Hello Joe Just wanted to let you know that I found the name of the plant. You were right it was in fact a euphorbia. Euphorbia bougheyi Thanks for putting me on the right track Joy

I posted on your Plant ID forum thread; here is my reply. http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/namegal/msg0121502231960.html?15 That's probably Red Mulberry (Morus rubra) given the very limited information provided. wgreenlee1 could assist by saying WHERE these plants are growing. From your post here on Trees, I'm going to surmise Missouri - where Red Mulberry would be perfectly at home. I am pretty sure that there are no Tilia sp. with this kind of bark characteristics. It doesn't fit any of the birches either. Not even close on poplar or cottonwood (Populus sp.). Since these plants have been observed by you over a long period of time, I'm certain you would have observed Tilia flowers in passing. You should have seen Mulberry flowers, too - whether male or female. This tree is plenty old to have flowered. Those leaves look large enough, within the range of morphology, and appear coarse enough (along with the written description) to fit right in with Red Mulberry. Lobed leaves are just one expression of Mulberry species leaves, but not the only expression. Your location is significant in answering your question, and additional images of the dormant features like buds, stems, and - be still my heart - the WHOLE tree, make a huge difference in offering lucid opinions to the identity of this tree. Here's an old Red Mulberry trunk for comparison.

a crushed leaf... for a brief second or two.. might smell like rootbeer but sometimes not ... but all 3 will smell the same.. if the same.. rootbeer or not... ken

Yup, agreed on the ID. You could probably take cuttings a few nodes long & pot them back into mother plant's pot, to make it look even more full & lush.