Elaeaganus umbellata - Autumn Olive

I encountered a specimen of the Autumn Olive (Japanese Silverberry) while looking at some ash trees and thought, wow, who would have planted that? I am very familiar with the Russian Olive, Elaeagnus angustifolia, and its weedy weak wooded habits, but not with this tree. So a little digging and the only reason someone might have planted it could have been the fruit, tiny as they are, contain significantly more lycopene than tomatoes. The plant roots are colonized by a nitrogen fixing bacteria. They are also considered noxious weeds. A deciduous small tree or large shrub, they are more or less rounded.

Leaves are deciduous, alternate, simple, narrowly lanceolate to elliptical, 1-4" long, with somewhat undulated margins. In the spring they are covered with silver scales. The scales fall off the top of the leaf by summer but remain on the lower surface.

Flowers have a long tubular calyx that spreads at the tips and are often described as bell-shaped start shaped with four white sepals, about 1" long, fragrant, opening in the spring, in the axils of the leaves singularly or in groups.

Fruit is a small red berry-like drupe (?), with silver specks. Plants produce lot of them in the summer ripening in fall.

Young stems also completely covered with silver scales when young, becoming reddish brown by years end. Buds are also silver. Trunk is reddish brown and smooth, later becoming furrowed and peeling.

Misidentification:

My first thought when seeing this specimen was the Russian Olive but the fruit looks different.

Location

Aptos

300 Poppy Way

Ilex x altacherensis 'Golden King' - Golden King Holly

The 'Golden King' is a variegated foliaged female, I know, funny name for a female, but perhaps even more funny is another cultivar 'Golden Queen' is a male. Go figure. One of many hybrid hollies breed and selected for in England. This cultivar is not commonly found around here. Evergreen tree with an upright habit to 25' or so and typically with a dense canopy.

Foliage is alternate, simple, ovate to oblong, four inches long or so, about 1" wide, dark green in the center and golden to whitish colored margins. Variegation variable, not just the color but the symmetry and amount of variegation. Margins mostly entire, occasionally 2 spines near the apex of the leaf.

Flowers dioecious, white, small, females have infertile stamens. Need a male around to provide pollen.

Fruit is red, 1/4" to 3/8" diameter in clusters of 3-7 or there about. Persistent through winter, still in place when blooming the following spring. See above.

Misidentification:
Other hollies, but this one has entire margins and the variegation pattern is in the middle of the leaf and not on the edges.

Location
Santa Cruz
At the Civic Center

Ilex X altaclerensis 'WIlsonii'- Wilson Holly

The Wilson Holly is a beautiful holly tree. Trees are densely pyramidal, growing to 20' tall and 10' wide at the base but tapering to a slightly rounded point. Trees are female and produce very nice looking fruit.

Leaves are alternate, simple, broadly ovate, dark green, and about 3" long. Most holly trees have much narrower leaves. The central vein is yellow. The confusion starts with the margins. Most evergreen hollies have spines. However, many lose the spines when the tree is not growing vigorously. So you can find leaves that are entire, some slightly spined and others covering the margins with spines. Most mature examples have mostly all broad leaves.

Flowers are white, five petals, either males or females. Borne early spring or late winter.


Fruit is not a berry, according to botanist, it is a drupe. Either way, they produce large quantities in the internodal area of the stems.

Trunks are smooth silver-gray.


Misidentification:
I really have a hard time with Hollies. I have never lived where they are dominate plants in the landscapes like in Oregon. There are so many hybrids with very little information on their identification. Looking though the literature I found a cultivar called 'Camelliifolia' and the name fit this to a tee. My interpretation of a camellia must be very different than the person naming that plant because those are quite narrow.

Had some wonderful help on the ID from Barrie Coate.

Location:
Aptos
305 Clubhouse Dr

Capitola
618 Burlingame Ave

Ilex × altaclerensis 'Lawsoniana' - Lawson HIghclare Holly

A pretty variegated variety of the hybrid holly, this plant does not seem to have its own common name. The common name Highclare holly seems to be used for all the cultivars of this hybrid cross. Oh well. I am going to make up one. Regardless of the name, this trees is evergreen, narrow upright and usually a pretty tight habit, growing 25' tall. Grown for its variegated foliage and pretty fruit.

Leaves are alternate, simple, narrowly ovate or elliptical shaped, spineless entire margins and yellow coloration in the center of the leaf. Coloration not uniform leaf to leaf.

Commonly reverts to all green leaves, so pruning is in order.

