Visiting a friend and tree ID

We came over to NE Alabama to visit a friends, while here I helped him drop and buck 2 dying oaks, a red and a white. He has some more trees that are dying, but I not sure what they are, I've called them sourwood, but I don't think that's to proper name.

 

Not familiar with a lot of the southern species, but sourwood aka sorrel looks like it might be accurate. The bark and leaves match the wikipedia entry at least.

 

Those 1st two pic's that bark looks like Chestnut oak or sometimes called Rock Oak. I have a lot of that behind my house!

 

I was thinking the same thing, but the leaves in the one picture are not chestnut oak. I'm not at all familiar with the tree in GA. Apparently Quercus prinus (a.k.a chestnut or rock oak) is native to the GA and AL in addition to much of the eastern US, especially along the Appalachians. Chestnut Oak

 

Agreed, those leaves are throwing me off big time, bark looks like a match but leaves are way off!!!

 

Sourwood. have some on my place 8-10". Look for any shoots left sticking out from the branches, those are what's left from when it flowered earlier in the season.

 

Hec I need to check the leaves on the ones I think are chestnut oak

 

It's definitely not oak. I had some of that stuff last year it was not far removed from balsa when dry

 

I've never seen that up here in this part of the states. I've seen it down South though.

That looks a bit like magnolia foliage.

 

I have no idea what the foliage looks like... Just based on the fat bark and yellow wood it looks the same. I had a lot of oddball wood last year... Lots of wood fishun® at the dump.

 

There's a bit of black locust around here, but that stuff is heavy.

 

Locust bark has diamond shapes in the bark though doesn't it?

 

I'm convinced on Sourwood as well, both the bark and the leaves seem to fit. Funny, for a tree with such an interesting and characteristic bark it's wood has very little figure, almost like looking at the face of birch plywood when I checked it out on the Wood Database site. Supposedly it smells of potatoes when fresh split and is pretty low on the btu chart, however its not always below freezing outside and may be perfect wood for mildly cool days. Also I found this interesting from Arborday. org site: The light amber honey produced from the nectar of sourwood flowers is considered by many to be unmatched by clover, orange blossom, fireweed or any other honey. Advocates of sourwood honey claim it has a caramel or buttery flavor, rich aroma, and a pleasant aftertaste that together, make it unique.

 

I thought it was sourwood, we have some on our place in GA, stuff splits about like gum, twisted grain. I found Rock/Chestnut oak at a state park we visited up in the mountains. Bark was deeply veined, first thought is was a type of hickory, until I saw the acorns on the ground. Thanks for the info.