name that tree!

[wood spliter]

The leaves appear to alternate which cancels out ash. Therefore your only left with a few options with a compound leaf like that. That would be walnut or pecan. I don't know if walnuts always produce nuts. Maybe something has happened to them to prevent nut production.

Leaf key for pinnately compound leaves.
ht://forestry.about.com/od/treeidentification/tp/tree_key_id_hicash.htm

Dept. of Forestry. Not a great shot of the leaf, but not the description of the bark. Sounds like yours
ht://www.dof.virginia.gov/trees/walnut-black.htm

Check and see if the leave are opposite or alternately arrange along the branch.

I think the leaves look opposite?

They appear alternate to me.

The "leaf" one big bunch of the leaflets that you see. Are you looking at the leaflets being opposite one another on the main stem of the leaf? You need to look where the "leaf" attaches to the branch, see how they alternate?

Yes I see what you are talking about.

 

[branchburner]

Just cut one down already, so we can see its guts!

 

[Cowboy Billy]

I cut a black walnut down at my brothers last weekend and as far as I know it never had any nuts on it.

Billy

 

[EatenByLimestone]

Looks like it may be Juglans sp. (walnut, butternut, etc.) Can you shave a small branch and tell us the color of the pith? Black Walnut will have a tan pith.

Matt

 

[midwestcoast]

After posting I realize I don't know for sure if you need male & females in proximity to get fruit. It just seems right to me. Anyone?

Male and female flowers on same tree.

Thanks

 

[Wood Duck]

I think it is a Butternut. The alternate leaves with opposite leaflets (of course the leaflets are alternate - as far as I know there is no plant with alternate leaflets) have too many leaflets for most of the hickories and all of the ashes (and ash have opposite leaves). The bark looks to me more like Butternut than Black Walnut. I guess it could be Pecan or Water Hickory based on the number of leaflets, but the narrow shape of the leaflets seems more like Butternut or Black Walnut than Pecan.

The lack of nuts is not too surprising, since many nut trees have to get fairly old to get nuts, and all nut trees seem to go through bad years with low or no nut production. The bark doesn't look right for Ailanthus (Tree of heaven).

 

[bsearcey]

I'm still going with walnut. None of the hickories have a leaf like that and the bark on most hickories (except shagbark) has what I consider relatively smooth bark. It's furrowed, but not deeply. A look at the pith was a good call, but a split piece would also be good. Also taking a look at the leaf scar would tell you if it was a walnut or not. I think it looks kind of like a monkey face.

(broken link removed to http://www.cas.vanderbilt.edu/bioimages/image/j/juni--twleaf-scar15203.htm)

Here's a good key to distinguish b/t Butternut and Walnut.

Definitely think the poster should consider saving some of the straighter pieces of the trunk for milling. It's a decent BTU value, but it sure is pretty. Sounds like he's got more than enough for firewood.

 

[bsearcey]

Here's a good key to distinguish b/t Butternut and Walnut.

Forgot the key.

http://ohioline.osu.edu/b700/b700_22.html

 

[Mroverkill]

Yea for some reason this one is hard to figure out. trees are going to be coming down soon (this or next weekend) But im thinking of cutting onluy one down and then try to get a real firm awnser because it it is trully walnut then i want to save one of them for the nuts

 

[Wood Duck]

Black Walnut is pretty distinctive when you cut one down. The heartwood is darker than any other tree in our area. Most Black Walnut that size seem to bear nuts, at least the ones in my area do. Search the ground for old nut shells. Maybe they had nuts in previous years that you didn't notice. As one of the previous posts said, most Black Walnuts here are losing or have already lost their leaves, and only the nuts are left.

 

[Superlite]

Yea for some reason this one is hard to figure out. trees are going to be coming down soon (this or next weekend) But im thinking of cutting onluy one down and then try to get a real firm awnser because it it is trully walnut then i want to save one of them for the nuts

Black walnut is edible but a lot of work to get very little meat. We have tons of black walnut. The roots change the PH of the soil so many plants will not grow or do well near them especially nightshades like tomato etc... They spread quite easily after they start dropping fruit, they are very messy too. As I said earlier they drop their leaves earlier than everything else due to the fact that in very hot weather they do not "perspire" like other trees but drop leaves instead. I am not too sure, but if we burn black walnut in an open fireplace it bothers my wife's sinuses and allergies and i think it may put off some sort of gas as it burns that bothers her my 2cents