What tree is it?

[hydeoutman]

What kind of tree is this? It's in the Eastern U.P. I believe it to be a kind of poplar. I don't have a photo of a leaf, the best I can do is that it is very similar to a Bigtooth Aspen leaf shown below.

[chet]

My guess would be Balsam Poplar. A sure test is to squish a bud in your fingers, they will be very gummy and fragrant.

[Mark M]

I think that's what we used to call Bam or Balm of Gilead<sp?> which I think is another name for Balsam Poplar?

Mark

[hydeoutman]

Mark: You said they used to call it Bam, what do they call it now? I kinda thought it might be Bam, but didn't know for sure. Also, what is it good for if anything. Is it like regular poplar when sawn. What kind of lumber does it make?

[Jeff]

Its wood is a brown colored. Mark should love it, its real close to cottonwood.

Bam  bamb bambagilia, lots of names. Balsam Poplar or Balm of Gilead. Usually grows in low land or swamps, most we get is either shakey or rotten.

[Mark M]

We used to call it bam back when I lived in MN where there was some  ;). I suppose they still call it that, I just haven't seen one in a long time. Far as I know it was used for pulp.

I took a drive out to a new subdivision down by the river and they had done some clearing of cottonwood. Must have been 5 or 6 piles about 20 feet high, 30 feet wide, all tree length 2-3 feet in diameter. I am sure it is going to be burned. I am going to try getting a few smaller trees to make some blocks. I talked to a guy at work and he said it wasn't any good, but I have heard otherwise and am going to see if I can sell some.

Mark

[Ron Scott]

Yes, it's all the above names and not a prefered commercial grade wood of value as such. Usually on lowland mixed with lowland hardwoods, large in size, and high moisture content.

I believe there was a previous thread some time ago with more info. on this species, balm, balm of gilead, balsam poplar etc.

[L. Wakefield]

   I've done quite a bit of research on the buds and the resin. The buds are a veritable pharmacopeia of materials- a lot with anti-inflammatory characteristics- which is why I think in folk medicine it has been used for wound treatment, mouth sores, and like that. Bees gather the resin and its scent is very similar to that of propolis (bee gum or bee varnish), which has also been used to make a sore throat or sore gum treatment.

   I make my own incense and both bam resin and propolis are a good ingredient in small amount. One of the funniest incense experiments I did was to put a dried balm of gilead bud (gathered in October, actually, for no good reason other than that I found some due to be cut down)- and heated it gently on a mica plate (the mica plate is a Japanese method of presenting incense materials that allows volatization at a controlled temp rather than actual combustion- you get the volatile aromatic materials without the alteration induced by the burning process- oxidation and etc.)

   So, anywez, I had only worked with the resin before. This was a bud about 1/4 inch long, heating up. The aromatic materials started to volatize- and then...the bud does a slow-popcorn expansion thing that was like automatically assembling origami.. I was dying laughing watching it, tho I felt like the tree would think I was torturing its young or something.. the little bud covers opened  and the little leaves unfolded.. and I'm saying to myself..'It's ALIVE!!..' weird, man..

   You can go onto  Dr. James Duke's website to look at the chemical ingredients in a whole lotta plant materials- he lists the component, the uses, and references. Let me know if you want the website. I think he either did the researchg for a doctoral or post-doctoral thesis. It's an insanely wonderful reference. He still sometimes does tours. I would love to meet him. He authored (I believe) 'The Green Pharmacy'.   lw

[hydeoutman]

Yes he did author the said book.  :P :P I have a copy and use it quite often for different remedies. Most work would you believe. However did not find anything on subject Bam.

[L. Wakefield]

   I'm not a bit surprised that his book has remedies that work. He knows what he's talking about.

   The website for looking up plant components is

   http://www.ars-grin.gov/duke/

   Very good reading- a monumental reference. Printing out even 1 species can run to multiple pages esp if you include activities. (hint- search 'non-ubiquitous components only unless you want to read about water and cellulose over and over.)            lw

[Greenman]

Balm of Gilead is non-native and can be very invasive.

[Jeff]

Non-Native to where? Where is it considered a native?
At what point is a tree species considered to be native or non-native I wonder. The beginning of time?

Balm is more native to Michigan then I am I guess. Its been around apparently awhile. At least a century I would say by the age of trees I cut over 20 years ago. It never seemed invasive to me, it's  just mixed in the other trees. Don't seem to be taking over or displacing anything around here from what I have seen.

