Need help with leaf ID, please (nw NJ)

[Dan]

Hi,

I was looking through the leaves along the road this past week, and I noticed a leaf that was unknown to myself. I am hoping someone out there could ID this leaf, I cannot find it anywhere online. Penny is given for scale, the picture is very similar to the actual size:

am in northwest NJ, about 950ft above sea level. Neighboring trees include northern red oak, white oak, chestnut oak, beech, black birch, tulip/yellow poplar, white ash and many others (the idiotic neighbor also planted norway maples). It is a mature (about 80+ years old) carolinian forest, with hornbeam & spicebush in the understory. If anyone can ID this leaf I'd greatly appreciate it.

One more tree question --- can sugar maples have yellow leaves, or is that solely the M.O. of norway maples? I have dozens of trees in my backyard, and the leaves are either sugar or norway maples. I was wondering if I should cut them down, since they were all yellow this fall.

Thanks very much, Dan

[Pat Kiewicz]

I'd guess some species of Populus. Bigtooth aspen, maybe? (I know it occurs in NY state, and NJ is right next door.)

Not the most likely place for an aspen except at the edges or large openings... We've had some amazing winds recently, and I know I've had leaves and even small branches blown in from quite a distance in the past (including species which must have blown in from blocks away, as none occur close to my house).

Yes, sugar maples can be yellow. Mine is. Some Norways are more colorful than the least colorful sugar maples, but the most colorful sugar maples beat the most colorful Norway maples. The shape of the buds (small, sharply pointed in sugar maples; large and rotund in Norway maples), the flowers and fruit (small, with drooping keys in sugar maples; showy with large, straight keys in Norway maples) are very different. So is the shape of the tree, typically. Norway maples tend to a Tootsie-Pop shape, sugar maple structure has been described as being more like 'a man with raised arms.'

[David J Bockman]

Very difficult, from where I sit, to ID it positively. Vaguely resembles Basswood and/or Birch, and also some of the indigenous Viburnums ('Arrowwoods') but without knowing things like

alternate or opposite leaf structure

it's going to be hard. Can you spot the tree? If so, bark characteristics, growth habit, alternate or opposite leaf structure, all would help.

Dave

[David J Bockman]

PS-- with regard to the Norway Maples, it is not a highly regarded landscape tree-- it tends to have weak wood, shade out other desirable trees & shrubs, and it's difficult to plant beneath (hogs for water).

Dave

[Pam - gardengal]

I'd agree with Pat - some sort of poplar. My guess would be Populus tremula or European poplar due to the size and the pattern of serrations on the leaf. This key may help:

- gardengal

[Marley1372]

Come on Pam, you need to brush up on your native species! That looks very much like Populus grandidentata, Big tooth aspen. It is native in the midwest/northeast part of the country. We have them all over the place here in michigan.

Toad

[Pam - gardengal]

Good for you. This is not exactly a contest. I'm not disputing it may very well be a native species, HOWEVER, the leaf on P. grandidentata is typically double the size of the one indicated, the shape is not exact, nor is the serration as distinct. And the petiole length is more proportional to the size leaf for P. tremula (or temuloides) than it is for P. grandidentata.

[Ann]

"David J Bockman" expounded:

Not only is it 'not highly regarded', it's a known invasive and really should be removed. It produces thousands of very viable seeds, the seedlings crowd out native maples everywhere they are allowed to grow.