Another ID

[nepia]

Until I took this down I thought I had no doubt as to what it was but someone with good knowledge of timber reckons the wood looks wrong for that species.

 

The client hated the tree and stripped the new growth off it every year so the foliage in the pics is all I have to work with as far as anything green is concerned.

The crushed foliage has a slightly sweet pungent aroma that I think is typical of the species.  The young green stem is brittle.

Was growing in a back garden locally to me.

 

Thanks,

 

Jon

[Mick Dempsey]

I'll say Robinia as a starter, you tell me why it's not.

[nepia]

That was my second choice Mick when doubt was cast.  But I don't remember the foliage of Rob being pungent.  And do the shoots not have the odd spine, even in their first year?

The bark I thought also was too smooth for Rob, especially as the tree is quite a few years old.

 

Not saying you're wrong, just why I thought it's not Rob.

 

Thanks for the reply.

[Gary Prentice]

I'll throw laburnum into the mix, particularly because of the photos 2 and three.

 

pic 1 looks like a poplar, but is overexposed, pic 2- slightly oakish, but the bark in three and four along with the green band (cork cambium?) suggest laburnums 

[se7enthdevil]

is there any chance it could be the thornless honeylocust?

 

we thought that it was laburnum but i thought laburnum leaves were supposed to be trifoliate?

 

also i've never seen bark like that on a laburnum trunk... 

 

it should be fairly smooth rather than coarse.

[nepia]

1 hour ago, Gary Prentice said:

I'll throw laburnum into the mix, particularly because of the photos 2 and three.

 

pic 1 looks like a poplar, but is overexposed, pic 2- slightly oakish, but the bark in three and four along with the green band (cork cambium?) suggest laburnums 

Thanks Gary.  By 'green band' do you mean this, which I noticed this afternoon?

 

[Gary Prentice]

I'm doubting my initial thoughts, seeing the bark in the last picture, it's a lot rougher than it looked from above.

 

But the green band I meant is....

[nepia]

OK cheers Gary.  

 

Mick D - if you're still there - I recant about the bark; it's perfect for Robinia isn't it.

But that distinctive smell from the foliage... not Robinia-like IME...

 

The presence of much ivy wouldn't hugely affect the form of the bark would it?  It's not something I thought could be relevant previously but the tree was almost totally hidden behind years old ivy.

[Keithie]

I'm definitely not an expert at all, but your fifth & sixth pics (the heavy bark and the leaves on the green shoot) made me think of walnut.

[kev7937]

Is it not Sophora japonica or whatever they call it now? The pagoda tree.