What is this bush/tree/plant?

[gentlegreen]

Urbanites on the move are always encountering mystery bushes. :;

 

[invisibleplanet]

Bees like it.

I'll revise my hatred of flowering currants to ''it's a loathsome smelling ornamental plant that bees like'' then

 

[Mrs Magpie]

There's a flowering currant in the community garden on my estate and it's such a herald of spring. Everything has its place. It's really useful for showing people how to take cuttings from woody material too.

 

[gentlegreen]

I can't say I've ever noticed it smelling bad.
Flowering currants, and black currant bushes on allotments have always been a key spring thing for me too.

Along with the unique smell of elder when you cut it. I always seemed to be clearing elder on allotments.

 

[Mrs Magpie]

It only smells bad if you cut it and bring it indoors and bung it in a vase. Definite pong of cat piss.

 

[Mrs Magpie]

...anyway, back to the mystery tree. More pics to try and ID it. I've trawled through books, google images and anywhere else I think might help. It's crossed my mind that the fruits could be galled, eg a knopper gall doesn't look like an acorn.

Sorry it's out of focus, but it gives a better idea of shape than the previous pic.

 

[Mrs Magpie]

This is what the young leaves look like.

 

[Mrs Magpie]

...any ideas as to what it is? I've managed to include both a big pod and a not yet grown one. The tree is deciduous.View attachment 14774

....Click on the attachment link in the quote above in case anyone missed it. White blossom which came before the leaves. The dark brown bark is very rough around the trunk and mature branches.

 

[Mrs Magpie]

I did originally wonder if it was a type of carob, but it's just not quite right.

 

[gentlegreen]

I did originally wonder if it was a type of carob, but it's just not quite right.

The leaves would need to be more pea-like.

It looks curiously hazel-y ...

 

[Mrs Magpie]

..and the white blossom, according to the owners, is apple/cherry-like, not like laburnum or robinia. From what I could see, the remnants of the stamens support that.

 

[gentlegreen]

Has anyone tried the fruit - and survived ?

 

[RubyToogood]

Some kind of catalpa, Mrs M?

 

[Mrs Magpie]

Nope, leaves not right and the pods are wrong too. Unless it's a very left of field variety.

 

[gentlegreen]

Perhaps that long fruit has a gall wasp inside it ?

Were there many that shape ?

 

[Mrs Magpie]

I did wonder about that. Apart from the very immature fruits all the pods are like that (see first pic I posted above with immature fruit at the top).

 

[gentlegreen]

I did wonder about that. Apart from the very immature fruits all the pods are like that (see first pic I posted above with immature fruit at the top).

oops - sorry I missed that you'd already thought of that...

 

[gentlegreen]

I went looking for "guord tree" and found this :-



http://www.ifood.tv/blog/ghost_bottle_gourd_tree

 

[Mrs Magpie]

Same principle as cuboid watermelons and very straight cucumbers for horticultural shows....

 

[geminisnake]

View attachment 14789

This is what the young leaves look like.

Looks like the cherry saplings in my garden but the other pictures don't The shaped fruit are cool!!

 

[gentlegreen]

Maybe it's a one-off mutation and you need to start taking cuttings ?

 

[Mrs Magpie]

Well, my next step is to send photos to the RHS and the NHM.

 

[mrs quoad]

I've amended the thread title and made it a sticky. Hope that's OK.

Welcome and delighted! Ty for the id, too. Also, it seems to've developed some blossom. Will post at some point, if relevant

 

[geminisnake]

Little white waxy flowers??

 

[Mrs Magpie]

I don't think so. I've not seen the flowers but they've been described as like apple blossom. They're not gardeners but the wife is a country girl of a certain age, so she knows what apple blossom looks like.


I think I know where you're going with the waxy flowers thing...I've been googling a-gogo.

 

[Mrs Magpie]

D'oh, you mean Mrs Quoad's little flowers, not mine, innit gem?

 

[geminisnake]

Aye Mrs M, that was for quoady

 

[mrs quoad]

That sounds about right!

 

[gentlegreen]

I actually knew what this was as soon as I saw it.



The groundsmen at work clearly did too and kept the mower off ...

 

[geminisnake]

A bee orchid, isn't it??