The tree two to the right of the partly dead one looks the same as the first one we are deciding on. It has new growth of some sort around the base. That one is four back from the first one, I will have to check the 2007 view but the quality didn't look as good then.

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/...

The dead tree 4 back past the side entrance to Walgreen, you can just see the red sign behind it, Sept 2007. It's not clear but it looks like the next tree to the right of it.

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/...

September 2013, the dead tree 4 back with the one to the right of it which is also dying (5 back). The leaves can be seen on that sort of, they look like the new trees planted in front of the new flats. Small, pointed and glossy. It looks like it was marked for chopping, in fact all three dying tress had a green paint spot on them at the bottom.

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/...

The first dead tree in September 2013 ..

This is the best I can do for the dead tree 1 in leaf in May 2012

Wow, learning a lot today, thanks!!

On a different thread I had asked for the GPS coordinates for a NOID tree but none were provided. I think this thread for the Chicago tree should prove that sometimes we do need to know the exact location of a plant in order to accomplish a successful ID.

So after all of this what is the final consensus? The leaves are fanning down, was going to grow it and plant it and hopefully have a nice tree/bush/plant

So far we all agree that your plant is not any type of Cannabis.

Sounds good, but now I am super curious what it is!

We still can't say for sure, but I can say that it hasn't grown from the tree stump.

I'm still with Rodgersia aesculifolia, if it had grown from a conker it wouldn't have got so big in a season and if it had started to grow last year we would be seeing the bottom part of the stem hardened. There doesn't appear to be anything growing there in November 2015.

Unless there are Aesculus which can grow that quickly! Mine don't, they are slow from a conker.

You won't be able to root such a stem. You might be able to carefully dig up the plant which is there but that's risky, someone might have planted them there and it would belong to the local council.

My initial thought (after Janet's awesome work with Google) was that the original tree might be an ash. If all three sick trees were the same and all marked with green paint, I wondered if they had the Emerald ash borer. I did a Google search and found this page for Arlington Heights, which is apparently a suburb of Chicago. Green dots in that area mean a tree has Emerald ash borer and is marked for removal:

http://patch.com/illinois/arli...

So it's quite possible they are, or rather were, ash trees. Not that that helps the ID of the plant growing around the stump other than that it's not from the stump. So far I haven't managed to come across anything with similar palmately compound leaves other than Rodgersia and Aesculus.

A picture of some youngish ashes affected by the EAB:
https://extension.umd.edu/hgic...

Interesting, I didn't know you could look at older Google Maps photos. I'm curious, what color of bark do young horsechestnuts have, and does it match the bark in the (sadly blurry) old Google Maps photos? And do Rogersia shoots have lenticels? The sprout that we're trying to identify had lenticels in a previous photo (http://garden.org/pics/2016-05...). I think lenticels only appear on woody plants. If that's true, the plant couldn't be Rogersia, which is herbaceous.

I thought Ash too. I was going to search for the type of trees grown in the location but I had spent hours today on it, nothing else got done. I had some sheets in the washing machine, they are still there.

In Chicago, ash makes up around 17% of the City’s street tree population or about 85,000 trees. When adding an estimated 300,000 ash trees from private property to the total, ash trees become one of the most numerous trees in the City.

http://www.cityofchicago.org/c...

There was another tree behind the last dying tree, behind the hedge and next to the flats which was also dying in September 2013.

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/...

JRsbugs said:By July 2012 it had just a few leaves left on it! Was it a hot dry year?

If I recall right, it was, here in Minneapolis at least. In Chicago, WolframAlpha shows that one stretch in the summer had average high temperatures at 90 F and several days up to 100 F, which is unusual (http://www.wolframalpha.com/in...). It looks like during that period there was not enough rainfall to offset the high temperatures.

In the second link, the sidewalk tree right of the parking meter and with the white band around the trunk, enlarging the top of it looks to be showing ash-type compound leaves. It's the same thing around here, lots and lots of ashes, often used as street trees, and the EAB is getting closer and closer

A December 2014 article in the Chicago Tribune about it:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/...

Another article in January this year:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/...

Gabriel, in one of these articles I read that the damage is exacerbated by hot dry weather. It's the right time when the trees were dying back.

Sue, the one with the white band wasn't chopped even though it had a green blob. They only remove the trees when the damage is 51% or more so it had a chance to survive.

In the most recent Google street view that one now has a red dot, so I'm guessing that is a removal mark. Perhaps the green dot indicated a tree was an ash, or that it had the EAB?

They removed the others with green spots Sue, maybe the red dot means it's in danger? Or that they have treated it so it needs to be watched?

I also had wondered about the white spots appearing on the stems, they weren't there in the first photos. Are they lenticels or something else?

It looks like something bursting from under the skin. If my plant ever grows again I will take a good look at the stems.



What I find strange, is how did anything get planted in that spot? There's wire mesh around the trunk in a circle, but half of it has been cut off. The larger plant is in the wire free side, with a smaller one next to the tree stub. It looks like someone planted them there this year.

http://garden.org/pics/2016-05...

In August 2015 there was nothing other than the stump!

This Aesculus (not horse chestnut) has white dots/lenticels on the stem:

http://www.edgewoodgardens.net...

Alright guys I think we figured it out. Found these buckeye images online. Also, I think it's growing from the stump personally. Take a look.


And for comparison: