A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion The Plants and Flowers Forum Mystery Plants? Please help with this berry or nut

Hi guys! My daughter keeps trying to eat these, and I'm afraid to let her in the back yard because I don't know what they are. They grow on a tree- they look like small, smooth, purple-black berries. If you squish them, the berry-skin comes off, and you're left with a little green nut shell. Fairly smooth, not too hard. The entire berry is smaller than one shelled peanut. I have pix of the berries, the nuts, the leaves, and the tree. The leaves are serrated (? have little pointies?), smooth on front and back, and just slightly lighter green on back. We're in California, and the tree requires no special care- not even watering. I'll post the pix in a couple of posts, because I don't think you're supposed to overload one post with them. I'd appreciate any help.

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid225/pde8a32172483f0217d9f3d40bb46a652/ea0ed8b7.jpg

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid225/p67a8c96fcca621616087d23d84dbce19/ea0ed8b5.jpg

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid225/p8a4283e19976884c355320f64b208b4d/ea0ed8af.jpg

Here are the leaves:

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid225/p6f213126a172da8d480f2be36f1f6036/ea0ed8ad.jpg

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid225/p54319a96e19dc2074e941c88084d65d1/ea0ed8a6.jpg

And the tree, which is a very bad picture- sorry.

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid225/p5d9c0bb1cda8ff050e55f0700db7e416/ea0ed8a2.jpg

Try your local poison control center.
If the berries are poisonous, you'd have to cut it down so the child can enjoy the yard.

No, poison control can't help unless I can identify the plant.

I have no idea what those are, geegeeburr. Maybe your local extention agent could identify? I bet you could just shoot them an email with the pics attached.

Also, maybe it is a sapote? I know that all of the pics here don't match, but a few looked quite similiar. Google Sapote Images

Give it some time, maybe Papito or RugbyHukr or M. D. Vaden of Oregon , or Arctostaphylos or The Plant Doc...

Will come thru and give a holler..
They're all pretty good at identifing those...

*****If they don't come thru in a bit, someone remind me
and I will give them all a shout...******

I am in Cal too. It looks a little like photinia leaves but most of the time those are large shrubs. Or viburnum has the same type berries (shrubs again). I have elderberry trees with edible berries but the leaves are slightly different shaped. Try googling those.

Do the birds in the area eat the berries?

i thought they looked like olives, but i know that cant be right.

Hi guys, thanks for the suggestions! I looked at the Sapote, and it does look similar, but the leaves are different, I think. I'll have to look up images of the other suggestions.

What is an extension agent?

Papito sent me a couple of suggestions, which looked similar, but again, I think not exact. Maybe someone else will pop in with ideas.

I am not sure it the birds eat them. My guess would be probably yes, because of the occasionally purple bird poop, but there are a lot of fruit trees in this area. Will check in again later. Thanks!

:)Geegee

Most counties in CA have an extension service that is a branch of your state Agricultural University. The service is managed by the extension agent. If you are familiar with Master Gardeners, they are the volunteer arm of the extension office. Type in your county name and state in the google search to get your local office.

Los Angeles Cooperative Extension:
LA Cooperative Extension

LA Master Gardener Info

looks like a holly leaf cherry that has crossbred with another cherry.

This plant looks like a wild choke cherry tree. I am not sure if they are poisoness or not. Hope this helps some.

Hi all! I've been googling all these possibilities, and here's more info, just in case anyone might have other guesses.

Okay, it's not photinia or vibernum (sp?). Also, it is definitely a tree, not a shrub. It does look very similar to an elderberry, but it doesn't have big clumps of berries-- they seem to be singletons.
It looks very much like a hackberry (Papito's suggestion), but I haven't found an exact match yet. Not Chinese, Japanese, or common American.
And to you cherry suggestors, again, it look similar. When I first started looking, I thought it was a Catalina Cherry, but I think the fruit on my tree is smaller. So I'm stumped again.

Further info on the tree:
It is a tall, skinny tree- not very "bushy".
It doesn't have large, noticeable flowers. It has tiny, unobtrusive ones.
And the actual berries/fruits are about the same size as a raisin.

Prunus caroliniana

That's it, RugbyHukr! Thank you! The stuff I read said it was poisonous, so now we're going to have to think baout taking it down.

Rugby to the RESCUE AGAIN!!!
He's got a great eye!!!
Thanks Rugby!