Question
unknown tall green pla
this plant came up in the woods, very shaded area. it is about 6' tall. I live in NE Alabama by the way.
The stem is very green, and is the one in the foreground of the pic. In the spring it had lots of catkins on it.
The leaves are a few inches long, oval shaped with a sharp point on them.They are also opposite.
AnswerWell, to start with, it's a tree.
Trees with catkins in your area include alders, birches, aspen, poplars, willows, beech, oaks, chestnut, hornbeam and hophornbeam.
alder leaves very rarely have sharp pointed leaves.
Willows are generally long and narrow. But their bark is often green.
Aspens have very rounded-triangular leaves, usually without a long point. Greenish bark.
Birches usually have peeling bark. The leaf shape is right, though they are very heavily toothed on the edge. I don't think the bark comes in green, though.
Most poplars have distinctively shaped leaves, however balsam and black poplars have leaves as you described, and green bark. Their catkins are made up of larger than average individual flowers which release white fluff in May or June.
Beech is distinctive, with saw-edge leaves and greyer bark than this.
The oaks would be live or tan oaks, no one has a similar bark.
chestnut also has saw-edged leaves and darker bark.
hornbeam and hop hornbeam are possible. The leaves are somewhat like this, the bark usually more grey, though.
So my best guess is a balsam poplar, but I'd need to see the catkins to be sure.
