Log ID

This was dropped off about two weeks ago. It’s not in my typical wheelhouse. What do I have here?

 

I haven't gotten any as firewood personally, but that looks a lot like princess tree (paulownia) to me. Your thoughts Chud ?

 

That could be paulownia. The growth rings look narrow for a fast growing invasive. Is the wood ultra soft? It appears to have a pith. The wood color looks spot on. The bark also reminds me of magnolia, but the wood color isn’t right.

 

Tree of heaven

 

I have had that before and this doesn't look like that. It's also much larger than any TOH I've seen before. The big trunk is about 30" in diameter.

 

I haven't cut or split any yet but it appears to be heavy/dense.

 

Yep tree of heaven. Push it in the trash pile and burn it fast . May contain spotted lantern fly eggs and you don't want them hatching in the spring.
USDA APHIS | Spotted Lanternfly

 

It is when green. Has a stink to it when split.

 

Empress trees have these awful seed pods too that make a sticky mess when they come out.

 

Tree of Heaven. (ailanthus) Thin bark and yellowish heartwood are the IDers here. TOH has a center pith too.

Ive been mixing some in bundle wood in the last couple months. Not something i agressively seek, but will take if easy.

 

Tree of Heaven has a ton of moisture in the fresh wood. It can grow like a weed if not controlled, so I've mostly gotten rid of smaller specimens that have popped up in undesirable locations. I'm not sure if it's birds, squirrels, or what spreads the seeds? Need to learn more about the biology. The largest I've seen around this part of the country is 18-20". 30" seems reasonable with a slightly more forgiving climate. Dries out exceptionally fast. I recall cutting a tree for someone in town, and then coming back to remove a second load of the wood later on that spring and noticing a significant difference in what had only been a couple of weeks at most. Went back towards the end of summer and pulled some split pieces from a stack of "fire pit" wood that I'd been building and it burned just fine. Not for long, but no indication of being moisture laden anymore.

 

I have had TOH before and I am just not seeing it in these logs. Maybe once I cut it I will.

 

The evil rotten peanut butter stench of TOH is a dead giveaway.

 

Maybe when they get that big the bark texture is different? Biggest i can recall seeing is maybe 20" DBH
and dont cut much of the stuff.

 

Yikes I mentioned Tree of Heaven to someone as I set eyes on a scathing review on it once. Believe I've seen it as an ornamental tree but definitely don't want any part of it being on my yard.

 

I'm going a different route and saying Paper Mulberry. To me the bark looks off for TOH.

For reference, here is the tree and some wood I got from a large limb that I had to cut down.

 

Does it smell like rancid peanut butter?

 

I haven’t made any fresh cuts yet but the ends have no distinct smell.

 

First pic looks like white walnut (butternut) bark. What you say Eric Wanderweg?

 

Never heard of it. Great another tree to add to my bucket list