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There's a new tree in my garden - at least it seems to be a tree- and I didn't plant it. Can someone please help me to identify this unknown plant? I've hunted online and in books but can't seem to figure it out... help!!
(Ed: If you read this post earlier please roll to the bottom - I added another photo with one leaf against a white background so you can see the 5-veined leaves, laddering up alternately on the flexible stem. Mulberry is one suggestion -papaya another. The space between leaf stems seems rather large for papaya, but shade & 12" of rain from Hermine have made other plants very gawky so I'm not ruling anything out quite yet.)
The plant appeared in a new flower bed that had been St Augustine lawn until last March. I noticed it in early summer but thought at first it was a seedling of some kind of hibiscus. Just in case it was something good, I decided to let it grow, try to identify it and move it when fall brought cooler weather.
Once its leaves expanded fully it reminded me of a Silver Maple, but maple trees have opposite leaves, and this plant has alternate leaves. The oldest leaves are almost 12-inches long, deeply lobed with pointed tips.
This tree-shrub-woody perennial is now 5-feet tall and it's not only ruining the way the border looks but is shading its valuable neighbors. It has to go somewhere - the question is whether that somewhere should be another part of the yard, a large container or the compost heap.Thanks for any advice - Annie in Austin
(Ed at 4 PM: Here's one more photo - thanks to everyone on the blog, Twitter and at GardenWeb Texas Forum for commenting! Read through the comments and see how the plant was identified as a Mulberry.)
This looks somewhat like a thistle to me. Could it be that?
ReplyDeleteHi Tabor -another friend said nettle on steroids - but it's all pretty smooth. At first the way it grew reminded me of abutilon and hibiscus so I left it for awhile. Now it's more like a young tree of some sort.
ReplyDeleteThank you!
Annie
Mulberry tree.
ReplyDeleteHi MSS. A GardenRant commenter also suggested mulberry.
ReplyDeleteAs I told the GardenWeb commenter, I've grown mulberry trees before and can usually recognize their unsymmetrical 'mitten' leaves.
I'd eliminated maples because the leaves are opposite and done the same with mulberries because they are three-veined.
These leaves are very evenly shaped and some of them are 1-foot long. They aren't prickly or spiny and all the leaves have 5 veins.
Is this yet another tree, flower, shrub, etc. that comes to Texas and morphs into something almost unrecognizable to those who knew it elsewhere?
Annie
I don't know what it is but I can't wait to find out!
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure. The leaves are pretty but in my experience, if it pops up and is fast growing, it is usually a weed!
ReplyDeleteIt looks like a weed to me. I don't know what kind but if it is uninvited I would get rid of it before it blooms.
ReplyDeleteThis is driving me crazy since I have two of them. I've looked at old photos of my (now dead) papayas and the leaves are very similar--especially how the veins all branch from one point at the stem. However, the papaya leaves were huge in comparison and they grew straight off the trunk. Also the flowers and fruit (of course) appear in the axils of the papaya leaves.
ReplyDeleteCouldn't find anything on "Trees of Texas" site. Not native?
Could it be some relative of hibiscus, maybe a mallow or Abelmoschu?
ReplyDeleteLinda from CTG - MSS found a link to a Brunswick Fig that kind of looks like this. But it could still be a weed as Lisa at Greenbow suggests!
ReplyDeleteIf the weather hadn't been hot so early Phillip I'd have dug it up and put it in a pot for further study instead of letting it get so huge - now it's driving me crazy, too, MSS from Zanthan Gardens.
Jodi(Bloomingwriter)- the Malvacea family came to mind but I haven't found any with leaves this big- even Abelmoschus manihot.
Need to shut down the computer for some maintenance - thank you all and hope we figure this out.
Annie
What you have there is a mulberry seedling. I'm 100% sure of this. I gather leaves to feed my silkworms, and it's gotten to the point where I can literally ID them driving down the freeway. As they are bird-planted, they tend to spring up in surprising places, often in the middle of beds or hedges, or under other trees.
