Berry sizes may be tiny or small, with many seeds or one large seed. They may range in color from pale reddish-pink to orange-red to crimson to deep red or burgundy. The red fruits on the tree may actually be berries, drupes or pomes. Also indicate if the flowers grow singly or in clusters, amid the foliage or on the branch tips. Smell the flower and write down the scent, if any. Note the color, number of petals and other parts of the flower. Place a ruler next to a bud and then a fully-opened blossom and take a picture. The leaves may drop from the tree or stay green year round. Leaf colors may change from a bright chartreuse or red in spring to deep green or bronze-red in summer to brilliant yellows, oranges or reds in fall. It can also have smooth or serrated edges or be rounded, oblong or compound, simple or with several leaflets. A leaf may be tiny, medium-sized, large or huge, and thin or wide. Leaves vary wildly in color, size and shape. Some trees have green bark when young that matures to a darker shade of green or other color as the tree ages. Texture, thickness, color, thorns and/or peeling bark are helpful indicators, though some cultivars may not have the thorns sported by the species plants.īark colors range from off-white to green to gray to brown and reddish browns to purple, depending on the species and cultivar. Take out the tape measure and measure the height and width of mature plants, as the size may help determine not just the species, but also the cultivar. Alternatively, if the plant is equally tall and wide, measure the width to find the height. Large trees and shrubs may need creative solutions to find an approximate measure, such as comparing the height to the house. Does it have one trunk, multiple woody stems or require regular removal of root suckers to prevent it from spreading through the garden? A single trunk may indicate a tree, while multiple stems or root suckers may indicate that it is a large shrub that naturally produces multiple stems to make a thicket. Is the soil dry, average, moist or wet?.The first step in identifying a tree with red berries is by documenting the environmental factors where it is growing. Okay, call me a little hoo-hoo, but.Also take pictures of the tree and its various identifying features, such as when the flowers bud out or leaves have fallen, which will help identify it when comparing it to other similar plant descriptions. They also have what looks startlingly like a 20-foot-tall Hibiscus which flowers in the dead of winter.Īnd the last question- if we can confirm what it is- is whether the berry is safe to taste. We aren't in the deep south where plantings are protected by mild winters. This is the DelMarVa zone of Maryland, where winters aren't as killing, but extremely cold for at least a month, nevertheless. I have heard that house/decorative ficus bear a small, berry-type fruit. Obviously, it's not apple, though I can see why he would be mistaken. I'm guessing the growth is 10-to-20 years old (probably closer to 20) as everything else here is. It is a light, dual-sided green/silver (which sometimes apple can be, too except I'm saying this from my childhood memory and could be wrong). The foliage is longer than apple foliage, and grows in weeping clumps- which is really what reminds me of a ficus. I have not tasted one, though I'm tempted Its skin, texture, "meat" and seeds- as well as its fragrance!- remind me of tomatos. When squished, the berry opens on two-to-three seeds and really resembles a teeny-tiny tomato more than anything else. The green (immature) berries turn a deep purple black (still immature) before ripening into a soft, bright scarlet berry. They don't really grow in clusters: more like a short-stemmed cherry, but the size of a blueberry or smaller. The thing is, there are neither figs nor apples, but tiny, red berries. Neighbor thought it was an apple tree, but on first glance at the foliage, I'm convinced it's a fig. The tree is only about 15 feet tall, but some of its radial trunks are as large as 4, maybe 6" in diameter and it spreads like an apple or cherry with low branch, about 15 feet. It looks to me like a ficus- with solid, smooth bark- Only instead of a house-plant, it's growing outside. it's been a loooooong summer, but here's another mystery, this time from my neighbor (part of the same garden as mine, separated when the lots were split).Īgain, I will follow up with images soon.
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