This small tree has zillions of small red berries, thorns and maple like leaves. I checked in three different tree books and searched google and cannot find this one...
Now I have to go back and taste the berries and see if the thorns really can pierce metal! thanks Ron.
looks like the tree we have in our backyard: "the devil tree". since the abundance of large devilish thorns makes it difficult (& dangerous!) to work with we are taking it down slowly, limb by limb, until there's only harmless trunk left. i thought it would be identified as a firethorn (Pyracantha spp) but the leaves of these species as well as the hawthorns that i've seen are not maple-like at all. i know this thread is old but i would love to know what this tree is before it's gone!
Each tree must be looked at as an individual. Please take pics of the leaves, fruits and thorns/bark if you really wish to id your tree, and post them here as jon45150 did. Then you will be sure what you are dealing with.
Edible, but not tasty. Eating them won't do you any harm, but not much fun either. What you'd call 'famine food'.
An answer to a question.... Hello. I'd like to answer a question that I happened to stumble upon while researching a plant for myself. Of course, now that I'm registered I can't find the relevant thread. If anyone can remember, or find, the person who was trying to ID his thorny maple-leaved shrub with red Fall berries, please pass on the name Washington Hawthorn (Crataegus phaenopyrum). Thank you:-)
