We are new to this house and area and are confused about some plants growing around the house. We would appreciate any help in identifying the tree we have in the backyard. It is deciduous. (We are in Texas, if it helps)

Thank you!

The foliage looks like soapberry, but the upright growth is unusual for soapberry.

I think soapberry has alternate leaflets? This one looks to have alternate leaves and opposite leaflets but hard to be sure. It also seems to be missing a terminal leaflet which may help. I thought black walnut, but the bark looks too smooth. Then I thought Ailanthus but the leaflets don't look to have the little lobe at the base.

Is it possible to split open a twig to see if there is chambered pith, as in these pictures?

https://www.google.ca/search?q...

sooby said:I think soapberry has alternate leaflets? This one looks to have alternate leaves and opposite leaflets but hard to be sure. It also seems to be missing a terminal leaflet which may help. I thought black walnut, but the bark looks too smooth. Then I thought Ailanthus but the leaflets don't look to have the little lobe at the base.

Is it possible to split open a twig to see if there is chambered pith, as in these pictures?

Thank you for all your help! I hope this helps.

My soapberry has alternate leaves and leaflets that vary from almost opposite to alternate. It also has no terminal leaflet. But I don't think this tree is soapberry.

Kekas said:We are new to this house and area and are confused about some plants growing around the house. We would appreciate any help in identifying the tree we have in the backyard. It is deciduous. (We are in Texas, if it helps)

Thank you!

Clicked some pics of the bark and a leaf for reference.

Ailanthus.. do the leaves or bark smell?

Henhouse said:Ailanthus.. do the leaves or bark smell?

I kept coming back to Ailanthus but a characteristic for identification is said to be the small lobes at the leaflet bases and two glands as in this picture.

https://bugwoodcloud.org/image...

I can't see any lobes in the pics so far, perhaps the OP can check.

The leaves look like black walnut but the pith and bark don't match.

It's somewhat like Pistacia chinensis but again the bark doesn't seem right. I wonder if it could be something else in the Anacardiaceae?

https://courses.missouristate....

My first thought was also Tree of Heaven (Ailanthus altissima)

Interesting. Some of those pictures of Tree of Heaven show a terminal leaflet and some do not...?

porkpal said:Interesting. Some of those pictures of Tree of Heaven show a terminal leaflet and some do not...?

I think some of the pictures in the database are not Ailanthus. If you look at this picture showing both sides of a leaf, you can clearly see the lobes that should be there, but also that the leaf margins are smooth. In some of the database pictures they are toothed:

Pic showing both sides of Ailanthus leaf:
https://www.google.ca/search?q...:

This picture of Ailanthus from the database shows the lobes at the leaflet bases also:



So unless there are lobes (and glands) that we can't see on the leaflets of the ID tree it doesn't seem to be Ailanthus. The other useful feature of the ID tree is the smooth bark with lenticels.

Edited to add, looking at the database pics again, Lin - are you sure that is Ailanthus in your picture? It seems to have all terminal leaflets (some plants can vary and I've never grown Ailanthus) but I also don't see the lobes at the leaflet bases.

Also Ailanthus has orange pith, the ID tree's is white:

Ailanthus pith:
https://www.google.ca/search?q...:

Could it be Cedrela odorata?



I started looking at Toona sinensis, then read that Cedrela is related but native to Mexico.

The bark looks quite different - more mature tree?

porkpal said:The bark looks quite different - more mature tree?

Yes, that was bothering me too. I did find a page that suggested the younger wood had obvious lenticels, and I did find this picture that shows what could have been horizontal lenticels but didn't find a picture of a young tree's bark yet. I know the black walnut doesn't have smooth bark even when quite young, plus the ID plant doesn't have chambered pith, so I guess maybe we need go start looking outside the box to make sure we aren't "barking up the wrong tree" (sorry )

This is a pic of young-er bark on Cedrela, wish I could find one younger:
https://www.google.ca/search?q...:

Another page said lenticels are sparse on Cedrela odorata so not encouraging. Maybe we need to hope for flowers or fruit unless someone recognizes it. @Kekas is there any sign of fallen fruits from last year?

I wonder if my database photos of Ailanthus altissima are correct; someone here on site identified it as that but I really have no idea.

plantladylin said:I wonder if my database photos of Ailanthus altissima are correct; someone here on site identified it as that but I really have no idea.

Apparently it may or may not have a terminal leaflet, it may abort. The bark is closer to the ID plant than some of the other possibilities. But then other things don't seem to match, like the pith colour and the leaflet lobes. There's a pic of young bark here:

https://www.extension.iastate....

Lin, do you have any close-ups of the leaf of your tree? Yours seems to have pretty much all terminal leaflets with a longish petiole.

It would be helpful if we could get a close-up of the back of some older leaflets on the ID plant.

The leaf scars shown on that site look to be a defining characteristic and are not like the mystery tree.

sooby said:

I can't see any lobes in the pics so far, perhaps the OP can check.

I looked for the lobes, but there doesn't seem to be any.