DerryhickPaddy,
Only since this last christmas, have I been making walking sticks. Before that, I was pretty much oblivious to what kind of tree I was walking under, or being shaded by. Once I wanted to make sticks, it became obvious that I had to know what kind of wood I was collecting. As a novice, I have made several mistakes.
One is believing what another person thinks the tree is. Another is memory. I had forgotten that the people who sold me my house had a red maple (two years planted) they wanted, and dug it up and replaced it with an Elm tree the same size. At that time, I couldn't tell the difference. I sure can Now! This spring, when the Maple tree sprouted Elm seed, I was very confused. I have been very embarrased to say so on this forum before now. the Maple Stick at
I share a fence with a neighbor, and volunteer trees tend not not get mowed and grow to full size there. The owner of the other side of the fence called it a Hawthorn, so I believed it.
This spring I visited 3 arboretums that had previously grown Blackthorn (Prunus Spinosa), but all of them had died and been cleaned out. Upon further investigation, I discovered that it had been identified as an invasive species for its spreading, briar patch tendacies. So, I have never been able to actually see a verified Prunus Spinosa (Blackthorn) shrub/tree. I continued to believe that I had Hawthorne trees on that fenceline.
However, the leaf patterns and fruit didn't match the three known varieties of Hawthorn that are propagated here, I came to the conclusion that I didn't have Hawthorn trees growing on my property. I did successfully identify a tree row of young Hawthorn for the groundskeeper at work, (whose expertise is building maintenance, not landscape). At that point, I knew I was getting better at identifying trees.
So, with a liitle net exploration, I was able to identify Prunus Spinosa at its flower time (before the leaves) that matched with what I found in old tree rows planted in the 60's to early 80's, plus some "out of control" briar patches on pasture land on some local ranches. These are all less than 8 feet tall, more shrub/briar than trees. That stiil didn't match with the "NOT-Hawthorn" on my property.
Finally, I discovered that there is a lot of "Prunus Americana" around here, a native plum tree to the Northern Plains, that predated and usurped the Blackthorn as more drought tolerant, and non-invasive. BlackThorn is no longer availble here except by special request, and is very limited.
Wild plum ( Prunus Americana" ) ripens as yellow to reddish-orange, not the deep purple of the Sloe. I now have to wait until fruit ripens to make judgement on which is which.
The Flowering in the springtime tells me that I have Native wild plum, not blackthorn, (as much as I wished it!) on my property. It flowered along with the leaves, not before the leaves like Blackthorn does.