Oak anomaly?

I grabbed some red oak today and one piece is not like the others. Maybe it’s the harsh roadside conditions, or herbicide, or a parent tree? It clearly looks like Northern Red Oak until the stump cut.

 

Nice grab

 

Are those trunk pieces? I see red oak with the corn flake bark in the north east. It could be a younger tree where the bark is not fully mature.

 

The medullary rays are showing on both end cuts.

 

Looks like a similar gradient to this red oak I had taken down recently.

 

Yes all trunk pieces. Southern Red Oak has a courser bark top to bottom, but darker wood. I’ll check some big older Northern Red Oaks for the difference. I don’t recall ever seeing this difference, but it may be a result of decay too.

 

Yep that’s Northern Red. Maybe it’s more common than I think.

 

I noticed on a lot of oaks that the bark near the base is usually rougher, getting progressively smoother further up the trunk. It almost looks like black oak on that one round, and regular red oak on the others. It all came from the same tree though?

 

Could be black oak. The bark on more mature trees is the most "alligator skinned" of all the oaks IME

 

Here is a big one. The bark gets burly at the root flare.

 

You made me curious enough to look closer at other red oaks around the yard. Here is a large mature one that has the popcorn bark only a few inches above ground level. Same size as the one in my last post that did have it going 5-6 feet up. And here's a small one that has it strongly. Wonder what causes it to be so much higher on some trees than others.?

 

Those are good examples of the difference. It appears to be more pronounced on younger trees, or less apparent once the buttress widens out.

 

That makes me think it has something to do with the buttress widening rapidly to support the weight higher up.

Maybe something to do with the amount of sway the tree has. Maybe the bark kinda cracks? Idk im just thinking out loud.