Hi all. I have lived in new england all my life and came a cross a young tree i have never seen before and could use some help in an ID.

I know it's difficult without pics but i didn't have a camera and it may be some time befoe i can get back to where i saw it, so i thought i'd give this a try.

The tree was growing in western massachussets in the greater sprigfield area. it was maybe 10 feet in height with a trunk diameter of perhaps 1 inch at ground level.

The tree was growing in an area that is laced with boggy ground. Native species are red maples, Ash, locust, hemlock. Skunk cabbage common in the area. The canopy of the forest is fairly mature but not completely solid. Some dapled sun reaches the ground, but i would call it heavy shade, but not complete.

This tree was unusual in that the individual leaves were perhaps as much as 18 inches in length, and there were 6-8 of them in a whorl at the end of the branch, umbrella fashion. Each leave was rougly oval, but definately more tapered towards the stem, wider towards the leaf end. The terminal bud was large, perhaps 4 inches in length and reminded me of what you'd see on a tropical rubber plant (the typical one you see in KMArt as a foliage plant).

the tree had perhaps four or 5 branches, starting out horizontal and then sweeping upwards, each with one of these umbrella set of leaves at the end, spanning at least 3 feet across.

There were at least two of these trees together and perhaps three. This was along a bicycle trail so i am wondering if someone ate and unusual fruit and tossed it into the woods.

I'll try to get photos but if anyone has guesses i'll see if i can find pictures on the web.

Thanx!

Poppa