Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2021 July 22

= July 22 =

Help identifying berries
Hi! I found these berries on Skinner Butte and I need help identifying them. What plant/tree/bush do they come from? Thanks, Tyrone Madera (talk) 16:22, 22 July 2021 (UTC)
 * It looks like a type of holly. I don't think that it is the common types of holly found in the U.S., like American holly or English holly because the leaf is wrong, but there are something like 480 species of holly.  That type of berry is very distinctive to many hollies, though I don't know which specific one this is (or really, if it is a holly.  I could be way off, but that's my best guess).  -- Jayron 32 20:02, 22 July 2021 (UTC)


 * A Quick and Juicy Guide to Berries of the Northwest also has holly (the higher leaves lack prickles), but also has red huckleberry which looks a bit similar. Don't use me as an authority though, we don't have them in England. Alansplodge (talk) 11:10, 23 July 2021 (UTC)
 * If you did, you'd call them hucklebrees. :) ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 15:15, 23 July 2021 (UTC)
 * "You say tomayto..."  Alansplodge (talk) 15:34, 23 July 2021 (UTC)
 * Yes. I read about that in the libree. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 15:39, 23 July 2021 (UTC)
 * Why use three syllables when you can get by with two? Alansplodge (talk) 17:20, 23 July 2021 (UTC)
 * Or 4 vs. 3, as in "aluminium". Though I'm still wondering how "Belvoir" evolved into "Beaver". ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 18:15, 23 July 2021 (UTC)
 * I could care less about that. --  Jack of Oz   [pleasantries]  00:18, 24 July 2021 (UTC)
 * Yeah, but these berries seem to grow in bunches? Is that unusual for huckleberry? I think holly is ruled out if it means any of the leaves have to be pointy—none of them were. Tyrone Madera (talk) 15:56, 23 July 2021 (UTC)
 * I have no idea, perhaps an American can help? Alansplodge (talk) 17:22, 23 July 2021 (UTC)
 * Not all holly has point/spikey leaves, though many of the common species do (like American Holly or English Holly noted above). Some smooth-leaved hollies include Ilex mucronata, also called Mountain holly, which has smooth-edged leaves, however THAT one is NOT the picture the OP shared.  As I noted, there are 480 species of Holly out there, and it could be of them.  -- Jayron 32 14:37, 26 July 2021 (UTC)
 * Red elderberries? 107.15.157.44 (talk) 20:50, 23 July 2021 (UTC)
 * Elderberries have pinnate leaves (we do have those in England, but not the red ones AFAIK). Alansplodge (talk) 23:18, 23 July 2021 (UTC)
 * These Red elderberries don't (Sambucus racemosa): --2603:6081:1C00:1187:4BE:4FAB:3664:595A (talk) 02:04, 24 July 2021 (UTC)
 * Does your father smell like them? Then they're elderberries (European, not African). Clarityfiend (talk) 07:43, 24 July 2021 (UTC)
 * I beg to differ: Sambucus racemosa says: "Each individual leaf is composed of 5 to 7 leaflike leaflets, each of which is up to 16 cm (6+1⁄4 in) long, lance-shaped to narrowly oval, and irregularly serrated along the edges", which makes them imparipinnate or "odd-pinnate". Alansplodge (talk) 11:44, 24 July 2021 (UTC)