tree i.d.

[rkeltner]

was given a piece of wood today, and i don't know what it is. it has scaly bark, kind of like some of the cherry barks, kind of reddish under the scales, white sapwood, the heartwood reminds me of mulberry, but with a little more yellow than mullberry. the leaves are of a compund structure, didn't notice if they were parallel or opposite in order. it had small red berries that were in a twinned arrangement. the grain reminds me of oak, and it splits very well!

[NruJaC]

Can you post a picture? That always makes it much easier.

[rossfactor]

The description fits a mountain ash. Trees with compound leaves AND red berries aren't super common. If it splits well its probably not Hawthorn. Most cherries, crab apples etc have simple leaves. 

Without a picture its hard to tell of course, but Mountain Ash should be in the works.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&rlz=1C1GGGE_enUS405US406&q=mountain+ash&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&bpcl=35277026&biw=709&bih=343&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&ei=Flh8UJSoB4joiwLNo4Ew

Gabe

[rkeltner]

update on appearance of wood. there is a noticable smell when drawknifing the sapwood, but my sense of smell isn't good enough to say what it smells like. it is very tough! the sapwood is creamy white with no character. the heartwood is full of character! my first assessment of it's appearance was wrong. it has a darker grain, with dark contrast between individual rings. in some ways it reminds me of zebra wood in appearance, but more attractive, by my view. it was an ornamental yard tree, so it's not necessarily native. when i find my camera i'll post pics. when splitting, it prooved to be very stringy. one strand of wood about a quarter inch in diameter abslutely refused to break. when finished, it had pealed, intact and with great effort, about 4 feet  without breaking. oh, yeah. it doesn't look like mountain ash. mountain ash barke is scaly enough.

[Hrothgar]

Sounds like some kind of elm.

[Pat B]

Pics please!

[rkeltner]

update on appearance of wood. there is a noticable smell when drawknifing the sapwood, but my sense of smell isn't good enough to say what it smells like. it is very tough! the sapwood is creamy white with no character. the heartwood is full of character! my first assessment of it's appearance was wrong. it has a darker grain, with dark contrast between individual rings. in some ways it reminds me of zebra wood in appearance, but more attractive, by my view. it was an ornamental yard tree, so it's not necessarily native. when i find my camera i'll post pics. when splitting, it prooved to be very stringy. one strand of wood about a quarter inch in diameter abslutely refused to break. when finished, it had pealed, intact and with great effort, about 4 feet  without breaking. oh, yeah. it doesn't look like mountain ash. mountain ash bark isn't scaly enough.

sorry, corrected text and hit wrong button