Tree ID please

[7acres]

The trunk was pretty thin. Branches very long and thin. It was dropping this perfectly round dark purple fruit. The flesh was white and had a sweet taste. The juice had a light purple color to it. What tree is this?

 

[Sully]

Black cherry tree?

 

[Sully]

 

[7acres]

View attachment 139396View attachment 139397

Wow, yeah that looks like a match. Thanks!

 

[Sully]

19.5 mbtu per cord. Atleast that's what my chart says

 

[Snigg]

I like getting out the fiskars on some cherry!

 

[Paulywalnut]

Great stuff when dry. Can't wait to fire up the Jotul.

 

[TreePointer]

Not black cherry (Prunus serotina). Leaves not serrated. Fruit way too large.

 

[7acres]

Not black cherry (Prunus serotina). Leaves not serrated. Fruit way too large.

Good observations. Any theories? Need more pics?

 

[TreePointer]

How about a tupelo tree (black gum)?

I don't get to see to many of them around here, but there are lots of them in the South.

 

[bigbarf48]

How about a tupelo tree (black gum)?

I don't get to see to many of them around here, but there are lots of them in the South.

I have a black gum in my yard and the fruit is not that dark or large. Looks more like a blueberry. Leaves are similar though.

Get some pics of the bark OP

 

[Wood Duck]

That is not a Black Cherry unless the OPs hands are really small. The leaves look like a Black Gum, and Tupelo is closely related. I have no idea what Tupelo fruit is like, but Black Gum has purple fruits, albeit a lot smaller than the one in the picture.

 

[7acres]

The trunk on the left is of the tree in question.



The fruit is sort of all over the place. The most I see in one cluster is 3. But no big bunches or anything.


Here's a size reference. They're about 2x the size of blueberries.


Here's a close up of the sliced one with seeds. Wouldn't cherry have a single pit rather than multiple seeds?

 

[nrford]

I believe that to be Black Gum, not one I'm real familiar with. I do know it is most certainly not Black Cherry.

 

[Shawn Curry]

I'm confused by the second set of leaves - they look like grape leaves. The fruit looks an awful lot like concord grapes. The bark and original pics of the leaves do look like black gum - or at least the pics I've seen of it.

 

[TreePointer]

I'm confused. Why are the leaves different from your first post?

Do you have a wild grape vine growing in your gum tree?

 

[7acres]

I'm confused. Why are the leaves different from your first post?

Do you have a wild grape vine growing in your gum tree?

Haha! Wow, now I'm feeling really confused too. Let me go take a real good look at that tree.

 

[7acres]

I'm confused. Why are the leaves different from your first post?

Do you have a wild grape vine growing in your gum tree?

TreePointer wins!

Co-worker and I had to go investigate this grape bearing black gum tree. Indeed it is a wild grape vine using the gum tree as it's trellis! Traced the vine to the ground. It's a good 4" in diameter. We both did a taste test and sure enough it tastes like just like a Concord Grape. Haha! Wow, well that was a fun Tree ID thread.

 

[TreePointer]

I'll hand the trophy to Shawn Curry. He got his ID on the grapes while I was still typing my post.

That was indeed fun. Better than a double shot of Wheel of Fortune.

 

[Longstreet]

Those look like muscadines to anyone else? They'd be within your range in the Southeast. The seeds really give them away.

 

[nrford]

Wouldn't the grapes be growing in clusters if it was concords, not individual berries? Makes me think Muscadines, especially when you look at the thickness of the rind.

 

[7acres]

Wouldn't the grapes be growing in clusters if it was concords, not individual berries? Makes me think Muscadines, especially when you look at the thickness of the rind.

There are definitely no clusters. My original impression upon tasting when I did the OP was that they seemed a lot like Muscadines.

In other news, the catalyst for this Tree ID post was that I found the same type of fruit at home this past weekend. Then I was walking for exercise at work and came across the fruit in the parking lot and traced it up to the gum tree. I was determined to learn what it was. So I got home last evening and shared this thread with my wife. Then we decided to go see if we had grape leaves and grapes over at the front treeline. Sure enough. We kept looking and found the entire area is covered in wild grapes. Quite a pleasant discovery!

Are wild grapes fairly common?

 

[7acres]

Thought this was interesting from Wikipedia, "The wood of Nyssa sylvatica (commonly known as black tupelo, tupelo, or black gum) is heavy, hard, cross-grained, and difficult to split, especially after drying. This resistance to splitting led to its use for making mauls, pulleys, wheel hubs, agricultural rollers, bowls, and paving blocks."

 

[Longstreet]

Are wild grapes fairly common?

Muscadines are native to your area. I don't know if I would say common (certainly not common like pine trees are) but it is not surprising for you to find some growing wild.

 

[Rebelduckman]

You've got a Muscadine vine no doubt. I have them all over the place growing wild around here(central Mississippi). I have one growing up a white oak in the back yard.