Hello All!
I love the outdoors, but never took the time to learn the names of all of the trees around me. I bought the Audubon field guide to North American trees, and took some pictures as my husband and I walked a piece of property we're thinking of purchasing. I took pictures of the bark and thought it would be easy to identify the trees when I returned home. It's not as easy as I had hoped (yet). Is the below a Beech, Aspen, or something else? The tree is located in the extreme north east of Pennsylvania. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks! :)
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/40897/P9270271.jpg)
Leaf please. :)
I'd say it is American Beech, but the photo does depict some aspen similarities. I'll go with Beech until we see a leaf.
If beech, the buds should be cigar shaped and almost 1/2" long. I am feeling beechy about this one, too.
Got any of these? I took this picture on my place a couple weeks ago.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/20150807_181415.jpg)
Those choices are out of my area but Welcome to the Forestry Forum, MaiTai.
Iam going with Aspen
Beech.
Quote from: Jeff on September 28, 2015, 09:08:43 PM
Leaf please. :)
I'd say it is American Beech, but the photo does depict some aspen similarities. I'll go with Beech until we see a leaf.
I'm sorry that I didn't take a picture of a leaf. If you look at the picture, I think there are leaves visible and they appear to be of the same kind of tree. It's probably too far away to help.
Thank you all for the replies. It looks like the Beeches are winning! :)
Beech ..... should have been dropping plenty of small twigs 24/7 - raised roots above ground,
Do aspens grow naturally in PA?
IJ
Looks like it from this source.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Populus_tremuloides
wow!!!! I thought aspens were a Colorado thing. perhaps I should look a little closer in my woods for them.
Beech
Aspen has a huge range, but mostly in the north in sparse human populations. :D
beech
Just a couple of questions, because the only Aspen that I see is when I am visiting the Glaciated North. Of course we do have Beech, so I am trying to learn.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/20011/DSCN0325.JPG)
Our Beech trees all seem to have the splotches on the bark as seen above. Even young trees. I have never seen Beech bunched together like they are in the OP's picture. Those appear to have come from root sprouts?
Yes, we Southerners have splotchy beech.
Beech will stump sprout prolifically.
Looks like a beech nut to me.
Then again ive never seen an aspen tree before
I see Aspen and Beech every day and I think that it is Beech. The leaves that I can make out on the sapling to the left look pointy like Beech, the bark has that rough texture on the smooth areas like Beech. The one thing I see is a bit of a green tinge on the right side of the bark. If that green tinge is a scraped spot on the bark it is definitely Aspen because Aspen bark is green right under the surface and the tree has the ability to photosynthesise in the bark as well as the leaves. Beech and aspen both root sprout like crazy when cut. They are similar to rhizomes grass in that regard. Look at the leaves and you can tell. They both have long pointed buds but Beech are longer. You really could not have taken a picture that would make differentiating those two trees more difficult. :D The other thing I see is the tree just to the right behind the 2 in the front looks like it might be starting to get Beech bark disease. There is an S-shaped mark under the bark that reminds me of the early marks I see when the disease starts
This is a picture of Aspen Catkins in the spring you can see some of the branch/bud characteristics and a bit of the green tinge under the bark. Aspen bark on trees that are younger almost seems to have a waxy feel like wax paper.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/14177/10268714_678973282150264_8279635213734914618_n.jpg)
That is a Beech nut & leaves that Jeff is showing, but the OP has not shown any leaves, etc. that came from the trees in question.
Yes I saw that but if you look at the sapling just to the left of center in the original picture it looks more like Beech leaves. Beeches tend to have many saplings spread around the older trees. So do Aspens but they do not look like Aspen leaves.
After reading thru this thread, it set me to wondering if Big Tooth Aspen can be used to make 2x6 studs like Yellow Poplar. While cutting thru a huge pile of pushed over building site trees, we found several very large Aspens. We need just over 100 2x6 studs for a large job. These big boys would help us fill the request.
Yes they can.
Yes, it's American Beech.
I also live in PA, and that doesn't look like beech to me...but my tree ID skills are poor, I'm just a beginner...but I've seen plenty of beech, and none has looked like that...but they have all been much larger, which can make a difference... I had an aspen? I had a tree come down I'm my yard, nearly sure it was aspen, possibly quaken aspen...but it was darker and less "peely"... Some of the pics scream birch, but the leaves do not? Just lookin' to learn...
Quote from: Ron Scott on October 11, 2015, 09:56:10 PM
Yes, it's American Beech.
x2 can tell by the way missing limbs are healing over for 1. at least i have never seen anything else that look that way :) also that big one growing against the small one in center of pic will not be sound (at least if it was around here) i saw a lot of beech today i sawed about 2400 bdft of it. far as the birch it has really thin flaky bark almost like paper and normally grows in bottomland and creek banks around here. i am quite a bit south of you though so timber may be a little different. :)
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/38145/-Birch-Trees.jpg)
birch bark
Quote from: bkaimwood on October 30, 2015, 07:42:11 PM
I also live in PA, and that doesn't look like beech to me...but my tree ID skills are poor, I'm just a beginner...but I've seen plenty of beech, and none has looked like that...but they have all been much larger, which can make a difference... I had an aspen? I had a tree come down I'm my yard, nearly sure it was aspen, possibly quaken aspen...but it was darker and less "peely"... Some of the pics scream birch, but the leaves do not? Just lookin' to learn...
Don't confuse it with blue beech or muscle wood.
Look at the buds. They are distinctive in beech.
American beech.... hêtre. :P
Definitely Beech..Im in middle of Lower peninsula MI and that's an exact match for our beech..Not even close to Big tooth Aspen or..anything.. but Beech