Woodpecker explorations – 1050×1680
This wonderful texture lives at the top of Cochran Hill Road, where I spotted it on a recent walk. That tiny hole on the right trunk suggests more trouble than meets the human eye…
It’s now a background for the portrait monitor.
#1 by rkward on 15-February-2013 - 08:11
Quite possibly an Elm with Dutch Elm disease? Looks like the multiple trunks have already taken their toll from the looks of the old wound.
#2 by Ed on 15-February-2013 - 08:20
IIRC, that one’s a maple, but I’d have to check when the leaves come out again; my tree-fu is pitifully weak.
There aren’t many elms left around here…
#3 by Frans on 16-February-2013 - 08:52
I don’t know about American maples, but our maples are (mostly) smooth while elm bark looks like that. Of course there are other trees with similar bark, but no maples. :P
That said, I don’t know what advanced iepenziekte (elm sickness/disease*) looks like because we cut and strip the trees as soon as yellow-leaf symptoms start showing.
* NB It originated in Asia. The Dutch part has to do with Dutch botanists I imagine.
#4 by Ed on 16-February-2013 - 09:06
We walked over there yesterday and Mary says it’s some kind of maple, but not the Norway Maple she thought it might be.
We’ll know more in a few months: the buds on the branch tips seem ready for warmer weather!
#5 by Frans on 16-February-2013 - 09:44
Heh, that’s funny. This Norway maple you speak of apparently grows in most of Europe except the Netherlands and Belgium.
#6 by Frans on 16-February-2013 - 09:44
The funny part being that its bark looks very much like elk indeed. ;)