Mystery Scrub--Please Help Me Identify It

[+pgrig]

OK, so perhaps I'm getting a little too precise in my reports, but I had a battle to the death this past week with some mystery scrub brush that had overgrown a station I was hunting (and its RMs). I often run into this stuff growing over ledges and partial woods here in MA, and would like to curse it by name in my reports. So what's it called? I'm including a photo of it from 30 ft. away (it's about 6 ft. tall here) and also a closeup of its trunk (and leaves) overlying a RM I had to dig for. (I had thought this stuff was "mountain laurel", but the images of that which I pull up on the web don't look like my culprit.)

 

Thanks!

 

 

[+Black Dog Trackers]

That looks like it could be honeysuckle.

 

http://www.earlham.edu/~biol/brents/field_...oneysuckle1.jpg

http://www.earlham.edu/~biol/brents/field_...oneysuckle2.jpg

[+pgrig]

Thanks, BDT--but nope, I'm pretty sure that's not it.

-Paul

[+rogbarn]

It looks like what I call cane. I don't know it's real name. We have some bordering our yard and it has to be cut back or it takes over.

[Bill93]

Collection of Plant photos organized various ways. From U of Wisc, so not guaranteed for full coverage of plants in your area, but maybe still useful in checking out suggested names.

[TillaMurphs]

Paul,

 

Do you have a photo of the leaves?

[+pgrig]

TillaMurphs--

 

Thanks for getting back to this one!

 

Here is a photo with some good images of the leaves, plus a look at its stalks/tendrils

when they're smaller. Does this help?

-Paul

 

[+NorthWes]

Gee - my first reaction was to say "that's some sort of alder" - or sumac. Here in Southcentral Alaska the alder varieties and willows will over-run a cleared area within a few years. However, after looking at the University of Maine Cooperative Extension's excellent website, I think those are "moosewood" (striped maple). I especially focused on the photo you posted showing the trunk/bark pattern. While there were other tree/shrubs bearing a close match to the leaves, those were eliminated either by their trunk's description ('smooth') or the lack of any visible berries (such as the sumacs etc). Here's the website link to U-Maine's page on Striped Maple (A. pensylvanicum). Of special interest is the Cooperative Extension's comment about how a striped maple tree becomes a multi-stemmed shrup:

 

'Another common name for A. pensylvanicum is "moosewood." It is a favorite browse of both moose and deer and, in the wild, is often reduced by browsing to a multi-stemmed shrub. Be careful not to use this tree in gardens visited by moose or deer!'

 

Funny you asked about identifying the 'mystery shrub'... Knowing how to recognize tree species today highlights the value in early survey reports of tree descriptions used as 'bearing trees' during the public land surveys of the last two centuries. One of my geocaches (Surveyor) was placed to 'tease' folks further into the woods to look for nearby geocache (and associated benchmark) Can't See the Forest for the Trees... (the associated benchmark is UW7833 "TREE" - and thus far no one has figured out the 'puzzle' of how it's named until they stand on top of the find... doh...). It was also designed to help middle schoolers attending outdoor classes at the nearby BLM Campbell Science Center learn about tree ecology - and so the 'Surveyor' geocache page contains a link to Minnesota's Bearing Tree Database. I obviously found the topic fascinating... but I love the outdoors & benchmark hunting, so this was a natural combo opportunity.

 

Hope this is your mystery shrub!

[TillaMurphs]

Paul,

 

I am no expert at this. I just know that leaves are typically important for making identification.

 

I bet BDT is on the right track with his suggestion of some type of honeysuckle (there are many different varieties) and the base of his shrub looks similar to yours.

 

Look at these photos of L. morrowii honeysuckle (aka “Morrow's honeysuckle” and “Bush honeysuckle”) and compare them to your leaves – they look to be very similar:

Leaves - 1

Leaves - 2

 

Here are a couple of other links listing invasive plants in Massachusetts. There is even a $5 book you can buy called “A Guide to Invasive Plants in Massachusetts”.

 

http://www.gwlt.org/invasive.html

 

http://massnrc.org/mipag/docs/MIPAG_FINDIN...INAL_042005.pdf

 

http://www.newfs.org/protect/invasive-plants/photo-gallery

 

http://greensleeves.typepad.com/berkshires...de_to_inva.html

 

Good luck

[+pgrig]

Thank you all!

 

Yes, I always admired the old reports that named various trees and shrubs near marks. Trying to keep up!

 

OK, I dismiss my dismissal of the honeysuckle identification. But I need more points of ID, I guess. I now see this stuff growing in peoples' yards around here, and on roadsides. Next time I pass some, I will take some "mugshot" photos! I will also look over those cool publications you sent, TillaMurphs.

 

Thanks again,

-Paul

[+Klemmer]

We had honeysuckle just about take over a portion of our yard. In SoCal, it grows all year around (probably 24/7 also). Nasty stuff (although pretty flowers).

 

You know those tree & branch shredder machines (big, noisy, chews up whole pieces of trees)? The honeysuckle just about destroyed one. It was very "stringy", and got stuck in all the works, and the whole thing ground to a stop, smoking and coughing out stuff in all directions. Funny as heck. They gave up shredding it, and just stuffed it in the truck.

 

Just going by memory, I tend to agree with TillaMurphs on some sort of honeysuckle.

[monkeykat]

I would like to weigh in with my vote for a variety of honeysuckle. There are many varieties, and I see scrub like your photos all over western new york. It gets quite dense, has relatively small leaves (compared to a tree), and usually gets some nice red berries the birds love to eat.

 

I have seen a lot of striped maple in the adirondack region, and it can grow into quite a large tree, and is very distinguishable by its bright green and white stripes. Once it gets older the green turns to brown, but I really think the shrub is a honesuckle rather than maple. The leaf shapes aren't very close.