Wild service tree: leaf — Wild service tree

Lookalikes

London plane or wild service tree?

Both have leaves with pointed lobes, set singly along the shoot.

The quickest check

The quickest check is how the lobes are set. London plane: three to five lobes from one point. Wild service tree: three to five pairs, the lowest sticking out sideways. No leaves on the tree? Check the fruit.

At a glance

Look at	London plane	Wild service tree
How the lobes are set	Three to five lobes from one point	Three to five pairs, the lowest sticking out sideways
Fruit	Bristly brown balls, about 3 cm	Brown berries, 10 to 15 mm, dotted with pale flecks
Winter bud	A reddish horn under one scale	Round, green and smooth, like a pea
Older trunk	A patchwork of grey, cream and olive	Close, scaly blackish brown plates

Four ways to tell them apart

How the lobes are setLeaves

London plane: how the lobes are set — London planeThree to five lobes from one point

Wild service tree: how the lobes are set — Wild service treeThree to five pairs, the lowest sticking out sideways

FruitSeed balls

London plane: fruit — London planeBristly brown balls, about 3 cm

Wild service tree: fruit — Wild service treeBrown berries, 10 to 15 mm, dotted with pale flecks

Winter budTwigs and buds

London planeA reddish horn under one scale

Wild service treeRound, green and smooth, like a pea

Older trunkBark

London planeA patchwork of grey, cream and olive

Wild service treeClose, scaly blackish brown plates

Think you can tell them apart now? Try the tree quiz: real photographs, and what gives each tree away.Take the quiz

The two trees

London plane

Platanus × hispanica

London plane is a big city tree with bark that flakes off in patches of grey, cream and olive. All winter, round bristly seed balls hang from its bare branches.

How to identify London plane →

Wild service tree

Sorbus torminalis

Wild service tree is an uncommon native tree, found mostly in old woods and sometimes in hedges. Its glossy leaves have pointed lobes, and the lowest pair stick straight out sideways.

Their other lookalikes

London plane or eucalyptus?Quickest check: the outline of a leaf

London plane or sycamore?Quickest check: how the leaves sit

London plane or field maple?Quickest check: the leaf and how it sits

London plane or Norway maple?Quickest check: how the leaves sit

In the app

See them side by side in Treely

Both trees, part by partLeaves, bark, buds, flowers and fruit, photographed through the year
Every lookalike side by sideThe checks that settle it, for every pair people mix up
A short round each dayUntil you can tell them apart at a glance
The full GuideBoth trees written up in full, with where to find them

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Every fact on this page is checked against the Collins Tree Guide, last in November 2026. Spotted something that looks wrong in front of a real tree? Tell us. How we check.

Photographs: oliverc29 (CC BY 4.0), Eric Toro Delgado (CC BY 4.0), Susan Marley (CC BY 4.0), Dave Shenton (CC BY 4.0). With thanks to everyone who shares their photographs on iNaturalist and Wikimedia Commons.