Wood ID again

[William Rogers]

Had a tree come down due to being rotten at the trunk base. Didn’t pay much attention thinking it was ordinary poplar. Cutting it up it was not the normal greenish poplar. Best I can tell it is Balsam Poplar, but that is not native to my area. I thought maybe hackberry, but really doesn’t match IMO. The leaves are too dry now, but they looked like poplar leaves.



Closeup endgrain

 

[Kent Reisdorph]

It isn't like any hackberry I have seen. My local species is sugarberry, but it's pretty much the same wood. The grain and color of sugarberry are very plain. That wavy end grain pattern is reminiscent of hackberry and elm, but it isn't dramatic enough.

 

[Russell Nugent]

Definitely looks like a not so ancient balsam poplar.

 

[Dean Center]

Bark definitely looks like Populus genus. Maybe with mineral staining?

 

[Leo Van Der Loo]

Had a tree come down due to being rotten at the trunk base. Didn’t pay much attention thinking it was ordinary poplar. Cutting it up it was not the normal greenish poplar. Best I can tell it is Balsam Poplar, but that is not native to my area. I thought maybe hackberry, but really doesn’t match IMO. The leaves are too dry now, but they looked like poplar leaves.

View attachment 66437 View attachment 66439

Yes a Poplar species, probably just a regular Poplar, problem is that these species do hybridize in the wild, probably why it is all very often called Popple, as there is no easy way to tell them all apart, besides the bark does change a lot as the trees grow larger, and leaves are not there large part of the year, it all makes PULP.

So yes from smooth bark to very high ridged as shown here in these pictures I made


I find that the leaves throughout most of the year show this brown on the bottom side of the leaves, it is the easy way to tell the Balsam Poplar apart from the other Poplar species.

The greenish wood color the OP mentioned is probably not from a Poplar tree but the Tulip tree that is often called (incorrect) Tulip Poplar, and not a Poplar or related to the Poplar species, but a Magnolia species.

And since this tree had been standing dead before it fell over, and then lay down, it is no wonder the wood color is all gray and streaked.

 

[William Rogers]

And since this tree had been standing dead before it fell over, and then lay down, it is no wonder the wood color is all gray and streaked.

Leo thanks for the information. The tree was “mostly” alive when the base rotted out. Could be mineral stains as it was right next to a soy bean/corn field and water drained that way. Ii guess I’m just use to seeing green color wood when I hear poplar.

 

[Dean Center]

As Leo mentions, the green color wood sold in the lumber yard as "poplar" is not a poplar.