Need help identifying a tree.

[Steven Peters]

I've had this tree in my yard for years and I've never really paid any attention to it(The inside of my house needs way to much work.) and I'm trying to identify it:

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f206/xclusivecustoms/treepics4.jpg
http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f206/xclusivecustoms/treepics3.jpg

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f206/xclusivecustoms/treepics2.jpg

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f206/xclusivecustoms/treepics1.jpg

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f206/xclusivecustoms/treepics.jpg

[Steve Clardy]

Upper bark looks like a Mulberry tree.
If it is, never seen one that big

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

That is a Yard tree. Genus Yardotriferous

[Steven Peters]

It's definitley not a mulberry. The bark and leaves are different, plus no mulberries.

I'm located in South Florida and the aluminum that is out of reach was part of a neighbor's trailer and was deposited there by hurricane wilma.

[Russ Massery]

I found this website very helpful in identifying trees.http://www.arborday.org/trees/treeID.cfm
I didn't enough info to finish it.

[John Shuk]

If some of the leaves look like mittens it is sassafras. The leaves look like either that or some kind of magnolia but I'm not sure the wood looks like any magnolia I know of.

[Steven Peters]

The leaves don't match a sassafras and the arbor day website says that this is a maple. I'm gonna need a lot more beer before you can convince me that this is a maple.

[larry merlau]

ill' have one of those steven:) it definatly aint no sassafras and i agree completly that it isnt a maple..i was leaning towards magnolis as well. but the ones i have seen arent that large. not even the mississippi versions.

[Martin Shupe]

Not maple, not sassafras, not mulberry.

Not sure....

Could it be an "ornamental"?. (Used to describe non-native species bought at plant stores).

The leaf is pinnately compound with 3 leaflets. Do all leaves have 3 leaflets, or do some have 5? 5 makes more sense to me, 3 throws me for a loop.

Is the branching opposite or alternate?

If opposite (leaves and branches opposite (or a branch can be missing), then I am guessing it is in the ash family.

If alternate, I have no idea.

Consult your local forester...

[Steven Peters]

All of the leaves are in pairs of three. The branching seems completely random. The wood looks similar to mahogany, but I'm not that lucky.

[Jake Helmboldt]

natural range isn't that far south, but I don't know what else it could be. Not sure what you mean by pairs of three. If at the end it is three leaves as depicted but compound along the length of the branch (i.e. leaves are symmetrical, being located directly opposite eachother) then that fits with black locust.

It is not sassafras, maple, or mulberry.

What kind of flower does it have? If there are white flowers and pea-pod type seeds then it is black locust.

After looking at a couple other things, notably the wood color it might also be honey locust. Any spiny clusters on the trunk? Apparently some cultivated forms don't have them, and given this is in FL then that might be the case. Either way, I'm thinking locust; black or honey.

[Martin Shupe]

All of the leaves are in pairs of three. The branching seems completely random. The wood looks similar to mahogany, but I'm not that lucky.

It must be an ornamental or an exotic.

Take a small branch with leaves to your local county extension agent or forester. They will be familiar with locally planted exotics.

I am familiar with most of the trees that typically grow in the south, and I don't recognize that one at all.

Let us know what you find out.

[John Gornall]

So...... what plans do you have for the wood?

I'd like that lump by the crotch on the left side for turning.

[Don Baer]

Not sure what it is but if you want to send me some of the wood, I'll turn you a bowl...:D

[Bob Nieman]

Remember this is south Florida--any number of natives or exotics from the sub tropics are possible. It isn't a mulberry, ash, sycamore, locust, mulberry or magnolia.

It reminds me of trees in a parking lot of a hotel in Ft Lauderdale where I had a training class. I have a seed pod from the tree, but I never could figure out what it was (nothing like it in Ohio/Minnesota/Arizona/New Mexico)

I'd try a plant nursery.

[Steven Peters]

There aren't enough large trees down here any more so this one is going to stay up. Not knowing what it is has been driving me nuts. I do have to prune some of the branches over the house so maybe I'll end up with something useable.

[Ian Abraham]

This ones got me intrigued too. We have most of your local trees growing here in NZ, so I can pick most of those. A lot of other weird local and imported ones too, but I just cant ID that one :o

You could try posting on Forestyforum.com or Arboristsite.com, lots of tree gurus from around the world read those and someone may recognise it as a common local tree from Bongobongo land :D

Cheers

Ian

[Michael Barry]

Steven,
Looks like mahogany to me. I got some logs out of a WinnDixie parking lot last year after Wilma. The wood looks the same, the bark looks the same, but I don't exactly recall what the leaves looked like.

[Ron Blaise]

of Bay tree, especially since you live in south Florida. I'll try & find it in my tree book.
Ron

[Steven Peters]

I looked up the bay tree and the leaves look close, but they aren't in sets of 3. I looked on FIU's website and I can't find it there either. This one's got me completely stumped.:confused:

[Jake Helmboldt]

Steven, is there a slight notch in the tip of the leaves?

Are all of the leaves clusters of three, or just at the end of the branch?

Jake

[Ben Grunow]

Sure reminds me of sassafrass. When cut it smells like root beer. Someone who knows more about trees will eventually solve this for you.

[Steven Peters]

As far as I can tell all of the leaves are in sets of three. There is no notch in the tip of the leaves. When cut this wood smells rather bland. Definately not like root beer.

[Bob Nieman]

I looked for a key and found one: COMMON TREES ON THE FIU CAMPUS
AND IN MIAMI (http://bio.fiu.edu/trees/Miami_Tree_Puzzle.pdf). I couldn't get too far since I don't have the tree to look at. If the leaves are compound with three leaflets per cluster, I couldn't find it in the key by that trait (I did find that the tree I saw in Ft Lauderdale that the leaves reminded me of is a mahogany, Swietenia mahogani, but it does not have trifoliate compound leaves). What kind of seeds/fruits/pods does it have? Do the leaves alternate along a branch or are they in pairs (opposite)?

[Steven Peters]

No luck so far but I did come across this:
http://www.hobbithouseinc.com/personal/woodpics/#letterS

The wood also looks like Sapele, but I can't find any pics of the tree.

[Jim Becker]

If you have something like a local county "extension office" from a land-grant university, they would be a good place to ask. Or a local arborist.