Tree ID, Maple

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JimBear

Minister of Fire
Dec 15, 2017
666
Iowa
I am thinking Maple but I have been wrong before. I have just never seen beatles/borers work on Maple like this, the wood is solid.

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Yes, an interesting display of the various leaves of the forest.

It looks like ash to me.
 
linden - https://dendro.cnre.vt.edu/dendrology/syllabus/factsheet.cfm?ID=89

Branching habit is alternate, so you know you can rule out maple . . . and ash
The buds are the clincher- big and fat ("buds are stout, ovate-acute, smooth, deep red, with two bud scales visible").

The wood is soft and very light in density, and desired for wood carving.
While not a definite ID it is frequently hit by sapsucker woodpeckers (note horizontal peck holes in pics 1,4 &5) of op.
 
linden - https://dendro.cnre.vt.edu/dendrology/syllabus/factsheet.cfm?ID=89

Branching habit is alternate, so you know you can rule out maple . . . and ash
The buds are the clincher- big and fat ("buds are stout, ovate-acute, smooth, deep red, with two bud scales visible").

The wood is soft and very light in density, and desired for wood carving.
While not a definite ID it is frequently hit by sapsucker woodpeckers (note horizontal peck holes in pics 1,4 &5) of op.

It’s a bit out of its range in SW IA but everything is a match. THANKS.
 
How can you tell that branching is alternate? I can't see any branches.
 
How can you tell that branching is alternate?
Look in the middle of pic 3 - the small branches/ twigs have alternate branching habit.
 
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I'm also thinking basswood/linden.

Does not look like any maple I know, even if it had opposite branching.
 
+ 1 on basswood. I have a fair amount of it on my property and it all looks just like that with the horizontal rows of woodpecker holes. I don't go out of my way to harvest it but i did have a bunch growing too close to the house/driveway that i took out and processed over the last few years. Most of it is water weight - when it drys out it will be super light. Makes great starter wood or to mix in with dense hard wood like oak. Splits super easy too.
 
Basswood the holes are from a yellow bellied sap sucker