A tree riddle...

[k-hat]

Name a tree that has sapwood and heartwood resembling osage, but ain't osage 

To be more specific:

Grows in North Texas
Has gray, scaley or flakey bark (small, fingernail size scales)
Bark clings to sapwood (won't peel off like a whitewood)
Much lighter weight than osage
Thick, cream-colored sapwood, light reddish-brown heartwood, thick growthrings for it's size (sap and heart rings are both about 1/4" thick)
Leaves were elmish if I am not mistaken.
Splits relatively easy

I cut this at a friend's property in a hurry and quickly (and mistakenly) id'd it as an elm. I dont have the leaves to go back and look at.

Not looking for a positive id so much as a list of possible candidates I can research amd compare to.  I may post pics after daybreak.

[wapiti1997]

Did it have any milky sap?  Sounds like mulberry to me.

[Scallorn]

I'm with Wapitit, sounds like a mulberry to me

[Hrothgar]

Agree, red mulberry.

[Pat B]

I'd say mulberry too but I never had problems peeling mulberry bark from summer cut wood.

[bubby]

Doesn't mesquite have a creamy / yellowish sapwood and reddish heartwood

[Pat B]

Mesquite has compound leaves.

[RAU]

id say mulberry too except for those fingernail size scales, I don't know could it be a cherry?

Heres a link to pic of wood


www.dutchcrafters.com/Cherry-Wood-An-Essential-Introduction/news/549


Heres another that shows some leaf, fruit and bark pics

http://www.carolinanature.com/trees/prse.html

[mullet]

White mulberry, makes an excellent bow if you can find a straight piece. The sapwood is White with large growth rings and the heartwood is yellow, but paler then Osage.

[JoJoDapyro]

http://www.mesquitewoodproducts.com/mesquite-wood.html

[RAU]

yea mesquite wood does sound like what he was describing too im just not seeing elm like leaves and the fingernail sized scales. Im real interested in seeing pics of this tree

[bubbles]

Sounds a bit like the mature  nannyberry I cut.  That stuff had a nasty smell though. I guess the leaves could be vaguely elmish.

[TimothyR]

Mulberry. Had to save one from my neighbors. They wanted it cut down but it was not very old. But man is it dense. I got a few short staves about 49" long should make a great bow when it's seasoned!

[Pat B]

..."Much lighter weight than osage"...Isn't mesquite heavy?
It can be hard to ID a tree from it's bark. As a tree ages, it's bark changes. Leaves are good ID tools but not always. In this case leaves would make this ID easier.

[sleek]

Any chance for pics of the stave, and its rings?