The Original Mystery Plant
Dr. John Nelson

Photo by Linda Lee

The Mystery Plant is a native Southeastern species, commonly attaining a height of 50 feet or more. Its wood is pale and fine- grained, but it is not valued for timber.

TheMystery Plant is a member of the elm family, and although not an elm exactly, it does have elmlike leaves with blades that are lopsided or unequal at the base.

In the autumn, the leaves turn a bright yellow and eventually fall off. This species occurs naturally throughout much of the South from southeastern Virginia well into Texas and up into the Mississippi and Ohio River valleys.

The Mystery Plant is a tree of lowlands and is found most commonly on damp soils of bottomland floodplains. Its leaves are bright green in the summer and tear- shaped, sharply pointed, and the margins have a few teeth.

Its flowers are tiny and unattractive. After it blooms in mid- spring, green, spherical fruits develop on short, slender stalks. Each fruit is a drupe, which contains a single hard seed surrounded by a layer of soft flesh. The skin of the fruit turns a dull orange and then a bit purplish.

When the Mystery Plant is ripe, the fruits are edible, taste sweet like a raisin or date, and birds love them.

The bark makes the Mystery Plant distinctive. Nothing else growing in the South has this sort of rough, warty growth or a series of knob- like projections scattered over most of the smooth surface. There are several species to which the Mystery Plant is related, all in the same genus, and they are not easy to tell apart.

The Mystery Plant grows quickly. It is relatively drought- resistant and an excellent shade tree for yards and streets. Its bark is unusual and attractive and provides food for birds.