In an area that was cleared I'm trying to determine what trees to leave and which ones to pull. Any idea what this is? It does have a few thorns on the trunk.

I'm guessing a hawthorn. There's a lot of different species.

Posion Sumac is my guess

A little hard to tell for sure, but looks like hedge apple (Osage Orange).

Not Hawthorne, not Sumac.

Opposite branching and leaves. Haven't got time to trace it further at the moment, but fairly certain you have some young saplings of some variety of Locust.

Bit of a pungent wood, and no fun to cut/ split... but it does burn nice and long if you heat with it.

Kinf of looks like a black locust to me assuming that the location actually is WVA. Fall color is a little off, black locusts around here are usually pale brown in the fall, not the purplish brown in the OP's picture, and the leaflets are usually more round. Spines on the trunk are consistent with this identification as well.

Is the picture of one plant or two? The upper part looks to be different than below.

Red branches I'm thinking Sumac.





Yes northern WV. Locusts around here the leaves turn brown by late July.

Some kind of wild plum?

Good question… I’ve always wanted to know as well. Those things are all over the side of the road on mountain cuts around here. They seem to get about as large as a redbud and have gorgeous fall foliage.

I just looked up POISON SUMAC on the interweb. I concur. Poison Sumac.

On second thought…

Could be staghorn sumac…which is NOT poisonous.

If this is a dry area and not swampy/moist, chances are it is staghorn sumac.

https://www.thespruce.com/pois...aghorn-sumac-4772349

This message has been edited. Last edited by: x0225095,

I use an App on my phone called "Picture This." Take a picture of the leaves from a foot or so away and it will tell you what it "probably" is. It's usually correct, perhaps off if there is similar derivatives of the plant.

I have another app, Seek that also does a good job ID'ing trees and plant life.

Picture This App Link


Poision Ivy Oak Sumac Info

I downloaded your picture and let IOS tell me what it is using the built in photos app feature to identify a plant. According to that app, you have a European Beech.
On an iPhone or iPad, open a picture of a plant, select the icon that has an exclamation mark, then select “Look up-plant”. It is an extremely useful feature when you are out walking and want to identify flowers and trees.

European Beech? That doesn't sound right but I'll try one of the apps tomorrow.

Posit sumac with thorns? He said there were thorns...

Devils Walking stick

I'm still thinking TRIO's ID of sumac is the best one. But I'll study it more before I decide whether to get rid of it.

quote:

Originally posted by frayedends:
Devils Walking stick

That's what the phone app I tried indicated just before dark but I never heard of Devil's Walking Stick before?

Frayedends nailed it with Devil's Walking Stick. Personally, I'd trash it. They do smell pretty good in the summer but otherwise pretty useless. I've got about 5 I have to get rid of and they're a pain in the ass to kill. Might have to go see what my dad has left over from the 80's when shit still worked

quote:

Originally posted by ridewv:
I'm still thinking TRIO's ID of sumac is the best one. But I'll study it more before I decide whether to get rid of it.

Thorns on trunk. WV. Devils walking stick. Sumac no thorns far as I’ve seen. Locust thorns not on trunk. If I could post pics on phone I’d do it. Check it out.