ID Palm-like tree

Very hard to see much in that photo, even if using a phone or similar low tech camera you can make your pictures better by *not* shooting into the light. Also try to get some close-ups showing more detail of leaves, buds, flowers etc, as well as the general one.

My guess is a yucca.

David

I don't know about the "palm", but I am sure the other one is NOT an ash. I have an ash. The seeds are slightly similar to the keys of a maple, dry with a wing; there are no berries.

It's not a 'palm' but perhaps some sort of Dracena or Yucca.

That's not a green ash (Fraxinus pennsylvanica) or evergreen ash (F. uhdei). Fraxinus sp. do not have berries.

It's possible that it's some sort of Sorbus (mountain ash).

Not sure what it is, but it looks like it should be related to yucca.

Does the "palm" have a onion-like bulbous base on the surface of the soil? If so, it might be a ponytail palm (Nolina recurvata). Wikipedia says that Nolina recurvata is now known as Beaucarnea recurvata.

The plant might instead be some other species of Nolina or Beaucarnea. Some botanists place the both genera in the agave family; others place them in the asparagus family. (This is easily understood when you notice that a young flower stalk of an agave starts out looking like a giant asparagus spear.)

Today, during my usual Tuesday morning shift as a docent at Gardens of the World (Thousand Oaks, CA), I notice the trunk of the young ponytail palm in the Japanese Garden resembled your "palm" photo. They both have the same banding around the trunk and similar leaves.

It's covered with these red berries every year about this time.

Thanks David. I checked out all the types you mention. Definitely not ponytail palm - leaves are all stiff and don't hang down, and no enlarged shapes at the ground. Will keep looking and post when I find out.

Any idea of a ID website for these types of plants? Lots of them for oaks, pines, etc., but I don't see much for desert plants.

It isn't necessarily a desert plant, there are quite a few with strappy leafs like that from sub-tropical and forest regions. Similarly 'palms' or palm-looking plants don't all come from tropical islands, some grow quite well in areas where there is frost in winter, some in arid conditions and some in wet.

I suggest getting some better photos and then going through the suggestions that have been given to you on google images to compare the pics with named examples until you find a match. Did you look up 'yucca' or any of the others mentioned?

There are several web-based search engines designed for the purpose of identifying plants, eg:

However these require more information than you seem to have.

No doubt about that -- I saw palms (real palms) growing in coastal western Scotland when I was hiking there. I was wet and freezing my arse off in the cold rain and wind but the trees didn't seem to care.

Palm tree on hill

Also, just for fun, here's a shot of a green ash tree with berries. It's covered with these red berries every year about this time.

More photos. Maybe a little better quality.

4-ft tall. About 3-4 years old

Still looks like a yucca to me. Have you compared to google images of yuccas?

Yes, many images. I think you're right. This yucca elephantipes looks about as close to mine as I could find...

To give an idea of how fast they have grown, the one with 6 limbs grew from 2-ft to 8-ft in 20 years. The tallest one grew from 5 to 15 ft in the same time. The berries are about 1/2-inch diameter, are green when they fall and then turn orange.

Thanks for the fun discovery trip, everybody!

That's a terrible photo but it could be a joshua tree (which is Yucca brevifolia), just saying a possiblity, the photo truly sucks.

That's definitely not any kind of ash tree I've ever seen... from that photo it looks more like [part of] a shrub than any tree.

;O)

It is an Aloe. No doubt.

Yucca? or Dragon tree.

It's a yucca. Don't know which one.

"kris anthem um" wrote in message news: snipped-for-privacy@gardenbanter.co.uk...