Sorbus?

I happened upon this plant tonight on the way back from the compost bin as the sun was about to go from behind the clouds to below the horizon. At first glance I thought it was another of the ubiquitous little Rosa multiflora that are popping up everywhere. But closer examination shows that it's more ash-like. My tree book shows that both the American and European Mountain Ashes (Sorbus americana & Sorbus aucuparia) look somewhat like this. These are those ornamental trees with the orange fruit clusters. The "real" ashes (those in the Fraxinus genus) seem to have finer teeth, and we've got a lot of little ash seedlings coming up that look subjectively unlike this.

Note the white spots on the ground. These are cherry blossom petals that fell off the big cherry tree in the middle of the woods this afternoon.

Update, May 26, 2011: This was apparently very tasty. A couple of days later, there was no sign of this plant, whatever it was.

What Remains After the Invasives are Removed

One of the more enjoyable aspects of this invasive species removal project (along with just being able to engage in an outdoor activity and see progress being made) is finding items (mainly trees) that I didn't previously know were there.  Most of the time I don't know what specific kind of tree they are until I look them up, which is part of the fun.  Several of them are still a complete mystery to me, and many I'm not completely sure of.

Typical area after invasives were removed.

As I lop down the invasive vegetation, I try to be careful not to damage any of the other flora.  As I've mentioned, there are not many other things visibly growing under the honeysuckle and buckthorn.  Probably the primary tree that I find is ash seedlings -- I don't know at what point they technically change from a seedling to a sapling, but most are shorter than a foot.  Because of their prevalence, and the number of larger ash trees in the woods I'm not excessively careful with these.  I also consider the fact that several New York counties have been infested with the emerald ash borer, so encouraging ashes to remain the dominant tree in the woods may be unwise.

Small strawberry plants.

Another plant that I find plentiful is strawberry.  I know that we have many in our yard, and they stand up pretty well to mowing, even producing a few minute berries if left un-mowed for a while in the spring.  Maybe now that they're getting more sun, some of the plants in the woods will produce a few strawberries too.

Poison ivy around a buckthorn stump.

As I've mentioned before, we do have poison ivy, and it's one of the more plentiful of the native plants.  I haven't done anything to control it lately, though I did spray Roundup on the poison ivy plants in the trails one of the first years we lived here.  The presence of poison ivy helps me maintain my carefulness about removing the exotics.  It's easy to get the toxin on about any exposed skin surface, so I'm careful to wash thoroughly when I take a break from lopping and sawing.

 

Panoramic view from near the compost bin at the back of the lot.