Tree identification

[arkdoc]

Yeah, I am in med school here and this is my main past time.  I am kind of addicted now.

[Crogacht]

BW was the first thing that came to mind when I saw the leaves, not sure on the bark.

[Pat B]

Black walnut nut is the size of a tennis ball. Hickory is about 1" I diameter. Pecan a bit smaller but football shaped.

[H Rhodes]

Looks like pecan to me.  Good bow wood.

[Badly Bent]

At first glance of the leaves I was thinking pecan, bark also looks like pecan to me. I don't see many of them where I'm at but have one on our block here in town and its a dead ringer for that one. I've been wrong many times before though, come to think of it probably more often than right.

[arkdoc]

I know iron that've pecans.  I am used to those at my parents house.  I looked for old nuts on the ground, didn't find too much, but it was mostly small stuff.

[Pat B]

Pics. Take pics of the nuts and any husks that might be present. take a pic of the tree.

[zenart]

That bark looks EXACTLY like a Pecan trunk, about the same size diameter too, just delivered to us. Came halved and Steve has taken three days to split her up, record heatwave had some to do with that but still, really Tough stuff!  I understand it's unusual to have Pecan growin' in California.

[DarkSoul]

After I did some research, I have to conclude that this must be a Carya illinoinensis, or pecan.
The compound leaves, flowers and rough bark are a clear indicator for some tree in the Juglandaceae family, or walnut family. Black walnut and butternut can be ruled out based on the flowers. Your picture shows a longer flower than we see in walnuts. Next, we can use the number of leaflets for a differentiation between true hickories and pecan. True hickories have 9 or less leaflets. Since your leaf shows 11 leaflets, it has to be a pecan, which has between 11-17 leaflets. The serrated leaf margin of your tree also matches that of pecan.

[Hrothgar]

 Darksoul and others, I think your right on the pecan. Don't believe the black walnut has flower catkins like those in the photo. I'm changing my vote.

[RidgeRunner]

Looks like a Pecan to me.
Dig around in the grass, right up next to the fence, might be that a few old nuts or hulls could be found.

David

[Josh B]

I'm the world's poorist excuse for an arborist.  However I do know for a fact that the tree I'm posting pics of is an 18 yr old black walnut.   You will notice that the bark and catkins are slightly different than the tree in question.  I believe that your tree is indeed a pecan and not a black walnut.  But as I said, I'm horrible at tree ID.   Josh

[autologus]

After going back and looking at the pics again and counting the leaflets I am more inclined to think this is a pecan instead of a black walnut, typically black walnut has more leaflets as what is shown in the pictures and the bark is not as shaggy.

Grady

[blackhawk]

Hmmm? I'm a guessing I was prob wrong on the first guess...glad I'm human..whew!!!!

An FYI...the bw josh posted is a younger tree that hasn't matured yet...when they do mature they will have a darker furrowed bark than the lighter greyish tan when young...

[arkdoc]

You guys were right!  I guess I never paid much attention, but there are pecans in my back yard.  It is definately a pecan tree.  I guess I am just used to the huge pecans we have on our farm back home.