Shrub? with bristly bark

g squared 23

Well-Known Member
I was out spraying apple trees and food plots today, and putting out trail cams for the first time. Then I start walking around and trying to identify some shrubs this time of year as I don't get out much normally as it's too hot. Found some autumn olive I hadn't noticed before (great...) which I made a mental note to assassinate this winter, but also found this prickly fellow. My internet searches came up empty. Any guesses?

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Are those hairs or spines? Woody or hollow stem? Would you describe it as a shrub or could it be an upright weedy plant?
Interesting.
 
Are those hairs or spines? Woody or hollow stem? Would you describe it as a shrub or could it be an upright weedy plant?
Interesting.

Massey, I was hoping you would know what it was, It kind of threw me for a loop as well. The stems look like spines to me and are a dead ringer for some boysenberry stems that my neighbor used to have. However, it's obvious from the leaves that is isn't boysenberry or any of our native berries that I'm aware of.

I do know that there are some berry plants that have been imported, which I know little about - such as Himalayan Blackberry. I tried looking that up and found the link below. There are some pretty good pictures there, but they don't look right to me for his plant. It has me wondering if it is some other import that I'm not aware of.

https://www.nwcb.wa.gov/weeds/himalayan-blackberry
 
Felt more spiny than hairy, like nothing I've seen before. It might be a vigorous weed as opposed to a shrub. I'll investigate a bit further and add updates.


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Yeah, I got nothin. Lol.
Stem looks like a Rubus but leaves look like a tree leaf. Almost looks like a white mulberry and a blackberry had a baby.
Never seen anything like it. Can't be rose family with those alternate leaves, can it?
Have to wait for more info.
 
Wow Mark, I think you nailed it. I googled pics of American hazelnut and some seem to have the hairy stem. I have several hazelnut but they have a smooth stem. Also, I always see next years catkins on mine which gives them away. Don't see any on these. Maybe they're too young.
 
After a little research, I think Mark is correct. I have lots of wild hazelnuts but never have seen stems like that. The leaves are a dead ringer for American Hazelnut.

I think all of my Hazels are "Beaked" rather than "American." I have probably never seen an American Hazelnut. I just found a resource that said "Beaked" have way fewer hairs than "American." Makes sense. Good job Mark!

Edit: After thinking about it some more, I do know of some American Hazelnuts on my place, but I'm certain I've not seen hairy stems that look like those. I will be watching closer in the future.
 
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Wow, great call. The ironic part is that I was actually out looking for hazelnut shrubs when I stumbled on this thing. Guess I found exactly what I was looking for and didn't realize it. This is a fun game.


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The only way I can tell them apart is once they set nuts. Beaked nuts look like trumpets, and hazelnuts in my area come in clusters with no trumpet like neck on them. The only reason I know it is because I've recently ID'd it on my place and the deer love browsing it.

Beaked hazel
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Hazelnut
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