Volunteer Tree-Shrub I.D.

[johnw]

A friend has a volunteer in her garden.  It is almost directly underneath an aged Stewartia pseudocamellia and we assumed last year the volunteer was a Stewartia, the first ever.  Now upon closer examination the leaf margins aren't quite correct though my instincts tell me it is a Stewartia with its zigzag stems.  Bad instincts?

johnw

[Onion]

johnw,

do you know if there are other trees near the Stewartia. The volunteer is not a Stewartia.

[johnw]

Uli - Oaks, maples, Clethra barbinervis, lots of Corylopsis spp., maybe Clethra tomentosa and assorted Hamamellis - Jelena, Arnold Promise.  Maybe a young Styrax.

That's about it.

johnw

[Gene Mirro]

Celastrus scandens?

[johnw]

Gene  - I just dropped my friend a line and while she would never plant Celastrus she did say there are remnants of a very old one up in a hemlock tree on her property line.  It was either once in a neighbour's garden or a volunteer.  So you could well be on to the solution.

Thanks

john

[TheOnionMan]

I pull about 2 million seedlings of Celastrus every year, not sure if it American bittersweet (scandens) or Oriental Bittersweet (orbicularis), but it's an invasive menace.

[johnw]

I pull about 2 million seedlings of Celastrus every year, not sure if it American bittersweet (scandens) or Oriental Bittersweet (orbicularis), but it's an invasive menace.

Mark - Does this look to be one?  I have read that Celastrus is a prolific seeder so curious that this would be the first seedling they have ever seen.

johnw

[johnw]

Mark - Just spoke to my friend and she says she has never seen a single fruit on that Celastrus.

johnw

[TheOnionMan]

Bittersweet (Celastrus) seeds about wildly here, in this photo it has twined around a Cornus and Rhododendron, on its way to to Pyrus calleryana 'Chanticleer', really must get into this overgrown area and hack out all the bittersweet vines.

[Gene Mirro]

Johnw, just let it grow for a while.  If it's Celastrus, it will start twining.

[TheOnionMan]

Celastrus seedlings pulled out of my plant beds today, there are about 1 million more.