Trees that look similar and sometimes fool you

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PA. Woodsman

Minister of Fire
Feb 26, 2007
2,257
Emmaus, Pennsylvania
Sometimes I have to do a closer inspection to determine what some woods are in cut form, not standing form, but if I drive up to the compost site and see some rounds from a distance at times I have been fooled with Pine looking like Cherry and also Poplar looking like Ash, but upon closer inspection I can see what they are.

Any others that can trick you too from afar?
 
Cool..."Let's go Pens!", been a fan since 1975!
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Lol hope we don't face each other in the playoffs :) (providing we make it )
 
Lots of trees have smooth bark while young, then the ridges and such develop as they grow.. I don't really even try with young trees in the winter.

I've misidentified maples and oaks quite a few times..
 
Ive often been fooled by sass and cottonwood thinking it was maple. Mulberry and Locust as well. Depending on age of tree.
 
My biggest mistakes have been between ash, tulip poplar and maybe box elder. That is with bark only. Also, just having the bark I can't tell at times hard sugar maple and soft red maple. There are others.....
 
Generally speaking I need to see leaves and / or keys to be 100% sure on the various maples around here - silver, red, sugar (mostly), some Norway i think starting to creep in, etc. Tree ID is not something I'm great at, I can pick out maple vs yellow birch vs poplar splits on the stacks, but those are pretty easy to tell apart based on bark, grain, colour. There are many species with really subtle differences that some folks here can seem to pick apart just from looking at a round or split. But I'm pretty clueless beyond the few I cut and split on my property.
 
the one situation I was in that sticks out in my mind was a tract of timber that had poplar, ash, basswood, and cucumber all mixed together. . . . I had to look at quite a few of those trees a 2nd and 3rd time for ID!!!
 
Bass and ash ... without leafs.
 
You're not too far from me! LOTS of PA. guys on here! I'll even count Chumley even though he's a Flyers fan! :) :p ;lol
Ya I'm surprised how far east the Penguins fans are spreading. I'm originally from Philly so Broad Street Brawlers all the way!
But seriously, Facebook yard sale sites! Most of you probably don't belong to any but your wives probably do. Even if it's crap, if it's not rotted, all well seasoned wood burns.
 
I have found that Lewistown PA is like the dividing line between eagles/steelers phillies/ pirates ect. . . everything west of route 322 is predominately Pittsburgh oriented and east would be philly. . .
 
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