Noticed this growing on the California State University, Chico campus (USDA zone 9a). Can't even figure out what family it is in!
I think this may be Camptotheca acuminata. The genus, of a single species from China, is allied to Nyssa.
That's it! Thanks! Looking into it more, this is a pretty interesting plant. Camptotheca acuminata, the 'happy tree', produces cancer fighting compounds which were discovered in the 1950's through samples submitted by the USDA Plant Introduction Station in Chico, California.
Welcome to the forums Tim! Many thanks for introducing us all to this interesting tree with the wonderful name in English ...see wiki. Quote..."Camptotheca (happy tree, cancer tree, or tree of life) is a genus of medium-sized deciduous trees growing to 20 metres (66 ft) tall, native to southern China and Tibet. The genus is usually included in the tupelo family Nyssaceae, but sometimes included (with the tupelos) in the dogwood family Cornaceae. The name "happy tree" is a direct translation of the Chinese name xi shu (Simplified Chinese:喜树)." I was wondering what on earth it could be. I thought your enlarged pic of the seeds looked like mini bananas. Knew that it wasn't banana though.! Thank you Tony for putting me out of my misery.
There's two species known in the genus now, the second one (C. lowreyana S.Y.Li) discovered in 1997 (Flora of China). The Chico campus tree is apparently the first introduction of the species outside of China, planted in 1934 (Grimshaw & Bayton, New Trees).
