Thread: Tree I.D.

I grow a lot of Alders here, I've got Alnus acuminata, jorullensis, nitida, cordata, cremastogyne, rubra, subcordata, rhombifolia, nepalensis, lanata, and a couple others I can't recall the name of, but that set of foliage does not look right for any of them. The leaf venation looks like cordata (Italian alder), but the serrated leaf margin is not a usual cordata characteristic. I'm pretty sure it's not Black alder (A glutinosa) because the leaf venation on that species is distinctly different.

The foliage, flowers and seed pods of the two closely related genera Alnus (alders) and Betula (birchs) are very similar, and as there are so many species of each it is easy to confuse them. Also both Alnus and Betula cross inside their species so there are frequent hybrids inside both genera. Certainly many of my alders are already producing hybrid offspring. If it is a birch, I can't help.

I don't know what that tree is, but it is a different from anything I grow, and the seed pod is really weird if it's an alder, usually they look like small woody pine cones while yours look soft and fluffy. I do not grow any Betula (birch) so don't have much experience with these.

I don't know what it is, but I doubt it is the Italian Alder you're looking for because they have large (for an alder) seedpods and non-serrated leaf margins. I would guess black alder (Alnus glutinosa) or a hybrid from the leaves, but the seedpods look wrong.