Shrub, simple deeply serrated leaves

Discussion in 'Plants: Identification' started by wcutler, Apr 28, 2016.

  1. wcutler

    wcutler Paragon of Plants Forums Moderator VCBF Cherry Scout 10 Years

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    This looks familiar, but nothing is coming to mind, though the leaf margins remind me of something that was posted recently, don't think it was this though. Leaves are simple, venation is mostly parallel with perpendicular shoulder veins more evident on younger leaves; new leaves and stems are fuzzy, old leaves are darker and stiffer with no apparent hairs.
    AlternateSimpleLeaves_ComoxNicola_Cutler_20160428_P1220674.JPG AlternateSimpleLeaves_ComoxNicola_Cutler_20160428_P1220677.JPG AlternateSimpleLeaves_ComoxNicola_Cutler_20160428_P1220680.JPG AlternateSimpleLeaves_ComoxNicola_Cutler_20160428_P1220681.JPG AlternateSimpleLeaves_ComoxNicola_Cutler_20160428_P1220682.JPG
     
  2. Silver surfer

    Silver surfer Generous Contributor 10 Years

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    Looks like Betula sp ?
     
  3. thanrose

    thanrose Active Member 10 Years

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    Seconded, possibly one of the birches. The catkins, dried, look right too. Of course, taken alone they would be so unidentifiable. Seeing the bark of the lower trunk/s, and sometimes smelling the crushed leaves could help with an ID. The birch I know tend to grow in colonies, or clusters of several trunks, the young twigs are reddish brown. I'm too far south for them now.
     
  4. wcutler

    wcutler Paragon of Plants Forums Moderator VCBF Cherry Scout 10 Years

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    Thank you, both. I did wonder if I was being fooled thinking something was a shrub that was really a tree. I just assumed the catkin had fallen from above, was not related.
    If Betula, I'd be really interested in what species, or maybe it's just time to go around getting photos of young leaves where I can tell what species.
    I'll go back, see if I can find a tree or tree remains.

    I meant to add a link to a page about Betula pubescens:
    Downy Birch, Betula pubescens - Trees and shrubs - NatureGate
     
    Last edited: Apr 29, 2016
  5. wcutler

    wcutler Paragon of Plants Forums Moderator VCBF Cherry Scout 10 Years

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    I'm now calling this Betula pubescens, based on the small leaves and a lot of single-serrated leaf margins, also the greyish bark.
    Yes, there is a tree, stuffed in amongst a lot of Thuja plicata.
    Betula-pubescens_ComoxNicola_Cutler_20160429_P1220871.JPG Betula-pubescens_ComoxNicola_Cutler_20160429_P1220852.JPG
    From the back it looks like this, and you can see the sidewalk branches coming from the tree.
    Betula-pubescens_ComoxNicola_Cutler_20160429_P1220861.JPG Betula-pubescens_ComoxNicola_Cutler_20160429_P1220853.JPG

    I even wondered if the branches are coming from the roots of the tree and if the rootstock is the B. pubescens and the tree itself is B. pendula, because the leaves on the tree and on the shrubby growth on the property side are much more double-serrated.
    Betula-pubescens_ComoxNicola_Cutler_20160429_P1220856.JPG Betula-pubescens_ComoxNicola_Cutler_20160429_P1220858.JPG
    But the tree leaves are small, even a little smaller than the shrubby growth, and the new growth is pubescent. So maybe the same?
     

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