My neighbor just cut down and chipped a tree favored by my husband. I need to identify it, to obtain and plant our own specimen. The leaf was symmetrical and almost maple-like in shape, leathery, dark green on upper surface, velvety and white underneath, with the leaf stem flocked and white. The bark was smooth and white, though at the base it was rough and dark. We never had the opportunity to see the flower or fruit. When shaken by the wind, the leaves appeared to shimmer, like sequins. I managed to save one leaf.
Just a guess, possibly Platanus acerifolia, London Plane Tree. Can you post a photo or scan of that leaf?
if it was just chipped, did the chipping crew wear dust masks? Plane trees are horrible for obnoxious sawdust when you take a saw or chipper to them.. Plane tree has characterisitc "peeling" patchy bark when it is a few years old, did you notice that at all?
Just a guess for your neighbors tree, European white poplar. If you happened to have noticed if there were suckers coming up around the tree is a sure sign. It is not the most maple looking leaf but it sure fits the rest of your description.
silver maple? http://images.google.com/images?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&q="silver+maple" http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&q=saccharinum+ considered junky, but i have no opinion, since i've never lived wiht one.
