Even if it's barking, it ain't always a dog...

Maackia amurensis (aka Chinese Yellowwood)

I went looking through several generations of digital photos, thinking this was a butt-crack tree I knew. Maybe it is, but I couldn't find the image. Oh well...

Speaking of Maackia amurensis (which you-sed to be a pseudo-handle), here are a few amongst the local crop of Bernheim babes.

I remember strolling down that lane. Have conditions at Bernheim improved since my 2012 visit?

And don't let Pseudo's sour soliloquy stifle sensible sympathies.

Cladrastis kentukea is more than the sum of its - barks...

**First two are national champion specimen in Cave Hill Cemetery, Louisville KY

**An old codger at Bartram's Garden, Philadelphia PA circa 1995

**My most favorite old tree on Chinoe Road, Lexington KY - may it rest in peace

**the 135 year old youngster at Arnold Arboretum, Boston MA

Ah, Bernheim. A sore subject - still sensitive - sitting silently, set astray.

But there are so many more Yellowwoods...

**Lexington Cemetery specimen, Lexington KY

**Another at Lexington Cemetery

**A couple of the former national champ (resting in pieces) at Spring Grove Cemetery, Cincinnati OH

**Ah, youth!

And why did this thread go dormant?

So much bark, so little time...

Here is one that deserves a bit of contemplation before identification.

I actually happened upon this thread while searching for some info on Camellias. Some very interesting trees shown here........most that I have never heard of.

I am curious VV - what is this last tree that you have shown?

Genna

Well, thank you, Genna, for asking - and welcome down the path less traveled (at least lately) here at Trees Shrubs and Conifers.

Since you've resurrected this thread with your post, it will now be higher up on the forum food chain for others to look at and ponder. I will reply to you via Dmail with the answer, so other visitors might take a crack at the ID. I posted this same plant on another forum, and someone there guessed it.

I have many more barkers to post here, but had myself forgotten about this since vacation and playing catch-up at work.

Ask lots of questions - that's what many of us are here for: conversations, inspiration, illumination, education. Fun stuff.

I learned what the barker in question was on the other post and I doubt I would have guessed it.

Indeed. A very old plant of a very common species, and isn't that when (sometimes) unique traits can shine through?

Yes, well...I am amazed.

It's small, it's deciduous which disqualifies anything that the bark makes me think of so I'll guess crab apple to start the ball rolling.

Good start.

It has opposite arrangement of leaves/buds/twigs, which eliminates Crabapple. Most people will recognize this plant as a very fragrant spring flowering shrub, which prefers more northerly conditions but is often planted in our mid latitudes.

Lilac?

Bingo!

Yay me! And so I will contribute. It's not the one I was looking for but here is one I took a few years ago at Deep Cut Gardens in NJ, probably the first one I've come across.

Cunninghamia lanceolata

I like cunninghamia bark too, Loretta. I especially like the 'starburst' look surrounding every branching stem. Somehow looks very prehistoric to me.

Yay you Loretta! Thanks for the contribution, nice pics. I too like the novel starburst characteristic. All those above must be well sited, I thought they were only hardy to zone 7.

I'm not sure about mine being well sited, as it's now taller than my house... At least more hardy than zone 7 in my area.

Weerobin, this tree wasn't heightened or trimmed so I didn't notice the starbursts. It does look like a dinosaur tree to me too. How close to your house is it?
Mipii, the tree in my photo is in zone 7a NJ.

So here is another tree I really like for the bark. Does anyone grow Prunus Serrula? I've only seen it in botanical gardens. I once came across it for sale. Why didn't I buy it?

Ha, I can have that one! It's hardy to zone 6...just my size too. I found it here;
https://www.forestfarm.com/product.php?id=3716

Oh the things I can learn past my bedtime. I didn't know NJ was zone 7 :o

My Cunninghamia is definitely too close to the house. It's trunk is about 5 inches away from an elevated deck. I'm not so worried about the roots, since the base of the trunk is a good 10-15ft away from the foundation of the house. But the tree has grown like crazy and must be 25ft tall so I am worried it won't take much more thickening of the trunk and my deck will be jeopardized. It also has an annoying habit of dropping myriads of branchlets lined with razor-sharp leaves onto the deck.
As for hardiness, I've never noticed the slightest problem even in the severe winter a few years ago. I think it's definitely hardier than 7.

Only found one relatively current image of Cunninghamia lanceolata bark, from a visit to the State Arboretum of Virginia.

It is still winter, but spring beckons. Eyes are opening again to what is around us outdoors, and will too soon stray to only the emerging colorful yet ephemeral flowers.

Look while you can still see!

The grand dame of the eastern mixed mesophytic forest - Magnolia acuminata - which is quite at home in town and garden, given a bit of space...

**First is at Maymont, in Richmond VA
**Second and third are from an average old tree in Anchorage KY
**Fourth and fifth are from a tree in Anchorage that often is not believed, even when seen

Wow, fourth and fifth are one phat tree with some mighty big branches. Magnolia steroids perhaps?

Is the flower display lost by the mammoth size of the tree? I'd think you'd need binoculars to see them ...

No steroids required, when a tree is allowed to grow as it might sans interference.

Wee: I - as might the tree - don't understand what you mean.

Maymont is a great place to see big old specimen trees. Those of you who frequent the Atlantic seaboard might take a break when next passing through Richmond VA.

It's a public park, but formerly the residence of James and Sallie Dooley. They left their community quite a treasure. https://maymont.org/estate/

The Pinus wallichiana offers an interesting array of color and texture in its bark in all seasons.

Maymont's monster Parrotia persica, on the other hand, overachieves in all ways.

Behold, and gaze in wonderment...

Mipii, thanks for the enabling! I have never ordered from Forest Farm although I've read their catalog a few times. NJ does range from zone 5 to 7.
Wee, no barefoot walking for you! Cunninghamia does carpet the ground. I just saw a nice deck that cuts into the deck to allow for a tree.
VV, those last three trees are incredible! I don't think I've come across anything that approaches their sizes. I've always loved Himalayan Pine since I first saw one years ago! And that Parrotia is Crazy!

No problem Loretta, you know -- when in Rome!

I agree with you, I'd be doing the cut-out on the deck to accommodate Wee's tree too.

I'm sure NJ has more than its fair share of fine trees. It may take some looking.

Here are some that I'm aware of - at the Rutgers Display Gardens in New Brunswick, NJ.

This is one of the more obscure species you'll come across on a nice fall stroll around the collection.

The bark pattern looks like Salix nigra but the leaves are not, I'm still looking...

The leaves in #3 are opposite and the leaves look like alternate in #5.

Is it Juglans nigra ?

It is not Salix nigra nor Juglans nigra - neither of which are unusual trees nor which have bark anything like that in the images, at least in my experience. Black Willow also has simple leaves.

The leaves in both images #3 and #5 are alternate. These leaves are also pinnately compound...

I could always run down there and cheat!

Hornbeam?

Fraxinus velutina?

Hornbeam (Carpinus sp.) have simple leaves that are alternately arranged - not it.

Fraxinus velutina will have pinnately compound foliage with opposite arrangement - not it.

Pinnately compound and alternate...and very unusual. You've probably never spoken/written the genus.

Carya cordiformis?

How about Picrasma?