What is this tree?

What kind of tree is this?
The tree is growing out of a Lilac bush. When I saw it the other day I thought about cutting the Lilacs away. Today my wife said, "No wonder my Lilacs aren't flowering good. You need to cut that tree out."
We can make that happen.

 

Future firewood

 

I am by no means skilled at tree identification. The opposing branches in the second picture are a good clue. Opposing branches indicate maple, ash, dogwoods or chestnut. Those are definately not maple leaves. Dogwood trees are blooming now. So I'm guessing ash.

 

Looks like some kind of Ash.. how many leaflets per compound leaf?

 

Not sure of what you are asking but there are 3 leaves per sprout off the branch.

Ash is what crossed my mind first off. EAB has wiped out all the Ash in my area and definitely won't cut it if it is a living Ash.
Not in bloom and Chestnuts are rare in the area.

 

Leaves and branches look ashy to me.

 

Im going to say young new box elder leaves

 

Those are compound leaves.. as opposed to simple leaves.. Compound leaves have multiple leaflets or blades and the number of those can help you to determine what kind of tree it is... try this and see if it helps..

What Tree Is That? Online Edition at Arborday.org

 

Thanks and it helped. When I waded through the sequence I came up with Box Elder. The picture of young Box Elder was identical of what I was seeing. I bookmarked the site and just may order their book.
I haven't explored the site in depth, but do their books go into identification by bark? I was getting log loads delivered free before they decided to charge. Bark ID would be a great asset to me.

 

. It’s just a guess, but I don’t think they’d have bark as a determining factor in tree identification except as a secondary confirmation. The methods used with leaf characteristics work well. This article discusses bark in some detail. The Language of Bark - American Forests While leaves are pretty uniform throughout the plant, bark can vary greatly in appearance and texture...

 

Around here I just call em some kind of nut tree.

 

Both the leaves AND the bark with moss made me think Boxelder when I saw the pics.

 

I've got a lot more to learn about tree identification. I had to do a web search on box elder. I didn't know box elder is a maple. I guess I expected the typical looking maple leaf. So much more to learn. But, I think I'm in the right place.

 

Ash leafed maple, Manitoba Maple, box elder... whatever you call it if you hurry up and css it it will season in about 6 months like other soft maple.

 

I cut a lot of it. I'm sure you remember how much I have here at my place.