Flowers are dioecious, these being female. Small, white in clusters on new growth.

Fruit is a red berry, clustered in groups.

Stems are green. (This is from a branch with non variegated leaves.)

Bark is silver gray, smooth with some wrinkling at the branch collars.

Like so many other holly trees, this one is a hybrid between I. aquifolium x I. perado.

Misidentification:

There are several other yellow variegated hollies, some of which the variegation is on the margins, others like these. I made my identification from all the descriptions indicating the leaves revert to green, which this tree does.

Location:

Aptos

408 Gay Rd.

Ilex aquifolium 'Argentea Marginata' - Variegated Holly

The variegated holly is a wonderful addition to our evergreen dominated urban tree canopy. Growing slightly more rounded than the species, they will reach 30+ feet and form a broad, dense pyramidal shape. While this may appear to be multiple plants it is only one, with multiple leaders. They are often pruned formally, though they do grow that way naturally. I think my favorite variegated holly is the Hedgehog Holly. If you are going to have spines then really have spines.

Foliage is evergreen, simple, alternately arranged, elliptical, 2-3" long, dark glossy green in the center of the leaf, margins yellowish-white (silver?), slightly undulated, with or without spines. Fewer spines on slower growing branches. Very attractive year round, especially with the fruit. New foliage in spring should be somewhat pink.

Flowers are dioecious, all females on this tree. Small white in short clusters, in the spring. You may not notice them.

Fruit is a red berry like drupe about 3/8", can't say round because they are somewhat elliptical though the ends are not pointed.

Stems are green as you can see in the picture above.

Trunks are smooth, gray to silver colored. The canopy can be so dense you might not see the bark.


Misidentification:
Assuming you are looking at a variegated holly, and the margins are yellowish you could be looking at one of a dozen cultivars. I am basing my identification on the most likely candidate to have been planted due to availability in the nursery trade. I am always up for  being corrected, so if you think I am wrong, let me know, it won't be the first time.

Location:
Aptos
204 Appleton Dr
248 Moosehead Dr.

Taxus baccata 'Standishii' - Standishii Yew

This variegated yew (Standishii Yew) is a pretty cool conifer if you like dwarf or variegated conifers. Grows much slower than the Irish Yew (Taxus baccata Fastigata), ultimately reaching 12-15' after many years. This one is over 50 years old and has gained some decent height and girth. Not commonly seen, and not likely to see more planted, yews are slow growing in the nursery and they are costly to buy retail. Often used in landscapes for vertical accents as seen in this image. My guess is there were several plants in the landscape and not just one.

The Standishii yew makes a great hedge or screen.

Leaves are evergreen, simple, linear or needle-like, spirally arranged, about 1" long, and variegated. The variegation may be the whole leaf of just the margins. A bit splotchy but nice.

Grown in the shade or at least on the shady side of the yew, the leaves are green except for yellow margins. These leaves belong to the yews being used as a screen.

This yew is a female cultivar and will produce a structure that looks like a berry, but is really a cone with a fleshy covering called an aril. More or less all parts of the parts are poisonous.

Yews are very easy to prune, they are tolerant of shearing, topiary or hedging.

Misidentification:

Not much around looks like this. Hoping you have more to look at than a twig because there are way more shrubby variegated yews around, but not here in SC.

Location:

Aptos

6500 Soquel Drive, Cabrillo College in the parking lot of the Sesnon House.

420 Semple St, several along the walkway to the house.

Sorbus aucuparia - European Mt. Ash

I saw this tree several years ago and thought it was being taken out, but its still hanging in there. The European Mt. Ash is a small to medium sized deciduous tree with great fall color and bright red-orange berries. Growing 20-40 feet tall and 8-10 wide with an upright oval habit but can be more open and rounded with age. Rarely seen in our area but more common over the hill. This one is multi-stemmed. You can see on the right that its growing pretty well over the neighbors house.

Different tree, in the fall.

Leaves are deciduous, pinnately compound, 7-9" long, with 9-15 leaflets, each about 1-2" long with serrated margins along the upper half of the leaf. Dark pale green upper surface, lighter green below, turning a beautiful red in the fall.

Flowers are white, small, about 1/3", white, borne in 6" wide flattened clusters.

Fruit is a small orange-red pome eaten by birds. 'Cardinal' is a bright red fruited cultivar.

Stems are thick, smooth by summer, with a large terminal bud that is covered with white hairs. Often with distinct lenticels. Trunk is more or less smooth.

Goes by several common names, some have Rowan in them meaning Red head….