ReplyDeleteThese spiky leaves usually only last for a couple of seasons, although I have seen them for a few years on established seedling plants. They show up again on large trees when the tree throws out whips of entirely new growth. Those will tend to be more succulent than these juvenile leaves, though.
Look at these images of spiky mulberries:
http://www.treecanada.ca/tree-killers/images/diseases/white-mulberry-sapling.jpg
http://www.moa.gov.jm/img/Morus%20alba.JPG
(note the spiky ones down low, the round ones higher up)
http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/namegal/msg081341144855.jpg
http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b127/saltcedar/P1010004.jpg
http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b127/saltcedar/P1010010.jpg
http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b127/saltcedar/P1010012.jpg
and this thread on GardenWeb covers some of the variations:
http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/namegal/msg081341144855.html
Good morning Michael - thank you so much for the links and it's cool to see your blog.
ReplyDeleteThe links led me down a merry trail to other plants - why didn't I ever realize that Figs and Mulberries are in the same family Moraceae? It does look very likely that this is a Mulberry showing the juvenile leaf form seen in the photos.
None of the Morus/Mulberry leaves in the photos look 1-foot long, however, and my plant has some leaves of that size- could their length be an effect of 12-inches of rain from Hermine?
Thanks all of you for the help - there is too much going on today for gardening, but it looks like an eviction notice will soon be posted for this bird-planted tree.
Annie
Don't you just love blogging and garden bloggers! gail
ReplyDeleteWell, Annie, I would have said this is definitely not a mulberry tree, since it doesn't look anything like the ones that seem to spring up everywhere around here. But I see Michael has some very convincing evidence to the contrary, so I'll defer to him. I think the compost heap sounds like the perfect place for it, but then again, what do I know--I ripped out all my Aster tartaricas, thinking they were weeds:)
ReplyDeleteHave you tried drying it and baking it into brownies yet? My vote goes with Michael. If it a relative of a fig it would pop up out of nowhere. I get fig trees in my yard all the time and they grow as fast as weeds.
ReplyDeleteAnnie: Did you have any Tithonia in the bed in prior years? I have two tithonias this year, one which has very similar leaves to this. What do you think?
ReplyDeleteAnnie, I love your blog! I am a new visitor but I know right now that I'll be back. I am relatively new to gardening in Austin. I find the summer months to be brutal for both myself and the garden. I am always looking for inspiration. Thank you for yours.
ReplyDeleteI LOL'd at chigiy's comment, as I have either the 2 of the same plant or a very similar one... and was thinking that if this plant wasn't already 10 ft tall I would think it was marijuana by the leaves. The first one grew up almost inside the roots of a hibiscus, and I didn't realize until it was over 5 feet tall that it was actually a tree as the leaves looked almost identical. The first one does have fruit that looks like mulberry. Second one hasn't produced yet. I am in San Antonio, TX.
ReplyDeleteThe mystery tree in this post from last year was definitely a mulberry! Soon after I dug it up another seedling mulberry appeared in the front. Then after a neighbor's large palm was winter-killed, we could see the source of the seedlings - a good-sized mulberry - hidden behind the palm.
ReplyDeleteChigiy - there are all kinds of recipes online using mulberry leaves - but none for brownies
Thanks for all the comments and suggestions!
Annie
Thank you for your blog. I live in New Braunfels and I had two of these tree come out of no where. Thanks to your blog I now know what they are.
ReplyDeleteThanks for letting me know this blog has some use!
Deletewould you be willing to send me a few cuttings if I pay the shipping?
ReplyDeleteI think you missed the finale, Daniel... it was a seedling mulberry tree. That might be OK on the edge of a field, but it would be a bad tree in the middle of a small Austin garden. I pulled it out so there can be no cuttings.
