I'm thinking it's an Elm??? I have only seen 2 of them on my property this is the bigger of the two, the leaf shot is from a small offshoot at the bottom.
The only other elm around I know of is in my inlaws yard, it's a Siberian elm my wife's grandfather planted back in the 50's. It's not too common in these parts I don't believe. But I have absolutely no idea on this
It looks like eastern hophornbeam (Ostrya virginiana). I've got several in my woodlot that are twisted like that. Right now, mine are covered with ripening 'hops' fruit, so identification is pretty easy. Of course, since you're way out in PA, chances are good that you're looking at something I've never seen before.
Golden elm. Got a stack of it hear, cut and drying. The folks had it removed bc it was iterfering with the power lines. Need a splitter to sort out the big rounds! Cheers Sent from my SM-G900I using Tapatalk
Are you sure that leaf is from the same tree? Otherwise looking at the bark and form of the tree I'd guess Norway maple. But that's certainly not a maple leaf.
Yes, it has an offshoot at about knee height( you can see it in the right corner of the one pic), I made doubly sure it was indeed a part of the same tree lol. I'll try to get out again tomorrow and get better pics.
Have you got any binoculars? That could give you a better look up in the canopy. I once posted a pic of a leaf I thought was possibly elm.. Turns out the "branch" I was holding was actually part of the large poison ivy vine on the other side of the tree! The tree did end up being a dead elm though. I haven't a clue what that leaf is. Elm should have alternate leaf arrangement.
I can see the canopy pretty well from the ground, and the leaves were def the same. Poison ivy doesn't bother me luckily. I'd be in trouble if it did! I'll get better pics tomorrow and hopefully we can figure it out.
I agree with Mad City, looks like hop hornbeam to me. It's a good thing you aren't bothered by poison ivy, you were standing in it when you took the leaf picture!
Ive literally rolled in it for demonstration purposes before, when people don't believe that I'm immune to it.
The leaf does not look like Elm to me. Even the bark looks different. Usually with a tree that size the bark would be more coarse if it was Elm. But being in Pa you never know.
I failed to get into the woods last night. I just now was able to take a ride and got better pics of the leaves and bark.
I couldn't find any boxelders in my woodlot, or atleast what I've always thought to be boxelder. Here's a pic of leaves off the web that look like what I've known as boxelder, which looks nothing like these leaves. And I've always known hop hornbeam to have completely different bark (almost similar to beech) while the leaves do look very similar, the bark just seems off. Who knows.
Look at that internet boxelder picture from Splitsnstacks and notice that the leaves are opposite, not alternate like in his prior post of his own leaves. That is a dead giveaway. Not many species of hardwood show that opposite leaf pattern.
