This particular tree lives right next to the paved trail along the Humber River Valley. It's pretty close to the river itself, and is about 50 feet away from a lovely little pond. It backs up onto a dense bushy area that rabbits and deer like to frequent, and so it always has plenty of companions. There are a bunch of other trees that live really close by, and they all follow along the path, too.
This tree has a neat trick ups its sleeve. Whenever it feels threatened, it tells its roots to sprout up a whole new tree! So all along the path near it, there are little mini trees that are just extensions of the main tree. That means that it can survive any direct threat to the main tree itself. I found out later that these trees can very easily take over an entire ecosystem in this way!
This white poplars is a pretty large tree, so nothing can eat it anymore--which is good! The biggest thing that could threaten it is people. Sometimes parks get changed around to make them easier for people to navigate. With this tree being right beside the path, rather than deep in the woods, any changes could lead to it being chopped down. I certainly hope not, though!
So what was it? I finally took a bunch of pictures highlighting all the weird quirks of this tree and shared them on INaturalist. There, the app suggested that the tree might be a white poplar, and some other people confirmed my suspicions! Mystery solved! INaturalist is an incredible tool. Grab a parent and try it out in your own backyard.
