see flowers and nuts next year, so I will know for sure!!!
If growing large without flowering not likely to be a grafted named form. However, it could still be a seedling (seed-raised specimen) of a hybrid selection. Or an unselected hybrid seedling from a location where two different kinds crossed on their own. Otherwise it should key out to one of the pure species. These are differentiated in manuals and guidebooks by leaf characteristics, in addition to those of the fruits.
