Hello,
I have lots of trees in my yard. For years I never identified them, or even appreciated what each tree provided in characteristics or individuality to the forest.
But over the past few weeks I've been pursuing leaf identification at a frantic pace, enjoying using the web and learning about the various trees and their abilities. I learned about such trees as the tulip poplar, sassafras, basswood, honeylocust, hornbeam, the difference between red & white oaks and many others.
However, there is one tree that slightly eludes me. Around here It is an extremely tall tree, sometimes even taller than the oaks. One was hit by lightning or by wind and now over 30 feet of it hangs over the forest, waiting to either survive a few more years or to finally rot and collapse. From what I've found online it looks like it might be a boxelder, since the 3-leaf poison-ivy-type leaf structure looks similar, but my tree's 3-leaves were much smoother than the pictures I've seen. There are no hickory nuts on it, so I can guess it's not a hickory :) The bark is very light gray, but not as white as a white oak's.
Also one more question - do shagbark hickory's ultimately lose their shagginess and gain a tougher, thicker-looking bark? I am asking because I've seed trees I thought were large hickories (3 foot dia trunk), but did not have the shaggy bark of younger-looking hickories.
Thanks very much, Dan northwest NJ