DeleteAnnie
I had the very same plant appear in my flower bed this spring in Montgomery, TX. Seemed to grow super fast and went from nothing visible to 2 feet tall immediately following the spring rain. Thanks for the information and I am now on my way to the bed to dispatch this plant.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment!
DeleteDonna Newman commented, "If you find out, please post as I have the same mystery tree!!"
ReplyDeleteDonna, if you read the comments you'd find out that the Mystery Tree was a mulberry - quickly dug out.
Annie
Thanks Annie but I'm not convinced that my little tree is a Mulberry. The leaves are similar but I have taken it to 2 nurseries and they said it was not Mulberry but didn't know what it was. I also asked a couple Arborists online by emailing them a picture. Would you be willing to post your email address so I can email you a couple of pictures? I would appreciate any help you can give me.
DeleteHi Donna,
ReplyDeleteIf two nurseries can't ID it, my guess is I'll also be a flop at the identification, But I'll give it a try. My address is part of my blogger profile.
Annie
PS I don't know where you live but did you check out Paper Mulberry AKA Broussonetia papyrifera? It shows up a lot in older, established parts of Austin.
No, it's not that either...I just emailed you some pictures. I sent two emails with attachments. Thanks Annie
ReplyDeleteThanks for letting me know a larger nursery ID'd the tree for you.
DeleteThose Mulberries sure do show up in stealth mode, don't they, Donna? It's amazing how changeable the leaves can be - looking like maples, figs, papayas and more. But one thing they can't do is change the opposite/alternate pattern of how the leaves are connected... in future I'm going to pay less attention to shape and remember that Maples are opposite and Mulberries are alternate!
Annie
Thank you for your investigation- I was reading some comments and figure I had Papaya Maradol growing in my yard. Mostly around compost bins. Too bad I live in VA, the trees wouldn't survive the winter.
ReplyDeleteI've been taking care of this very same tree. It's a Mulberry tree. I rented a house in Phx AZ. A neibor had a beautiful tree full size 20' tall. One day it was gone. Someone moved in had the tree removed and the sky line in my back yard was forever changed. Sad almost angrynto see it go. I noticed in the corner of my yard just over the fence from where the Mother tree once stood a tiny little sapling lived long enough for me to see it and realize that it was a blessing left from the beautiful tree that I was so fond of looking up at. I have moved 3 times the tree is about 4 years old almost 5' high. It has brought me much joy to watch over the years. It's been one of my babies. Some day when I get a house some land I'll plant it when II feel it's right. Ats a food tree so this is why I kept it also.
ReplyDeleteI found one of these growing in an old overgrown chicken pen today. I've seen these all over the place for many years, but never really knew what they were. I have a normal mulberry tree, so looking at the end of the twigs and comparing the, I can see that it is indeed a mulberry. I'm just tickled that I ended up with this variation. I agree that when things come to here to Texas, they tend to get a little weird sometimes. I'm going to transplant mine and see what happens.
ReplyDeleteI have one of these trees that showed up in my garden a couple years ago. I was looking at Oak trees when I found your page. Mulberry? Interesting.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the page! A quick Bing! image search for "identify plant lobed leaf 5 points" got me here :)
ReplyDeleteI have one that sprang up a couple of months ago and is 7' tall now. Can't wait for it to bear fruit so I can plant them all the fence line for a nice dense border.
I'm so glad you posted this! I was actually looking to identify a small sapling growing in a cluttered corner of my yard - I had put a bunch of old flowerpots back there, and noticed A pretty little sapling growing in it. I think it's a mulberry, but it has no lobed leaves at this point. The weird thing is, when I pulled it out to get a better look, there was a plant identical to the one you posted a picture of growing in another pot right behind it. I had noticed it earlier this summer, but thought it was just a giant ragweed, which are all over the place here in Shreveport. Turns out it's another mulberry! I'm going to hang onto them and plant them out at my father-in-law's farm this fall.
ReplyDelete