Tree of the day

[Jeff]

Butternut - Juglans cinerea

Bingo! It is a Butternut.

[Don P]

It is not walnut.

We need to have a little talk :D

[KEC]

My 2 cents: the photos look more like walnut than butternut. Butternut bark is gray.

[Southside]

Does Butternut have the aborted terminal leaf? 

[Jeff]

Direct any disagreement to @WDH   :D

[Jeff]

Does Butternut have the aborted terminal leaf?

Nope.

[DelawhereJoe]

Butternut, Walnut, Bitternut (X)

[Don P]

I was all the way over to trying to force this into being a blue ash :

Black walnut aborts the terminal leaflet;
http://dendro.cnre.vt.edu/dendrology/syllabus/factsheet.cfm?ID=32
Butternut has a terminal leaflet;
http://dendro.cnre.vt.edu/dendrology/syllabus/factsheet.cfm?ID=31

I planed a couple of butternut boards today, it has a distinctive light smell that takes me back to my early teens, smell is a good bit of wood id for me. Dad had paneled a house with it and brought home some scraps for me to play with. I had a scrollsaw and lathe other than the usual tools and remember making a radio box out of some of it but ended up doing chip and relief carving on a good bit of it just messing around.

[firefighter ontheside]

Well, I'll post something for today.  I used to have two of these but one died.  I'm guessing they don't thrive here in muggy Missouri.  This one is about 20 feet tall.  When I went to take pictures of it, I noticed it has produced cones for the first time.  The needles that I looked at are in groups of two, but can also be in groups of three.  I'm afraid this one is gonna die too, but for now it's tree of the day.


 

 

 

 

[Roxie]

Red Pine?

[firefighter ontheside]

Nope.  It's more western.

[Texas Ranger]

scotch, we planted a bunch of those years ago, but, hey, my guess.

[firefighter ontheside]

It's a native, western North American pine species.

[Ljohnsaw]

Well, my book says with three needles, it is either  Ponderosa (but doesn't look like my 'rosa) or Jeffrey.  With two needles, then Bishop.

[WDH]

Lodgepole pine. 

[Ljohnsaw]

Lodgepole pine.

???
Lodgepole is supposed to have needles that are shorter (according to my book) and twisted.  They are curved in the pics but don't look twisted.

[firefighter ontheside]

I'm gonna give it to John.  It is ponderosa.  I believe this tree has a needle disease that has caused the needles to be curved.  According to my book, it shouldn't kill the tree, but it's not looking the best.  I bought two at a local farm and home store about 10 years ago that were about 2 feet tall. They both thrived for a while, but then the other started to be sparsely needled and now has died.

Apparently ponderosa was once known as "western yellow pine".

[caveman]

After Red Pine was ruled out, I was going to suggest it might be Ponderosa but VT says Ponderosa should have three and sometimes two needles per fascicle(every time I think, the other team scores).  I have never seen one in real life.  Pinus ponderosa, thanks for keeping this thing going and heading west with it.  Maybe we will get some more western trees included soon.  

Bonanza, John.  Post some left coast trees for us to try to i.d.

[Ljohnsaw]

OK, Its tomorrow for you guys back east.  If you follow my cabin thread you probably already know what this is.  I don't have any close ups of the needles.  They are flat and form flattened branches.  Here is one of several big ones.


 
What big ones look like from a distance.  They seem to get some sort of mistletoe way up. The one dead center way back:


 
A nice shot before I cut this one down:


 
A little closer:


 
Specifically, which one of this family?

[Ljohnsaw]

Hmm, no takers yet or is it the ones that are sure are letting others guess first?

The wood is not red.  The older heartwood is medium brown while the outer wood is nearly white but turns yellow in the sun.  A very distinctive smell that will take you back to your childhood school days - well, if you are as old as me. ;)

[Ljohnsaw]

Two wrong guesses via PMs - it is NOT Western Red Cedar.

[DelawhereJoe]

California incense cedar, Calocedrus decurrens

[Ljohnsaw]

Winner, winner, chicken dinner...

Though my book "Pacific Coast Tree Finder" field guide gives it a different name.  Libocedrus decurrens.  Incense Cedar is the only cedar that is fairly wide spread in Northern California.

Western Red is only in a sliver on the extreme north coast of California but quite an area of western Oregon and Washington (western slope of the Cascades?) and western Idaho (western slope of the Rockies?).

[Roxie]

Are the trunks always that straight?  Very impressive trees. 

[Ljohnsaw]

When they are on the flat, they grow straight.  On a hill side, they have a pretty good sweep.