# What is it????



## shadetree_1 (Feb 23, 2016)

Got me stumped, sorry phinds my camera is not the best, found it in the wilds of New Mexico at about 7500 ft in elevation some of the trees were 3 and 4 feet in dia. Bark on all the trees was like this from bottom to top some over a 100 feet tall.


----------



## Kevin (Feb 23, 2016)

Can't imagine why you did not take more pictures such as the entire tree, trunk, leaves etc. 

It's pretty unique bark though I bet someone will recognize it.


----------



## shadetree_1 (Feb 23, 2016)

I was 3 miles down a snow melt very fast running wide creek ,wet up to my knees, also found a giant cottonwood that was solid burl for the first 10' up the trunk and 3 1/2' in dia with solid burl all the way around it and no way to get it out of there and a frozen waterfall and I forgot my camera. I felt like a real dummy for sure, I'll probably not get back there and now no way to show what I saw, my bad!

Reactions: Sincere 1


----------



## Mr. Peet (Feb 23, 2016)

Pig in a poke, nope. Paul Loves those tree things. From the rough end-grain shot, I say ring porous, and the rays say oak. Chinquapin oak is the only 100 footer found in the desert highlands. However, this oak, Chinquapin, like Gambel oak have bark similar to standard white oak. So, I have failed you. Try following Kevin's hints if no-one else help's you out. I've seen several scrub oak species with bark that match, but as the name hints, they fail to reach heights much more than 20' feet.

Could you run it across a jointer and show us a clean tangential face? You could also cut one end on a 45 degree angle to accentuate the end-grain if sanding is not an option.

Reactions: +Karma 1


----------



## phinds (Mar 2, 2016)

Mr. Peet said:


> Paul Loves those tree things.


You #(&%^$^ just wait til the next time we get together !

Reactions: Like 1 | Funny 2


----------



## Shannon T (Mar 2, 2016)

Hey Joe –

It looks like old bark that's been on the ground for a number of years given the patterned cracks and lichens. It looks to me like a smooth grey barked tree (or grey green … bark of dead poplars and aspens eventually turns a steely grey for example). But you say it's on standing trees! Oak of this size, at least where I live in Manitoba, has deeply scored, vertically-oriented bark, along the lines of the attached photograph I sourced at 'statebystategardening.com'. Go to:
http://statebystategardening.com/state.php/site/articles/moldy_trees_or_is_it_something_else/
It's the top left photograph.

I'd also expect a more differentiated heart and sapwood, and more sapwood, on a hardwood tree of this age. I did a quick measurement and reckon this wood is about 50 years old, with very compact annular rings common to slow growing trees in the challenging environment of montane Arizona and New Mexico. This looks more like a softwood than a hardwood, but that'd be obvious with a single saw cut. The colour of the wood also looks to me more like softwood than hardwood.

I'll be interested to know what you and other commenters make of this in the end. As you know, I am unfamiliar with trees in your area. In any case, check out the photo. It's what I'd expect the bark to look like if it is oak, whether the scrub oaks up north around here, chinquapin oak, or gambel oak.


----------



## shadetree_1 (Mar 3, 2016)

It is a softwood Shannon, as to the bark, every single tree looked just like this piece I showed it did not matter if the tree was 100 feet tall or 20 feet tall or alive and standing or blow down on the ground, also diameter did not matter 6"-36" bark was the same top to bottom and there were hundreds of them upstream and down.


----------



## Jim Beam (Mar 3, 2016)

shadetree_1 said:


> I was 3 miles down a snow melt very fast running wide creek ,wet up to my knees, also found a giant cottonwood that was solid burl for the first 10' up the trunk and 3 1/2' in dia with solid burl all the way around it and no way to get it out of there and a frozen waterfall and I forgot my camera. I felt like a real dummy for sure, I'll probably not get back there and now no way to show what I saw, my bad!



Tell me where it was, I'm in New Mexico!


----------



## shadetree_1 (Mar 3, 2016)

Jim Beam said:


> Tell me where it was, I'm in New Mexico!



Hey Robert, it was in some of the most hellacious rough country I have ever walked way up high along Copper Creek in the western part of the state near Alma.


----------



## Shannon T (Mar 3, 2016)

Think about this, Joe: _Alnus oblongifolia
_
You don't normally think of this genus in terms of montane Arizona and New Mexico. But it does grow in the White Mountains and the Gila Forest highlands. Like its brethren in the Pacific North-West, it populates stream courses, and forms small forests. This genus is the only one I can find where bark splits sideways rather than only vertically. In some species it spits in rectangular patterns and in others more randomly. It also has a smooth grey bark, not furrowed vertically.

In my email, I suggested putting some cambium in warm water. If it is _Alnus_, it should yield a red dye.

You confirmed it is a softwood, but is the tree coniferous or deciduous? You didn't say, but I am betting deciduous.

I could be way off the mark, but this is what I come up with. Cheers


----------



## Jim Beam (Mar 3, 2016)

shadetree_1 said:


> Hey Robert, it was in some of the most hellacious rough country I have ever walked way up high along Copper Creek in the western part of the state near Alma.



I've been there, that's a beautiful drive from Silver City to Reserve. No plans to go back, tho, I live up north in Los Alamos.

Reactions: Sincere 1


----------



## shadetree_1 (Mar 3, 2016)

Shannon T said:


> Think about this, Joe: _Alnus oblongifolia
> _
> You don't normally think of this genus in terms of montane Arizona and New Mexico. But it does grow in the White Mountains and the Gila Forest highlands. Like its brethren in the Pacific North-West, it populates stream courses, and forms small forests. This genus is the only one I can find where bark splits sideways rather than only vertically. In some species it spits in rectangular patterns and in others more randomly. It also has a smooth grey bark, not furrowed vertically.
> 
> ...



I looked up the images and I believe you are correct my friend, Thank you, one mystery solved!


----------



## Mr. Peet (Mar 3, 2016)

Good job Shannon, I was really confused when he said softwood. Now that I know it was a soft wood, _Alnus_ sounds good. I never saw any cleaned up photos but from those at the top, the inner bark and orange hue makes sense as well. I'd like to know what the lines I saw that looked like medullary rays are, and if anyone else thought the same thing. Alders are diffuse woods versus ring porous, so I assume what I thought was ring porous was just wood tare out from the early wood? Just another guess....


----------



## Shannon T (Mar 3, 2016)

The thing is that all the alders have medullary rays. In fact, the species in NM and AZ are described as having numerous and broad medullary rays. If this helps you.


----------



## Mr. Peet (Mar 4, 2016)

Yep, thought I was losing it again. I don't recall any obvious rays in _Alnus rugosa_, "Speckled alder". I'll have to look again....


----------



## phinds (Mar 4, 2016)

Mr. Peet said:


> Yep, thought I was losing it again. I don't recall any obvious rays in _Alnus rugosa_, "Speckled alder". I'll have to look again....


Yeah, it has them.


----------

