|
| Saw this tree standing out by a creek at a park today. I would like to know if only to satisfy my curiosity. I can get twig pics if it helps..
Chinaberry?
|
Follow-Up Postings:
|
| Yes, it does look like Chinaberry! I had no idea it would be in Arkansas. In a park, no less. Sigh. |
|
| Right at home with the privet and honeysuckle growing all over it. Thanks Esh :) |
|
| Chinaberry is a sickly and short lived tree, even in North America. They are flashy on disturbed soil but bow out quickly. j0nd03, do you have healthy ones? |
|
| Chinaberry, Melia azedarach, is a significant threat (very invasive / very destructive) here in TN and throughout much of the southeastern US. |
Here is a link that might be useful: Plant Conservation Alliance on Melia azedarach
|
| Snasxs, this is the first one I have found with a positive ID. It appeared quite happy to me. There are a couple of yellow fruiting small trees a couple miles from the house that always catch my eye going into town and fire up the neurons trying to get an ID at 45 mph. Now that I have a possible ID, I will stop and see if they are a match. They also appear quite healthy and happy where they are. Good info Brandon. I will add this to the memory banks in case I encounter it around the house. |
|
| j0nd03, either you have lost memory, or you are beating a dead horse. Previous GW threads: To Kill a Chinaberry Unidentified tree in my front yard Earlier comment from bboy: |
|
| I HATE HORSES! But I am not into postmortem beat downs. You do have a point in that my memory is not as sharp as it once was. However, my eyesight must be failing me as well because I can not find a single post in one topic made by yours truly and the post I made in the other topic has NOTHING TO DO WITH ID OF TOH. I can not even find evidence that I have read the other topic before you linked it. I had never even visited GW when that topic was made (2010). Here is my quote from my one post in either topic: ""Insects in our environments have not evolved with these plants and so get little nutritional value from them. Birds might eat some of their fruit/seeds, but birds heavily rely on insects as part of their diet (especially for their babies). Reduced native plant biomass in an area that is already reduced thanks to man's destruction of habitat means fewer insects for birds to consume. And that means fewer birds." This is basically it. Our native fauna and flora grew side by side for... well forever, in a balance with each other and one depends on the other for survival. Now, invasives from both sides are creating an imbalance in the give and take that should naturally occur. They grow unchecked by the natural predators/pathogens that keep their numbers in a controlled sustainable population in their native habitat to the detriment of the local native ecosystem. Will they take over the world? No, but they will cause great harm in the immediate future. On the bright side, after maybe a few 10's of thousands of years, "control agents" will have evolved to take advantage... maybe"" What is your point oh great riddler of things confounded and confused? I will not be your play thing today. If you want to continue this conversation I suggest you take a straightforward approach with your response. |
|
| That quote from bboy (from here) is a little cryptic, and it's not clear that he's even talking about Chinaberry tree, whether he's talking about what's happening in its native range, or what (he went on to post, "The trees in California are wild populations of other species of trees"). In any case, it's not the worst of our weedy species in Florida, but it's definitely not a sickly tree here. I don't necessarily agree with the idea that just because an exotic species is early-successional, it is harmless - our native early-successional species are important ecological components as well, and edge communities are important for wildlife. But perhaps that is a discussion for the "what's so wrong about invasives" thread. |
|
| Chinaberry it is. When I very small growing up in west central Arkansas those things were planted all over the place. But by the time I was about 10 they were essentially gone. I did not see another one for decades. However traveling back to see family the last couple years, I've noticed a few of them have begun to appear again in non cultivated areas. Perhaps it is climate change that is bringing them back, or the very cold winters of the 70's killed them out. But they certainly seem to be on the comeback in that particular area. Arktrees |
|
| AT, Chinaberry tree is native to the Philippines, South Asia, Southeast Asia and North Australia. I never see any Chinaberry in China. This tree is also called the Pride of India and Australian Lilac. I have Chinese friends who have memory about Chinaberry. Their description is the same as yours. Chinaberry trees appear on disturbed lands and riparian areas. They remember seeing them during childhood. When they grew up, all Chinaberry trees died out completely and rapidly over a span of 5 to 10 years. I suspect Chinaberry is this kind of flashy trees. Their population goes up and down in large leaps. |
Please Note: Only registered members are able to post messages to this forum. If you are a member, please log in. If you aren't yet a member, join now!
Return to the Trees Forum
Instructions
- You must be a registered member and logged in to post messages on our forums.
- Posting is a two-step process. Once you have composed your message, you will be taken to the preview page. You will then have a chance to review the contents and make changes.
- After posting your message, you may need to refresh the forum page in order to see it.
- It is illegal to post copyrighted material without the owner's consent.
- HTML codes are allowed in the message field only.
- No advertising is allowed in any of the forums.
- If you would like to practice posting or uploading photos, please visit our Test forum.
- If you need assistance, please Contact Us and we will be happy to help.