Misidentification:
Chinese Pistachio maybe, it actually serves the same function in colder landscapes but has better looking flowers.

Location:
Capitola
419 McCromick Ave

Acer palmatum 'Bloodgood' - Bloodgood Maple

The Bloodgood maple is one of the most commonly planted purple Japanese maples anywhere. They are by far the hardiest, and most tolerant of full sun. Bloodgood maple grows as a small tree, often multi-stemmed with a rounded canopy rarely reaching 20'.

Leaves are purple or greenish in the shade, opposite, deciduous, palmately lobed but only  shallowly, with fairly wide triangular lobes being lightly serrated.

Fruit in summer is a nice addition, bright red in large quantities. Samaras in pairs, wide spreading, maturing brown and falling individually.

Great fall color.

Misidentification:
There are several purple japanese maples but this one has pretty shallowly lobed leaves.

Location:
Aptos
317 Clubhouse Drive

Capitola
4585 Opal Cliff Dr (lots of great specimens) Santa Cruz

Santa Cruz
221 Ross St   (excellent specimens)

Ailanthus altissima - Tree of Heaven

The tree of heaven, what a funny name and I suspect that most horticulturalist think it might be from that other area. Very fast growing, 50+ feet in cultivation. Can actually look pretty nice but often it's lopsided. Weak wooded and weedy to boot. This is the tree that grew in NY city, in the sidewalk cracks. 

Leaves are deciduous, pinnately compound, 1-2' long, with 11-25+ ovate to lanceolate 1-2" long leaflets have entire margins except for a couple of teeth at the base and a distinct gland on one of the teeth. Leaves are dark green with a whitish underside. 

Distinct gland on the one side of the leaf base.

Trees are dioecious, male and female trees. Small yellowish green flowers in the spring. Male flowers smell bad when open. 

Bark is smooth when younger but developing shallow fissures. Stems are thick, reddish colored and have heart shaped leaf scars. 

The fruit found on females only is a samara, about 1" long and is twisted so it spins when it drops to the ground. The female trees look their best when covered with red fruit.

Misidentification:
Perhaps Koelreuteria, either can have similar looking foliage.
A reader suggested Rhus typhina as well. I agree, we don't see them here but in colder climates for sure. Rhus typhina has very hairy stems and more deeply dissected leaf margins. Attractive plant in the fall. 

Location:
Aptos
Soquel Dr at Capitola Rd Empty lot

Santa Cruz
Some on Chestnut heading up the hill toward Mission, no address, just in the wild area there.

Watsonville
121 Carey Rd. (corner of Carey and GreenValley Rd)

Taxus baccata 'Fastigata' - Irish Yew

The classic yew of Filoli Gardens and of the formal landscape gardens. Extremely formal, growing slowly to 30-50' by 10-15' wide. Discovered long ago in Ireland, it became known as the Irish Yew. These are pruned yearly as you might expect, while the ones in the next picture are at an arboretum and show the more natural habit. 

Leaves are evergreen, linear to narrowly lanceolate, 1" long, 1/8" wide, dark green with a distinct midrib and a pointed tip, generally arched and not flat like many other yews. Lower surface is lighter green with 2 bands of stomates. Most of the foliage is spreading around the stem and the stems are upright. On stems that may be less upright the leaves may be 2 ranked.

Of course the foliage and almost all parts of yew are toxic. Interestingly, the cancer drug Taxol is produced from yew trees, originally the wester yew bark, but research found that the hybrids produced higher concentration in the foliage.

Stems are ridged, bright green. You can see the 2 bands of stomates on the lower surface.

The "fruit" is a succulent cone … the red part is called an aril, and is the only edible part of a yew. The naked seed (its a gymnosperm) is located inside the aril. Aril is about 1/2" long. 

Here is the aril squished showing the seed. The aril is sticky but edible and reported to be sweet tasting, but I have no first hand experience. 

This is a picture of the trunk and roots of a very old T. baccata in England. I think it was at Painshill Park on the Sublime walk.

Misidentification:

Hick's yew is a cultivar of the hybrid species T. x media (T. baccata X T. cuspidata) and has characteristics of both parents, not that telling the species apart is easy. The best way to tell them apart is hope that the specimens are mature, as the Hicks yew is narrower, though there are several "clones" of the Irish yew floating around so stick with the width but could be wrong. There is at least one gold cultivar as well.

Location:
Aptos
525 Baltusrol Dr.
762 Rio Del Mar Blvd.

Santa Cruz
848 Walnut Ave - really nice ones