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Any idea what these wild plants are?

Posted: Mon May 04, 2020 3:55 pm
by benali
I have several of these small trees (?) growing at the edge of my property in an ignored area. This is in the midwest north of Chicago.

They're 3 to 10 feel tall. They have smooth bark and thin trunks. They're spindly with relatively few leaves (not very bushy).

What do you think?

Thank you for your help.

Re: Any idea what these wild plants are?

Posted: Tue May 05, 2020 8:38 am
by !potatoes!
first guess is a Prunus of some sort. likely P. serotina, wild black cherry. can you get a close-up pic of the bark on a bigger one?

Re: Any idea what these wild plants are?

Posted: Tue May 05, 2020 8:53 am
by Gary350
This is wild cherry I have 1.

Re: Any idea what these wild plants are?

Posted: Tue May 05, 2020 9:49 am
by applestar
I thought it might be Wild Cherry, too 8)

Re: Any idea what these wild plants are?

Posted: Wed May 06, 2020 12:26 pm
by benali
Thanks for your help.

I've attached a couple close-ups of the bark.

I read up on wild black cherries, and from everything I can tell, it looks like that's exactly what they are. I'll watch them if/when they flower to confirm.

I'm really glad I posted this message before cutting them down as junk trees, as I'd love to have a black cherry or two back there.

The descriptions did say, however, that these grow into full sized trees of 50 to 60 feet tall. Far too big to be so close together in a cluster of 6 or 7 together, like they are right now. So I figure to let them all grow there for now, and confirm that I'm absolutely certain what they are and that they really are going to grow into big trees. Then I'll have to cull them down to a couple sometime in the future.

Thanks again.