Google fruit salad trees. You should find what they are taking about. You can have all sorts of varied fruit trees, as long as they are from the same family( cant have apples and oranges on one tree). But you can have as many as eight differnt combination of same family fruits on one tree. Its basically just branches grafted on a same family rootstock, and after the grafting heals, you get a tree with different branches producing different fruit. They give better descriptions on the fruit salad tree website.

Thanks for the info, darthhelmut, but that doesn't sound like the type of tree that my friends are asking about.

Their neighbor's tree is an ornamental. The variegation is in the leaf color, not the fruit. (I have no idea whether it even bears any fruit.)

I've never seen one mentioned.....What you described is more likely a tri-colored beech tree.

~Chills

Thanks, Chills. When I first read your post, I thought you were way off base. But I've been looking at photos on the Internet, and the overall effect is indeed very similar.

However, one web comment describes the leaves as "very delicate (almost succulent) thick, soft and fuzzy" -- which is nothing at all like my friend's neighbor's tree. As of June, its leaves were very stiff, almost as though they were made of plastic, and not fuzzy at all.

Also, I had the impression that the tree I saw was planning to stay fairly small and bushy, somewhere in the 10-20 foot range, but I could be wrong. And I'm thinking that no one in their right mind would plant a beech tree that close to their house. But then again, I've seen people plant large species in much tighter quarters than that.

If you have first-hand experience with a tri-color beech (or if anyone else out there has), I'd be interested in your thoughts on the above points. Thanks!

Here is a link that might be useful: Photo of Tri-Color Beech

I've never noticed the leaves as being "solf and fuzzy or like a succulent" (but then again I don't have one in my yard....but there are two of them in the neighborhood. One of the local trees is pruned into a lollypop shape (its at the bank) and the other is more shrubby (its in partial shade planted just a foot or so from a house).

I found a good picture of leaves online. (on what happens to be a great site)

~Chills

Here is a link that might be useful: tri-colored beech leaves