What kind of tree is this ?

[Jeff Lary]

I have always wondered what kind of tree this is. It resembles yellow birch but not in color. The bark is thick and flakey kind of peals away from the tree some. In some places it really peals away a lot on higher limbs. The tree is quite large and grows in very wet black soil, even in august the soil is saturated with water. There is a kind of hanging seed tassel / flowery thing this time of year . You can see it on one photo in the top left.

 

[billyhilly372]

Is it some kind of alder?


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[Jeff Lary]

It may be, but it is not a box alder as we have a few of them around so I am very familiar with them. The seed / flower does look like a common stream or brook alder though. I should have said I live in central Maine, and tree type does vary throughout the state quite a lot. I have a forester that is working with me some maybe he would know too?. Keep the ideas / guesses coming I would really love to know what it is. Jeff

 

[Jeff Lary]

Holy smoke Billy Hilly 372 your first post was to me , I am indeed honored welcome to Arborist Site glad to have you with us.

 

[chainsawnut460]

Maybe river birch?

 

[windthrown]

I have never heard of box alder. There are box elders, which are a type of maple with three leaves on one stem. Alders have single oval leaves that are easy to ID. The bark there does not look like any of the alders we have here in the west. Your leaf photo is too fuzzy for me to make an ID. The hanging things are called catkins. They are the flowers. They are common this time of year here on birch, maples, willows, alders, hazelnuts and cottonwoods.

 

[TheLazyBFarm]

It looks like a shagbark hickory to me.

 

[A10egress]

It's an oak isnt it?

 

[fearofpavement]

It's not river birch.

 

[ReggieT]

My vote is Silver Maple.

 

[rmh3481]

Another vote for Hickory.

 

[Jeff Lary]

My bad I meant box elder thanks for the catch.
As for shag bark hickory it may be some sort of hickory but it is not shag bark. I really doubt it is any kind of hickory really, I have lived here in this area ( same home ) for 51 years. I have never heard of hickory trees in Maine? there may be some but they would be an oddity for sure. I thought a breed of Chestnut or maybe Butternut but I really don't think so. But those two trees are also scarce as well . The tree does not produce any kind of fruit or nut either.
It really looks like yellow birch except for color and the bark is very thick and craggy / rough with some pealing.
I would guess some sort of birch or mutant maple ? But what the heck do I know 51 years and no idea really. What types of trees have catkins in the spring? I know alders do out by the beaver bog but what else ? The limbs are so high you cannot reach a leaf in the summer, as there are none this time of year yet, too early for them.

 

[Stihlalltheway]

Definitely white pine.

 

[LogSawyer74]

Sure it's not River Birch? I've got lots of them on my place, always grow around the ponds or in ravines. Anywhere where it's really wet all the time. Bark looks really close, except the bark on mine has a little more yellow/whitish color in spots.

 

[CenterTree]

Definitely white pine.

 

[windthrown]

Pines are deciduous in Maine?

 

[Raintree]

It's a Birch, your first guess of being a Yellow is a good one. Sometimes older mature trees can be discolored with extra rough bark. Snap a twig & give it a taste/whiff.

 

[Jeff Lary]

I actually do know the trees on my land but this one does stump me. I will look up river birch there is a really nice yellow birch 30 yards away but this is no yellow birch. It does share a small resemblance though. I live on 80 acres and hunt on close to 1000 but this is the only tree that I ever saw like this. It is in the edge of low black mud swampy cedar / mixed growth. The ground is so soft I had to really pic my way to get a close up of the bark. Fiddlehead kind of dirt.

 

[fearofpavement]

All the many river birch I've seen have a paper like bark similar to a white/paper birch but more yellow/brown in color. However, in doing some online research I found some examples of bark from old river birch trees that seemed to have a thicker bark and not the paper like bark I've always seen. So I retract my statement that it isn't river birch and will go with "I don't know what it is..."

 

[ZeroJunk]

Twigs are too dainty for hickory.