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I know about two species of Schinus both clicked from Sunnyvale, CA, S. molle with drooping branches and numerous leaflets, and S. terebinthifolius with stiffer branches and usually 7 thick leaflets. This tree similar to latter has 11-15 similarly thick leaflets and thicker rachis. Pl. help in ID. Clicked from Sunnyvale.
I'm inclined to go with S. molle. I have never seen S. terebinthifolius with so many leaflets and the rachis of S. terebinthifolius is indeed more slender than the plant in question.
Scott
I am uloading here the typical specimens of the two species from Sunnyvale
#1 S. terebinthifolius
#2 S. molle
Most books (Bailey, Japson Manual, California) mention 7 leaflets in former, Fl. Pakistan 7-11
Atleast five varietes are known, Wiki differentiates two, it would help to know differences of others.
I think we can go safely with S. terebinthifolius, because another similar looking tree Pistacia chinensis with many leaflets has different leaflets and unwinged rachis.
Well, the OP's images are certainly not S. molle. Thanks for providing a comparison image. Still the image didn't quite match up to the S. terebinthifolius that I've dealt with these many years. To many leaflets, to thick of a rachis which did not have the expected red coloration and the bloom was a bit different. A bit of research led me to find there are several different varieties of S. terebinthifolius. Unfortunately I have not come across a good botanical description of the differences in the varieties.Being as I'm in Florida and the OP is in California I surmise the plant I am familiar with and the OP's plant are different varieties. I include this quote and link.
"Schinus terebinthifolius var. raddianus is reported throughout Brazilian pepper's United States distribution [95] and an occurrence of S. terebinthifolius var. rhoifolis was reported in Texas [113]. Barkley's [12] 1944 investigation of the Schinus genus reported cultivation of S. terebinthifolius var. raddianus in Florida, S. terebinthifolius var. terebinthifolius in California and Florida, and S. terebinthifolius var. acutifolius in California. Based on genetic analysis there are 2 haplotypes in Florida that hybridize extensively [203,204]. One is more common in southeastern Florida, and the other is more common in northwestern Florida [203]. The haplotypes suggest Brazilian pepper was introduced to Florida from 2 distinct source populations [204]. An unpublished report speculates that S. terebinthifolius var. terebinthifolius and S. terebinthifolius var. raddianus may hybridize in Florida (Campbell and others 1980 cited in [93]). Given the lack of distinction between varieties in the literature and the uncertainty of their relative importance across Brazilian pepper's range, variety will not be addressed further in this review".
