I've been looking at this little tree all year wondering what it was. My original plan was to wait untill it got bigger then get a picture of it and try to get it identified, but I was recently informed that my services as grounds keeper of this property will no longer be needed after this month as the tenants of the house have bought a house a block away. It's in a back yard in Burnaby backing onto Lougheed Highway and the yard is basically a natural area with almost no lawn in the back. There are lots of trees and plants around such as Big Leaf Maple, Western Hemlock, Douglas Fir, Vine Maple, Birch, Spruce, English Oak, Horse Chestnut, Hazelnut, Western Red Cedar, Red Alder, Indian Plum, Sword, Lady, Bracken and Deer Fern, Ivy and lots of Himalayan Blackberry. I don't see any other trees around that looks like this one, so I thought I'd give it a shot and see if any one else had a guess as to what this is. Thank you.
Cascara is the common name for Frangula purshiana (formerly Rhamnus purshiana), though it sure sounds like it could be a genus. I wonder what the origin of the term "cascara" is. EDIT: found it: "late 19th cent.: from Spanish cáscara (sagrada), literally ‘(sacred) bark’."
I sure did make the common name seem official, what with the italicizing and all. Also apparently mistook Spanish for Latin. Oops. Mea culpa. Or is it Soy culpable? Those Spaniards must have been extraordinarily constipated, to elevate a natural laxative to sacred status.
