Wood ID please

[KJamesJR]

Need to ID this wood/tree. Have a small stand of it growing near a brook. One of them also fell over and the toppled trunk has grown mini trees over the years. Like a manifold.

 

[armanidog]

Maybe elm? I know elm will readily sprout everywhere from a trunk but other species will as well.

 

[KJamesJR]

I was thinking maybe hickory but it’s not common around my area.

 

[mark cline]

I think some kind of willow or elm.

 

[hickoryhoarder]

Great that you gave a twig photo and a photo looking up the tree. But those photos aren't quite close enough for me.

Could be willow?

 

[Ericcc]

I might think hickory was a possibility from the photo of the bark and the end grain of the wood, but hickory tends to grow on higher ground, at least they do where I am, and those twigs/buds don't look like the hickories I'm familiar with. When I think of hickories I think of very distinctive, large buds and rather fat branches. Also if those were hickories, I would expect to see some sign of nuts or hulls under trees that size. I'm not really familiar with elms, but that sounds like a better bet to me.

 

[KJamesJR]

The twigs are similar to the elm I have here but the bark is not. This bark has a long peeling pattern. I’m thinking now it could be sassafras.

 

[tadmaz]

My vote is red maple!

 

[Ericcc]

Maple has opposite branching, and it looks like the buds on that twig are alternating, not opposite.

Sassafras, as I've seen it, has very noticeably green twigs (not gray-brown like most trees).

 

[PA. Woodsman]

Maple has opposite branching, and it looks like the buds on that twig are alternating, not opposite.

Sassafras, as I've seen it, has very noticeably green twigs (not gray-brown like most trees).

That could be Sass, you may be onto it! You need to crack a piece open and post a picture of the inside of it and don't forget to put it on here, so so many people ask "what is this wood?", we try to help and go nuts because they never follow up with a picture of it split so we can see the grain so please put one on here! And take a whiff, if it is Sassy it will have a clean smell like Pine Sol.

 

[KJamesJR]

That could be Sass, you may be onto it! You need to crack a piece open and post a picture of the inside of it and don't forget to put it on here, so so many people ask "what is this wood?", we try to help and go nuts because they never follow up with a picture of it split so we can see the grain so please put one on here! And take a whiff, if it is Sassy it will have a clean smell like Pine Sol.

Will do when I get home. Stay tuned. I'm going with Sassafras. If I recall my chickens were hanging around these trees eating little red berries. Could have been from a different plant, but I'm not sure.

 

[gzecc]

Split open a couple of rounds. That will help greatly. Then post pics.

 

[TreePointer]

I'd also like to see an in-focus picture of the twigs, including the terminal buds. Lots of good guesses already, and my initial thought was red elm (slippery elm), but we need more pics.

 

[KJamesJR]

I'd also like to see an in-focus picture of the twigs, including the terminal buds. Lots of good guesses already, and my initial thought was red elm (slippery elm), but we need more pics.

Funny you should mention that because I did take an in focus pic of the terminal buds but apparently forget to load it for the first post. Here you go.

Won’t be back home from work until after dark tonight. I’ll see what I can do about a fresh split. Will probably have to take it inside for the picture.

 

[KJamesJR]

Split really easy. Like Cherry. Nothing like the Elm I’ve split around here. Doesn’t have any distinctive smell but it’s pretty frozen. Tried to get a good cross section on the split but the round was twisted and just popped like that, obviously this one had some rot in the middle.

 

[PA. Woodsman]

It's not Sassafras, not sure what it is, could be some type of Maple? Is it heavy?

 

[KJamesJR]

It's not Sassafras, not sure what it is, could be some type of Maple? Is it heavy?

It’s a little heavy. It’s also still wet. Any chance it might be ash? The more the bark dries the more it feels like ash. A little on the velvety side. I have red and sugar maple here but the sapwood isn’t like this stuff.

EDIT : nevermind twig doesn’t match ash at all.

 

[KJamesJR]

Okay after some more digging on google I think mark was in the ball park. I think I have it narrowed down to Slippery Elm. Twig is elm-like and slippery elm does have long kind of peeling bark. All the other elm on this property is tight barked, and splits like a sonava gun. So it must be a different species then what I’m used to seeing.