# bumpy bark tree ID



## MELOC

i found an odd looking tree while cutting firewood today. it is a cluster of maybe three trunks. the largest is about 4 inches in diameter. i could find no leaves as it is the only one i saw among various oaks, cherry, birch and red maple. i did not get a twig, but the twigs had lots of red in the bud. my first thought was that it was a maple...maybe mountian maple. i don't know if this is a specific tree or a common tree with a condition, lol.


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## ChuckAcorn

Possibly Beech ...


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## Use Less

Hi, I looked in a good tree guide. I was inclined to say beech, too, but the bumps are really quite large. My book shows Alder and something called Herules-club with knobs. Alder bumps look smaller, though, And H-club much bigger. Also, the H-club is restricted to Southern coastal areas. There is a blight affecting beeches here in the NE, but I don't know what the visual symptoms are. Post if you get a convincing answer? Or go back in the spring.  Sue


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## NickieL

I was going to say beech as well.


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## MELOC

i can't say as i am familiar with very young beech trees. there are a few big ones on this property. i really like the look of beech trees.


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## alabamared

Hackberry?


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## haypoint

Different varieties grow in different areas of the country. Trees of the same variety look/grow differently in different areas of the country. Makes it hard to get good information while retaining your secret location.


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## Lane Linnenkohl

Color of the bark looks more like hackberry than beech, but that could just be photo quality. The bumbs aren't right texture for a typical hackberry, but who knows. Look at the leaves on the ground around the tree. You can eliminate most leaves, get to likely ones and go from there. For instance, it's not an oak, nor a maple...if there's hackberry leaves around, but no beech leaves, you have your answer.

Lane


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## Rockytopsis

Well when I saw the tree I thought Hackberry also, looks just like the one we took out of our yard.


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## MELOC

the tree is right on the edge of the trail. i found no leaves unique to that tree (or that i can link to that tree). the trail is well used and there are no leaves. all i found off the trail were oak and maple leaves.


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## RosewoodfarmVA

Seems to me to be a beech tree. The young wood is fairly smooth with some bumps. Those bumps _are_ quite large though.....


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## haypoint

Soft Maple or Red Maple (common names) have a smooth gray bark like that. No idea about the bumps.


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## MELOC

my very first thought was red maple with a condition, but i am just not sure. i then thought mountian maple because of it's shrubby appearance. many trees look like that when small. maples, birch, beech and some nut trees all have light colored, smooth bark. i have red maples that are nearly18 inches that are still smooth. i have some the same size that have rough bark. i will have to get some leaves in the spring.


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## shellbug

hackberry


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## Tricky Grama

Where are you? Could make a difference in our choices. But looks hackberry to me.


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## MELOC

i am in south central pa.


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## PyroDon

Its sure not what we call hackberry here 
hackberry has thick bark striations running up and down the bark even small trees are easy to recognize .
This is hackerry 









From the OP the pic makes me think of silver maple right down to the growing in a cluster, but we dont have Beech trees in our area KS


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## no1butcherman

PyroDon that looks like a slab of hognut u got. lol MELOC that's a hackberry for sure. Carve your name on it come back 20 years later it 'll still be there.


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## suitcase_sally

This is a picture of hackberry, which I don't think it is.

http://forestry.about.com/od/hardwoods/ss/hackberry_5.htm

Might try birch or alder

birch:

http://www.fotosearch.com/UNZ001/u18273683/

alder

http://www.fotosearch.com/PSK004/1574r-016421/


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## PyroDon

no1butcherman said:


> PyroDon that looks like a slab of hognut u got. lol MELOC that's a hackberry for sure. Carve your name on it come back 20 years later it 'll still be there.


Sorry but while the pick I took isnt that great it is indeed hackberry . as confirmed by sally's sight .
I have noticed that different areas of the country often call the same tree by different names . Such as here were refer to ozark orange as Hedge because they were planted as hedgerows its a form of slang .


