Tree ID

[Andy Konty]

A friend asked me take down some trees on his property and two of them are very old trees that were never cared for properly and are nearing a messy, limb-falling end. I'm getting plenty of hickory and oak for the stove from his place but I'm hesitant to take these down until I know what they are and I'm having a devil of a time identifying these two trees.

I took the end of a low branch home to help me ID the trees using the internet, but after a couple hours I'm still stumped. The flowers are classic Quercus but the leaves are not like any oak leaf I've ever seen, nor are they like any oak leaf I can find in any online guide.

I actually thought American Elm before I saw the flowers, but the real kicker is that on closer inspection some of the leaves are lobed while others are not, though non-lobed leaves are dominant.

I attached a picture of the leaves I brought home and you can see in the leaf on the far left a slight lobe, but none on the other leaves.

I don't want to take these trees down until I know what they are, in case they are too valuable to take down or burn.

So, any ideas from this picture? I can get pics of the full trees if you're as stumped as I am.

 

[crotchclimber]

red mulberry (Morus rubra)

 

[Andy Konty]

I didn't know mulberry could grow that large until I looked up Morus rubra. That has to be it.

 

[Andy Konty]

Any idea how it burns? I'm also thinking of turning some bowls or making table tops out of the crotches.

 

[Herd8497]

In my experience Mulberry is pretty wet, so like most wood needs to be well seasoned before burning. The stuff I have cut looks like baby food peaches in color. Hedge is in the same family, but Mulberry doesn't have the same BTU rating. Sweep's chart shows Mulberry at 23.2 BTU/cord