My son and I were hiking thru an ox-bow filled in lake area in NW Missouri off the river. He was collecting leaves for drawing and picked some off this tree. Both of us were over-whelmed by the smell of PEANUT BUTTER! The leaves, even when not damaged, just had this amazing odor. We collected a branch and brought it home to see how long it would last (2 days). The bark on the young tree was smooth, gray in color. The leaves actually almost resemebled poison ivy in a way. I've hiked woods most my life but have never come across anything with this smell before. We looked all around but could not find a similiar tree but it was getting dark so will try again later if needed. Any ideas?
hmm...any idea WHICH? All the sumac that I've seen looks completely different in my area. They usually have long branches with the leaves long and thin. I never noticed a peanut butter odor from them either? I was thinking more like a boxelder but have not found any reference to the smell there either?
Haha! Reading that it was ONCE considered a beautiful garden tree until the SMELL came about? Haha.....my son and I loved it! As the leaves withered and died they DID smell a bit...er...tangy? lol Thanx for the help...we'll be searching for more in that area to see if there are older ones there to sniff out. :o)
