Need an I.D.

[MattyB]

Hi Guys, I was at the wild animal park and saw 3 different trees that I just loved.  Can anyone help with some I.D.'s please?

Here's the first Tree.

[MattyB]

Tree #1 again.

[MattyB]

Trunk Detail...Tree #1

[MattyB]

Ok here's tree #2.  Someone suggested that this might be Ficus ariculata on another forum but I don't think so.

[MattyB]

tree #2

[MattyB]

Tree #2 seed on trunk...looks like a Ficus to me.

[MattyB]

Tree #2 seed....again looks like a fig.

[MattyB]

Here's tree #3.  This was my favorite.

[MattyB]

tree #3 again

[MattyB]

Tree #3 from above the embankment.  Just love the habit.

[Robert Lee Riffle]

Matty, #1 is Firmiana simplex, a deciduous tree that looks quite tropical but is actually quite cold hardy.

#2 looks more like Ficus sycamorus than F. auriculata.  How big are those leaves?

#3 looks like a linden (Tilia)--but is probably not.  I.e., I don't know.

[MattyB]

Thank you very much Bob.  The leaves on #2 are about the size of a youth football.  I'd say 4" x 8".

[Robert Lee Riffle]

Matty, the leaves are too small--they're also not really the correct shape--and the tree is too tall for #2 to be Ficus auriculata.  

Can't tall you WHICH F. species it is: there are only ca. 900 of them ....

[MattyB]

OH Ficus......I'm clueless.  Maybe I'll email the pics to the head gardner and see if he'd be nice enough to help.  Thanks Bob.

[Diane Kirkland]

Matty, I wonder if #3 is Catalpa bignonioides?  I have Catalpa bignonioides 'Aurea' here in my little urban jungle:

[Diane Kirkland]

Closer of the leaves:

[MattyB]

Hmmmm Catalpa!  Thanks Diane!  I think that's it.  At least it sure looks like it.  Now I can keep an eye out especially in the spring and will be able to I.D. it by the flowers it makes.  Thanks for the help.

[philinsydney]

I photographed these figs at Sydney Botanic Gardens. The F. macrophylla (bottom) is probably the biggest fig in Sydney, while the F. watkinsiana (top) is a splendid specimen.

[Paul S]

RLR - do you know if the Firmiana can handle a hard prune ok?  I have it here, it is getting quite tall on a single stem and soon I'll need binoculars to see the leaves...

[MattyB]

Just an update:  Possible I.D. for tree #3 is Paulonia tomentosa.  It's supposed to be similar looking to Catalpa.  I just knocked on someones door who had what looks like tree #3 and the owner said it's Paulonia tomentosa, aka Sapphire Dragon, aka empress tree.  Supposedly super crazy fast.  I got a cutting for attempting to root it out.  Thanks ya'll for all the help.

[Robert Lee Riffle]

Paul S--

Yes, the firmiana can stand (survive) hard pruning.

However I would not let more than three main leaders take over else you'll have an ugly and undesirable mess, especially after the leaves fall.  

Has yours bloomed?  The inflorescences/fruits are as interesting as the leaves.  The thing is one of the very few members of an almost exclusively tropical (in the strict sense) family (Sterculiaceae).

[Robert Lee Riffle]

Matty--

I don't think the 3rd tree is a Paulownia species.  Th leaves don't look big and soft enough to be that.

[philinsydney]

Sorry to be difficult, Bob, but there are at least two Brachychiton species growing in New South Wales well outside the tropics- the Illawarra flame tree and the Kurrajong. There is also Rulingia pannosa which grows into Victoria, and at least one species of Argyrodendron in NSW rainforests. There may be other Sterculiacae I don't know about. I'm not arguing that the family is not overwhelmingly tropical, but to say that it is almost exclusively tropical may be overstating the case.

[Paul S]

Thanks Bob: out with the pruning saw next March, I reckon.  No blooms yet as it is only a young plant (well, a 12 ft pole with a nice exotic umbrella of leaves) and that is kind of how I would like to keep it.  Maybe the leaves will stay nice and big too - a la Paulownia?  Which I guess is another flip of the coin - flowers or pollarded for leaves.

[BigFrond]

(MattyB @ Jul. 03 2006,12:46)

QUOTE

Tree #2 seed on trunk...looks like a Ficus to me.

That is a cool tree.  Too bad all the fruits and seeds are no good because the particular wasp to polinate the fruit do not live here.  You can see a bigger tree at El Plantio in Escondido.  I always wanted this tree but couldn't find it in any local nursery.

[BigFrond]

(MattyB @ Jul. 03 2006,12:48)

QUOTE

Here's tree #3.  This was my favorite.

This tree has very nice flowers.  Hehehe... I was tempted to get some seeds but decided not to.  I've seen it many times near the waterfall and the WAP.

[Guest]

The Ficus does look like F. auriculata. We have a huge one here at Leu Gardens and it looks just like that. I thought F. sycamorus had rough, sandpapery leaves.

As for Sterculiaceae, it is now lumped into Malvaceae (as is Bombacaceae) so things like Firmiana, Sterculia, Theobroma, and Brachychiton are now officially "mallows".