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.
Monthly Image: Woodpecker Explorations
The Smell of Molten Projects in the Morning 
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.
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…
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.
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!
Heh, that’s funny. This Norway maple you speak of apparently grows in most of Europe except the Netherlands and Belgium.
The funny part being that its bark looks very much like elk indeed. ;)