Native Plants
Q. Who is Mr. Smarty Plants?
A: There are those who suspect Wildflower Center volunteers are the culpable and capable culprits. Yet, others think staff members play some, albeit small, role. You can torture us with your plant questions, but we will never reveal the Green Guru's secret identity.
Did you know you can access the Native Plant Information Network with your web-enabled smartphone?
Ask Mr. Smarty Plants
Ask Mr. Smarty Plants is a free service provided by the staff and volunteers at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center.
rate this answer
Saturday - August 09, 2014
From: Austin, TX
Region: Select Region
Topic: Plant Identification, Trees
Title: Tree that looks like cedar elm but with smooth bark
Answered by: Nan Hampton
QUESTION:
What tree looks like a cedar elm, but has smooth bark?ANSWER:
When you say that it looks like Ulmus crassifolia (Cedar elm) do you mean the leaves are the same shape and approximately the same size? That is what I am assuming and I have 3 suggestions. The first, I think, is the most likely:
Prunus mexicana (Mexican plum) The leaves are almost the same shape, they are heavily veined and are toothed along the edges. The trunk in mature plants is smooth, described as "satiny".
The other two are Ilex vomitoria (Yaupon) and Ilex decidua (Possumhaw). They both have smooth trunks and their leaves, though not as heavily veined or toothed, are somewhat similar to cedar elm leaves.
If none of these trees is the one you think looks like the cedar elm and you have (or can take) a photo of it, please visit our Plant Identification page to find links to plant identification forums that accept photos for identification.
From the Image Gallery
More Plant Identification Questions
List of plants with
January 30, 2007 - Hello, Mr. Smarty Plants, I would like a list of all the plants which have been named for Ferdinand Jacob Lindheimer. I would like to prepare this information for use at the Washington on the Brazos,...
view the full question and answer
Plant identification
April 05, 2009 - Today I was at Woodlawn Gardens, home of Nelly Custis, granddaughter to George Washington. There was a flowering plant there that had green (yes green) bell shaped flowers and very dark green leaves....
view the full question and answer
Plant identification in Florida
April 03, 2012 - Hello, I have a plant that I bought at a local nursery (now closed). It only came with a label that read "Sun". The plant has many long willowy stems coming up from the ground, green saw-notched lea...
view the full question and answer
Origin of cultivar of Sophora secundiflora
April 01, 2012 - Howdy, Mr. Smarty Plants! I am hoping you can shed some light on the origin of my silver-leaved TX Mountain Laurel, "Silver Peso". Some nurseries refer to it as a genetic variation of Sophora secu...
view the full question and answer
Plant identification of tree with strawberry-like fruit
December 11, 2009 - On my walk home from work i noticed a red berry i had never seen before. It is soft like a strawberry, bumpy all over but the bumps are not individual as a raspberry has. It grows on a tall bush (very...
view the full question and answer
| Support the Wildflower Center by Donating Online or Becoming a Member today. |