Tree-of-Heaven: Native Lookalikes

[@billward2264]

Thank you from Boston- all three of these trees grow wildly here, and being able to distinguish between them is valuable.

[@happyjack8952]

By far the best comparison. Thanks

[@Madame-la-Lune]

Yep, this video (majorly helpful, thank you!) confirms that it's Trees of Heaven I have sprouting up all over the yard.

[@RosalindBarr]

This is an excellent comparison! Thank you for this.

[@hanswolfgangmercer]

This is really helpful! I've always had a hard time telling sumac and tree of heaven apart

[@monickalynn4365]

I've had so many of these small trees that I planted them around my yard fence and used them in a little garden bc I thought they were pretty little trees-I had no idea they were this destructive. Wondered why they were so easy to care for,LOL

[@rainafox]

Thanks from NW Jersey for the helpful video!

[@modee-b9s]

Excellent video - Thanks!

[@retroredo9850]

We had one tree of heaven for sure. They are all over town. it was blocking door to a workshop on our yard when we bought a fixer in retirment in high desert California. It had many suckers and would sprout from seeds. Watching another video I think we accidently got rid of it in a better way. We removed suckers at 3 feet or so tall. Kept pulling root suckers. By the time we got a landscaper to remove other dead trees there were no suckers and he took it all out including roots. But we have another with very similar leaves and pods. But it never grows suckers or from the seeds and it has many seed pods. Maybe its hyrbrid or nuetered somehow. I saw a yard with the scary ones but they too had this other one in the middle of tons of small tree suckers! The bees would die trying to get pollen from the bad tree. I went outside now and got leaves and pods from the other tree. Its identical to tree of heaven. It must be male then?

[@FirstLast-cd6vv]

The tree of hell.

[@srimaddukuri]

The tree of globalism.

[@dianeb9449]

Thank you.

[@SuzetteKath]

Also it appears for the black walnut. The leaves are not only shorter but wider than the tree of heaven's leaves. Thing is, due to a canker issue. More and more butternut trees are falling victim to it.

[@clifb.3521]

no mention of the Peanut butter smell, when crushing the ToH leaves?

[@JRockKPopLuvrMoriY]

What about the terrible smell? Are any natives close to the bad smell of the tree of heaven?

[@shreddagorge]

Very thankful for this but I have a dilemma. Our tree meets most of the Black Walnut description: leaves, fruit, bark, flimsy twig, and three-lobed twig scar. The pith, on the other hand, is identical to the Tree of Hell; it is brown and spongy and looks nothing like the chambered photo you show. As it's now the end of September we want to apply chemicals if necessary, but the walnut fruit seems to be the most obvious identifier. Do Black Walnut trees in wet areas like Oregon have spongy piths, unlike those in drier California (like one I cut down a few years back which matched your described pith)?

[@DaimyoD0]

Tree of Heaven will never have drupe fruit which resemble walnuts. They always have samaras, or "helicopters," like maple trees, if they have anything at all. If you live in Oregon, you could have a different species of walnut tree than the one depicted here. These are eastern black walnuts, Juglans nigra, which can be found in Oregon but aren't considered native to the region. That being said, I don't think anyone would consider it to be "invasive" in Oregon either. You could have English walnut, Juglans regia. Or, you could have Oregon walnut (Juglans hindsii x nigra), which is apparently the result of hybridization between eastern black walnut and Claro walnut/Hind's walnut, which was is native to Northern California. This is a new discovery to me as well. More info if you're curious: gobywalnut.com/blogs/articles/a-brief-history-of-oregon-black-walnut Long story short, the pith might not look like the walnut tree depicted here. But if it has walnut-like fruit on it, there's simply no way that it could be Tree of Heaven.

[@martysmith6240]

Looks like what i have growing in my woods but with small thorns all up and down the bark . Dont have no idea .

[@wiaker]

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aralia_spinosa

[@errOHneoS]

Most likely a black or honey locust.

[@eldrabarnes2093]

I have a tree like sumac growing by one of the coners of the house but im no sure what it is.

[@noreaster4194]

Does it have red berry clusters? A distinct smell crushed? Teeth on leaflet margins?

[@thewickedwitchofse8998]

Very helpful. Thank you.