Please help identify this tree and fungus

[SvetSad]

Can anyone please help me identify this tree

[img]https://i1186.photobucket.com/albums/z375/SvetSad/Random/photobucket-2141-1336079418038.jpg[/img]

if I had to guess, I'd say it is an elm of some sort, but that is only a guess

also there are some leaves with some type of fungus, I've seen it on other trees in the past, but I have NO idea what it is

[img]https://i1186.photobucket.com/albums/z375/SvetSad/Random/photobucket-2136-1336080187806.jpg[/img]

[kdodds]

My guesses would be Elm, Birch, Beech, or possibly, but probably not, Alder.

[SvetSad]

It's defiantly not birch. The leaves feel kind of like velcro or very fine sand paper.

here's picture of the trunk

[img]https://i1186.photobucket.com/albums/z375/SvetSad/Random/photobucket-5304-1336089035959.jpg[/img]

[kdodds]

You didn't happen to see any Elm seeds (they should still be falling now) nearby?

The branch/trunk... I'd expect more back budding on such a young elm. And elm leaves are smooth, IME. Hornbeam or Viburnum are other possibilities.

[SvetSad]

no seeds near by. and also, it's actually a stump about 3 inches in diameter and probably 2 inches from the ground with shoots coming out of it.

it grows near a fence so over the years it was cut back a lot. and in the last couple of months the shoots have grown A LOT.

It doesn't seem to be Viburnum, and the leaves feel different than my korean hornbeam

[lily51]

My first thought was elm from leaf placement , shape, etc. and slippery elms, plus other elms, have rough sandpapery feeling leaves.
So I got out the old quick version tree key and don't think the base or the exact shape says elm.
It is hard to tell everything from a photo, even good photos like these.

As someone said, maybe not a tree.

[!potatoes!]

no, it's an elm of some sort. and the little growths are galls of some kind. likely the result of a plant reaction to a fungus/bug/virus. probably almost as many different kinds of galls as there are plants (do a google image search for galls or plant galls)

[WildcatNurseryman]

I'd vote for Slippery Elm too since they are so weedy and common.

[SvetSad]

Slippery Elm it is! I've seen a bunch of those seeds around the house, but never the trees they come from, but there are strong winds often and those seeds fly for some distance.

Potatoes, thanks for identifying the galls! I'll have to do a bit more reading on that subject to figure out what caused them on the Slippery Elm.

Thanks everyone for your input

[rainbowgardener]

I have a big old hackberry. It gets covered in leaf galls every year. It has its own little insect the hackberry gall psyllid. But the fact that it has thousands of these little insects causing it to make homes for them on its leaves, doesn't seem to make any difference or do any noticeable damage.

[applestar]

It's sad when Slippery Elm which is medicinal and beneficial, native to this country, is less recognizable. I was also thinking this looks like elm but not like the ones I see (all over ) in my garden, which is infested by the Siberian elm samaras this time of year.

[kdodds]

What's getting me is the leaf points. Siberian, American, Red (Slippery) Elm, they all look pretty similar, but they all, also, have green new growth that lignifies in spots. And, they all have a bit more taper and point to the leaf tips than what I can see in the image. Beech, I think, has less taper, as does hornbeam. IMO, all have that sharkskin texture.