This was mixed in with oak, walnut and elm on a hill I've been clearing. My guess is bitternut hickory, but that could be way off. The bark is very smooth to the touch. Doesn't have much of a smell. It's over 25' to the first branch. No leaves on it.
Ash. Well, it looks like ash anyway. First, check the limbs and see if they have opposite branching. If they do its either ash or maple. Second; cut a round out of it and see if it showes a pin hole in the very center of the round. If it does its ash. For tree I.D. remember the acronym MAD HORSE, it stands for Maple, Ash Dogwood and Horse chestnut. These are the only deciduous trees with opposite branching. Horse chestnut a.k.a buckeye, same tree.
Thanks for the replies. I've cut several ash trees down around my place, none this small though. The bark feels nothing like the regular ash I cut. The bark on this tree in questions is countertop smooth. It "almost looks like the raised portions are melted back into the tree" just how this Bitternut Hickory - Tree Bark ID explains. But I will do as you said and cut a round, look for the pinhole as well verify what kind of branching it has. I hope it is ash.
Is bitternut hickory any good for smoking meat? I suppose a simple google search could answer my question
Just looking at your location though. Rabbit hash, sounds like something Id find on a table in the wintertime though.
So the story goes: Twas the harvest time flood of 1834 and the Ohio River came up fast and furious taking with it most of the crops and and livestock from the as yet un-named settlement. As the folks of the area stood on the hilltop lamenting their losses, wondering how they'd eat come winter and watching the rabbits run from the raging river, the local drunk spoke up and said: "Well, at least they be plenty 'o rabbit hash to eat." And its been known as Rabbit Hash from that day forward.
Definitely hickory. I have several on the ground right now. Great stuff, once stuff once Dry after 2 years.
Well this thread just helped me identify another tree I have. I've been wondering what gets those blooms like that with those dangling seeds and that bark. Thought the only hickory species I have here were shag bark.