# A fruit tree ID



## Toddppm (Oct 22, 2011)

Anybody got any ideas on this? The fruit is sort of like an apple with pits inside and actually tastes a little like apple???????


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## Toddppm (Oct 23, 2011)

I don't think it's Pawpaw. There are natives here and I've seen a couple hybrids in peoples yards. I'll have to go by and pick a couple more fruits and get a branch.


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## Toddppm (Jun 21, 2012)

Got some pics of the flowers today. Still can't figure out wth this tree is? Keep hoping to see somebody outside when I go by but no luck yet.


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## pdqdl (Jun 21, 2012)

That looks like paw paw, but I don't think it is either.

1. Veins on the leaves have several parallel ribs. Paw Paw has a central rib.
2. Bark is not smooth with lenticels.
3. Flowers are not "purplish-brown, broad bell shape, 6 petals, 1 to 1 1/2 inch across". 

Tough tree!


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## pdqdl (Jun 21, 2012)

Also:
4. Paw paw has leaves that are wider toward the tip than at the base. This tree appears to be the opposite of that description.


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## buzz sawyer (Jun 21, 2012)

Kind of looks like a Mango from what I could find on the web.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mango


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## Toddppm (Jun 22, 2012)

Now we're getting closer! The leaves on this tree are serrated and I haven't found any good pics of mango leaves , they look smooth edged? Also the bark is pretty scaly. Could be some kind of dwarf, I'd say definitely in the same family from what I've read so far.
Thanks


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## pdqdl (Jun 22, 2012)

Perhaps not a mango, they seem to have a rather prominent central rib to the leaves, also.

I suspect a mango or paw paw hybrid or graft of some sort. Here is another post that discusses a few problems with identifying mango plants: Mystery Plant!?! — What is it? « gfcelebration

I am still clueless as to what it might be. The fruit looks very much like paw paw photos, but quite a bit bigger and better looking. I suspect some sort of improved variety.


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## pdqdl (Jun 22, 2012)

Can you look at or disect the flower and fruit?

Flower parts for paw paw come in 5's. 

I don't really know, I have been interested in seeing a paw paw fruit all my life. It's all a result of that dang song about the boy and girl down in the pawpaw patch.

Here are some pics, the lyrics to the song, and some dissected fruit: Crabtree Farms » Way Down Yonder in The Paw-Paw Patch, A story by Jim Pfitzer


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## pdqdl (Jun 22, 2012)

Link to the music: BARNES & NOBLE | Folksongs & Bluegrass for Children by ROUNDER SELECT, Phil Rosenthal

Click the music near the bottom of the page to hear the song.


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## Toddppm (Jun 22, 2012)

Ha, I heard that song somewhere not too long ago. Just remembered somebody here I think posted a link to some hippy kids youtube video of them flitting around some woods getting paw paws.

We have Paw Paws here, well not right here but nearby. I transplanted a couple to my house from the woods at a place I ride at. They didn't make it too long, terrible soil compared to where I got them. Anyway, the flowers are completely different, they look sort of like rose petals and are alot bigger. The fruits have a very different taste.

I go by this tree all the time, actually there are 2 of them in the yard, I'll stop again and grab a small branch with flowers to get a better picture. The Mango flowers look very close, at least that type of flower. Otherwise I'll have to wait till Oct. again to grab some of the fruit.


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## pdqdl (Jun 22, 2012)

I have worked all the tree ID keys that I know of, and I keep getting blanks or paw paws. _But that isn't a paw paw_

I'm stumped until you find something new. A closeup of the flowers, buds, and leaves might help.


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## pdqdl (Jun 22, 2012)

You might just knock on the door and ask the owners if they know what the tree is. Most folks are pleased to have someone admire their trees, particularly if it is by a pro.

Sometimes it leads to tree work.


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## Iron Head (Jun 23, 2012)

Looks like a Jujube.
Can you get a close up of the fruit?
And where is this fruit tree from?


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## Raintree (Jun 23, 2012)

Iron Head said:


> Looks like a Jujube.
> Can you get a close up of the fruit?
> And where is this fruit tree from?



Good call, looks like a 'red date' to me.


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## Toddppm (Jun 23, 2012)

The flowers look close but if I remember right there were several small pits not 1 big one. And it did taste like apple. Maybe some kind of apple? 
I've been tempted to knock on the door but this house looks like the kind where they don't want visitors, all shades drawn, nothing outside except the vehicles. I keep thinking the people that live there might be spanish or korean, so they could have got the seedlings from home. We're in zone 7 too so it's doing pretty good if it's tropical, no die back at all.


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## Toddppm (Jun 23, 2012)

hmmmm searched oval apple- Gopher Apple if this were a tree it'd be closer.....


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## pdqdl (Jun 23, 2012)

Iron Head got it! 

Jujube 
Ziziphus jujuba

According to wikipedia, this is a rather well used fruit in asia. Jujube - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Links with pics and info:

Jujube | Trees of Joy
Jujube - Ziziphus jujuba


Notice the prominent parallel veins in the leaves. This pic looks like toddppm's tree.


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## Toddppm (Jun 23, 2012)

I don't think so......


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## pdqdl (Jun 23, 2012)

Look real close at the ribs on the leaves. So far, nothing else we have looked at have even come close.

One of the links I posted above indicated that there were lots of varieties of this plant available from China, since they had been hybridizing them for many years. 

Here is a link that provides much better identification and description of the tree. It also shows detailed photos of the flowers that seem to match your pictures. 

NMSU: H-330: Jujube: Chinese Date in New Mexico

I'm pretty certain this is a match.


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## pdqdl (Jun 23, 2012)

The pictures you provided contain this cropped image:







I rotated it to match the orientation above; I don't see how your tree could fail to be Jujube.


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## Toddppm (Jun 23, 2012)

It's trickery! 

Well when you put it like that... The thing that threw me was the pit, single pit with 2 stones. I didn't study the one I grabbed last time too much and thought there were more seeds. I must have broken open the pit and didn't realize the stones were inside that part.

I'll get anpother picture next week


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## Iron Head (Jun 23, 2012)

If they have more than one pit, then they're not Jujubes.
Jujubes have a single seed tappered to a point at both ends.
These trees thrive in western Washington. Unfortunately they need a few more weeks of hot summer to ripe.
I'm dying to see somebody come up with a rootstock suitable for my area so I can grow a few dozen trees.
My mom's best friend from California send us several batches of these every year.
The red kind are much sweeter.


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## pdqdl (Jun 23, 2012)

Here is an interesting note on this tree ID search:

My main tree id search tool is Dendrology at Virginia Tech. Using their tools, I came up with possible trees of Carolina buckthorn and common buckthorn.

Curiously, the Jujuba is in the buckthorn family, so I came close without knowing it.

Frangula caroliniana Fact Sheet
Rhamnus cathartica Fact Sheet


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## Iron Head (Jun 24, 2012)

pdqdl said:


> Here is an interesting note on this tree ID search:
> 
> My main tree id search tool is Dendrology at Virginia Tech. Using their tools, I came up with possible trees of Carolina buckthorn and common buckthorn.
> 
> ...



Thanks for your research.
I wonder this buckthorn could make a favorable rootstock for the Jujubes?
Cascara Buckthorn: Common Trees of the Pacific Northwest

Raintree Nursery in about 45 min from me, I might get a couple of plants and graft them next year.


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## Toddppm (Jun 28, 2012)

I'm 99% sure it's a Jujube now see pics. I'll have to grab a few when they ripen up this fall. Used to always hear that word as a kid and had no idea what it was or meant, now I know!


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