Another wood ID

[KShip85]

Ok, well I have another wood to ID.  This one came from my grandfathers old orchard.  It was growing in a thick bunch, maybe 15 or 20 shoots about 2 or 3 inches in diameter and maybe 15 or 20 feet tall.  The wood looked like it had a white sapwood and slightly lighter white heartwood.  Thanks for the help!

Kip

[sailordad]

looks like a birch to me,unsure of the exact type
but those pods clog my rain gutters up from the neighbors birch tree

[Blacktail]

o.k.i am not a pro..but,i did some snooping around..and what i found out from the bark and flowers is that its an alder of some type..maybe red alder...i don't think its a good bow wood..i hope some one like pat b will jump in..john

[Tsalagi]

It's a birch. I got one of those seeds from those drooping catkins lodged in my eye as a kid. I remember it well.

[Pat B]

Both birch and alder will have similar flowers and both will have their flowers now.  My first thought was alder but after looking through my book I really can't tell if it is an alder or birch.
   Kip, where do you live? That might help to ID it.

[Hrothgar]

Bark and catkins look like birch. You might wait 20 years then use the white bark for a canoe--just a thought.

[KShip85]

I live in southern Indiana. 

[KShip85]

Hmm, after looking a little I think it might be gray or speckled alder.  Does that sound right to anyone?

Kip

[DanaM]

Tag alder, I tried a bow from it, didn't survive long 

[Hillbilly]

It's for sure either tag alder (Alnus serrulata) or hazelnut (Corylus americana). Not a birch, although both these are in the birch family. Hard to tell which one from the pics, but the bark looks darker like alder bark and the buds look stalked. Did you notice any things on the twigs that looked like little mini-pine cones? If it's hazelnut, it will make a bow if it's big enough, and makes excellent arrows. If it's alder, it makes good charcoal for black powder manufacturing.

[KShip85]

Yeah, the end of the limb tips looked like a little cone shaped bud.  Maybe I could make a giant arrow from if it is alder.

Kip

[Hillbilly]

Alder usually has little clusters of cones on it that resemble tiny pine cones. It's a soft wood, but would probably make arrow shafts.

[KShip85]

Ok, well after a little more research and thinking, I am leaning towards hazelnut.  I looked at some photos and the leaves look like what j think I saw in the summer.  More than that hazelnut makes more sense to me as it was planted in the orchard and every tree there is either a fruit or nut tree.  Are hazel nut trees either male or female or does every tree produce nuts?  Thanks for the help.

Kip

[Gordon]

The catkins do resemble the hazelnut catkins I see around here.

[Hillbilly]

Hazelnuts aren't seperate male and female-each shrub will produce fruit if it gets enough light and nutrients. On American hazel, the nuts are in big clusters surrounded by a papery looking membrane.