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## marvella

alder and beech are not found in this/ his area. also those pics don't look anything like what he posted. :shrug: 

i have a couple of those trees too, and was wondering. i believe they are beech.

http://forums.arborday.org/forum/files/beech-tree-2_186.jpg


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## MELOC

we have beech trees here.


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## Cabin Fever

Well, if the tree had needles and if you popped one of those blisters and the sap smelled like Christmas, it would most definitely be a balsam fir.


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## marvella

MELOC said:


> we have beech trees here.


do you mean you are pretty sure it's not beech? well, it's still a mystery to me, then.


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## MELOC

no, i mean we do have beech trees here in south central pa near gettysburg. i have no idea what this tree is. i guess i won't know until the spring when i can get some leaves.


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## greg273

MELOC said:


> no, i mean we do have beech trees here in south central pa near gettysburg. i have no idea what this tree is. i guess i won't know until the spring when i can get some leaves.


 I dont know either, but I am pretty sure it is not hackberry. The hackberry has bumps on it, but they are made of what looks like little 'plates' of bark stacked on top of each other.


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## Jaclynne

It looks like tickle tongue to me. Go here for more info http://www.noble.org/WebApps/PlantImageGallery/Plant.aspx?PlantID=83&PlantTypeID=3
We had one on the fenceline at my Grandmother's, we kids would knock the corky bumps off and hold them on our tongue for a numbing effect - thus it's name. I think native Americans used it for pain relief. It is sometimes called the toothache tree.

Halo


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## no1butcherman




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## naturelover

The following image is of the spiney bumps on Zanthoxylum clava-herculis (Hercules-club tree, tooth-ache tree). 

http://www.backyardnature.net/pix/barkzant.jpg

Those bumps on your trees are too irregular and they don't look like spines to me, they look more like aspen cankers or some kind of blight blisters. I'd suggest you incise some of them and see if they're filled with fluid, insect eggs, insects or punky rot, or if they are very solid.
.


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## Hillbillybob

PyroDon said:


> Its sure not what we call hackberry here
> hackberry has thick bark striations running up and down the bark even small trees are easy to recognize .
> This is hackerry
> 
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> From the OP the pic makes me think of silver maple right down to the growing in a cluster, but we dont have Beech trees in our area KS


http://images.search.yahoo.com/sear...no=80&tt=22,626&oid=5edbd9c1967bdc38&ei=UTF-8

Pyro Don I think You are right about the tree not being hackberry.

Hillbillybob


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## blue gecko

I agree with a species of Prickly Ash (toothache tree)

http://www.mobot.org/gardeninghelp/plantfinder/Plant.asp?code=M900

http://www.puritan.com/vf/healthnotes/HN77/HN77_english/Herb/Prickly_Ash.htm


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## harrisjnet

alabamared said:


> Hackberry?


Looks like a Hackberry to me to.


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## charliesbugs

We were out along a railroad track and saw several just like your picture-I didn't have a camera to take picture, but they looked just like your picture! Charlie says it's maple.Yours,too.He worked with wood for years so he usually knows his trees.


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## charliesbugs

We were out along a railroad track and saw several just like your picture-I didn't have a camera to take picture, but they looked just like your picture! Charlie says it's maple.Yours,too.He worked with wood for years so he usually knows his trees.We have hackberry trees here and it is NOt a hackberry.


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## charliesbugs

We posted a reply somewhere on this that we thought it was some type of maple,but I think I was wrong as I really did not look at it real close. I beleive it is a Silver Poplar as I saw some last wk. They grow along railroads and like water or wet places. Can somebody back me on this?


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## agmantoo

I believe the tree to be a beech with canker disease. The tree in paragraph 3, shown in the center picture here reflects the disease in an earlier stage than the tree at the beginning of this post. http://www.hubbardbrook.org/w6_tour/tree-stop/beech/beech-tree.htm


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## ajaxlucy

Maybe beech bark disease? Definitely not hackberry.


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## MELOC

i have seen a few larger maples that have this appearance too. i will get pics of the larger trees and i will get leaves from the subject tree when spring comes.


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