wood species?

[Matthew Hills]

Any suggestions on what wood species this is? Pretty sure the

This was a scrap log that I'm pretty sure had come from our back yard here in northern california (you'd almost think I should remember which tree). The really yellow wood surprised me and then I couldn't match the bark, either.

I'm hoping to identify the species to keep track of any potential sensitivities--I developed a runny nose the next day, despite wearing a respirator when cutting.

IMG_4006.jpgIMG_4007.jpg

[Maria Alvarado]

Northern california, backyard tree it could be Acacia of some kind.

[Alan Marchbanks]

Cotinus, the smoketree or smoke bush, is a genus of two species of flowering plants in the family Anacardiaceae, closely related to the sumacs. The color is the same as one in our yard.
Alan

[Matthew Hills]

A photo of the acacia cross-section sure looks like a match, but I'm pretty sure we never had one of these in our yard.
I'm thinking it might have been from a tall shrub tentatively identified as a buckthorn. Has anyone seen this color combination with that?

Alan -- does the smoketree in your yard have the distinctive yellow sapwood with very dark heartwood? (the photos on hobbithouse don't show the demarkation clearly)

Thanks!
Matt



Matt

[Bill Dufour]

Dry Acacia will sink in water, not float. I assume wet acacia will also not float. It is in the pea family so the seeds look like pea pods about 1-2 inches long and curled up.
Bill D

[Andrew Seemann]

Around here, Buckthorn usually has more of an orange heartwood, and not as much sapwood. The sapwood does have a yellow/green tinge to it. It rarely grows bigger than 5 or six inches in diameter, typically they start dying closer to 4 inches in diameter. Buckthorn bark looks different though, it more resembles the bark of an apple tree, as do the leaves.

Buckthorn produces purple berries the size of peas starting around this time of year (in our climate). It's noted feature, other than its invasiveness, is that small branches die close to the stems functionally producing "thorns", even if they technically aren't thorns. Those are very annoying and make it rather dangerous to handle, especially when removing the blasted stuff.