Identification required please

[Chris2007]

I would like to identify a small bush which I found growing in a spot where I sometimes plant fruit stones/pips which I hope will grow. Initially it was no more than a few inches tall when I first noticed it a couple of years ago but it has now grown and spread outwards. The plant is decideous and the leaves are quite soft. I moved it to a sheltered corner of the garden but I may be carefully tending an invasive weed of some kind. Any assistance in identifying this plant from the attached images would be most welcome. Thanks Chris.

[Cotham Marble]

More of a wild guess than an informed suggestion but possibly a kind of willow, no idea which one though. I doubt that it is anything invasive and you can safey leave it growing. To get a certain identification you will probably need to see it flower, might be large enough for that next year.

CM

[AlanS]

It's a young Elder tree.

The leaflets are slightly broader than usual, which may be genetics or because it is in a shady place?

Maybe you put it there yourself, or maybe it was brought by birds attarcted by the stones/pips you planted?

Alan

[Tormentil]

Originally Posted by Chris2007

I would like to identify a small bush which I found growing in a spot where I sometimes plant fruit stones/pips which I hope will grow.

Shortly after we moved in to our house, some 25 years ago, my MiL gave us a a small tree which she said was an apple that she'd grown from a pip. I recall at the time saying "It'll never fruit then". However, just to be grateful, I put it at the back of the garden. Sure enough, as the years passed, it grew bigger and bigger but never fruited. That is until one spring morning, I noticed it had broke out with wads of catkins !!

[Chris2007]

Thanks for the fast responses to my query, I will leave it where it is now and let it flourish. Thanks again. Chris

[asheleaf]

for confirmation you could crush a leaf and sniff it, Elder has quite a strong pong!

Ashe

[oceanroc]

It is definitely Elder - has 5 leaflets to each twig

[Cotham Marble]

Originally Posted by oceanroc

It is definitely Elder - has 5 leaflets to each twig

Well there is certainly a five fold pattern, but I'm not at all sure that what the photo shows are divided leaves running off of lateral branches. To me those look like complete leaves set parallel along lateral branches, my guess would be that as the plant grows the number of leaves on each lateral branch will increase and that the five fold pattern is just a function of plants current size.

CM

[AlanS]

Originally Posted by Cotham Marble

Well there is certainly a five fold pattern, but I'm not at all sure that what the photo shows are divided leaves running off of lateral branches. To me those look like complete leaves set parallel along lateral branches, my guess would be that as the plant grows the number of leaves on each lateral branch will increase and that the five fold pattern is just a function of plants current size.

CM

No, those are leaves with five leaflets. Trust me on this!

One guide that might help - there should always be a bud in the axil where a leaf-stalk joins a stem. This does not apply where leaflets join the main axis of a leaf. Try looking at a clover leaf as an example (or your Elder!).

(OK, there are some oddities, like the 'Pick-a-back-plant', that buds off new plants from the base of the leaf-blade, but we can ignore these.)

In this case there is no argument - it is Elder and it is doing what Elder does.

Alan