[L. Wakefield]

   Balm of Gilead, unlike balsam poplar, does not produce seds. It spreads solely by underground roots which then give rise to new grwoth. That said, it is incredibly vigorous. I am still working on characterizing the 2. They both will grow well for me- I am very happy with my transplants- but the buds do best in the high cold regions where the sunlight is intense and they seem to need the protection of the resin. It's just not the same here.

   I remember a website showing balsam poplar as a specimen (lawn) tree. Very shapely. I just passed some trees in Standish the other day that I think are these- I will have to stop and see. If so, they are very well grown.  lw

[SwampDonkey]

L Wakefield

Balm-of-Gilead and Balsam poplar Populous balsamifera var. balsamifera are the same. It is throughout Canada up to the rockies and the northern treeline. Its a pulpwood species locally. LP and St Anne add it too their pulp mix. On the other side of the rockies and the North coast, except the Queen Charlotte Islands it has an identical twin called the Black Cottonwood Populous balsamifera var. tricocarpa which is used for pulp and veneer. It can be gigantic in size and is found along river bottoms and flood plains. I think the nominclature has changed in some books so that its balsamifera for balsam poplar and tricocarpo for black cottonwood. These species do as you say root well from cuttings like any other poplars, excluding the aspens though. But balm-of-gilead definetely flowers as its balsam poplar, one in the same. The air will be full of fuzz here from late may to mid june. It flowers later than the aspens. ;)

[SwampDonkey]

That leaf in the picture is actually eastern cottonwood. I think it got over looked. ;)

[Aroostooksawyer]

I just finished sawing 300 2x6's 17' out of Balm-of-Gilead for a local 4H club. They are going to use it for boxing in horse stalls.Some old timers told  them horses will not chew Balm-of-Gilead.Very distinct smell while sawing this wood and fun you think you are sawing black walnut (sort of ) brownish wood with black,and red streaks throughout wood but after a short time wood lightens out alot.Most of the logs did have ring shake but not too bad very heavy lots of water in wood.My trucker went around the LP yard and picked out a nice load of the Balm-of Gilead sawlogs to deliver to me for the 4H job.Louisianna Pacific wafer board plant donated the logs to the club.While this mill buys predominently aspen you can mix in up to 20% balm-of-Gilead in the load.. ]

[populus]

I think L. Wakefield and SwampDonkey are both correct.  The common name "balm of Gilead"  is used for two different, but related poplars.  Here is my understanding of the taxonomy:

1. The Balm of Gilead in the Bible is Commiphora meccanensis, a shrub renowned for its medicinal properties.
2. Balm of Gilead narrowly speaking is Populus x jackii, a hybrid of P. balsamifera and P. deltoides. It was introduced as an ornamental and is a weedy species that escapes cultivation and becomes naturalized. However, it is native, and hybrids of P. balsamifera and P. deltoides are commonly found where the ranges of the two species overlap. South of the native range of balsam poplar, Balm of Gilead is still planted as an ornamental and occasionally establishes small populations of naturalized trees. If you buy a Balm of Gilead at a nursery, you are almost certainly buying P. x jackii or some other hybrid.
3. In the far north, within the range of balsam poplar, the term Balm of Gilead has become generalized from P. x jackii to P. balsamifera.  Therefore it is common to refer to any balsam poplar as Balm of Gilead, balm or bam.

Balsam poplar has to be one of my favorite trees. Driving down a road in the north on a wet day, you can smell the balsam from a distance. I used to get my students to find balsam poplar by following the smell.  Now that I live in the south, I miss that wonderful fragrance. Actually, the north woods in general smells a lot nicer than our southern woods.

[SwampDonkey]

Just read the other day in Atlantic Forestry Magazine, that the largest balsam poplars grow along the Mackenzie River in the Yukon at over 7 feet in diameter (I think that's the butt, not dbh). I've seen them 20 inches at breast height in woods I've cruised, but they seem to die mostly at smaller sizes. The larger trees I find in cedar stands, but not too big on swampy ground. Cut northern white cedar stands and ya end up with alot of balsam poplar up here untill the cedar take over again.

[SwampDonkey]

Welcome to the forum AroostookSawyer,

I'm only 2 miles from Bridgewater Maine. I don't own a mill or cut much wood. Work mainly in silviculture and forestry consulting with small land owners/loggers. I'm looking up at Mars Hill from the house and the woodlot. ;)

cheers

[Aroostooksawyer]

Thanks Swampdonkey I,m a small land owner/logger/sawyer .Look me up if your over on this side of the border.