I bought a house on Long Island NY which has about an acre of woodland in the back. Most of it is covered with a tree with a fairly smooth bark a yellow gold in color -- some quite large, 8 inch dim. trunks and 30 feet high. As it is winter I am not sure what the foliage looks like. Someone who knows trees told me that they are weed trees called "city apple" trees, but I have not been able find anything about about them under that name. Has anyone heard this name. Is there another name for them? Thanks Jim
Could it be hedge apple, more commonly known as osage orange around here? (Maclura pomifera)The female trees get large, green aromatic orange shaped fruit in the fall. They have a sticky white fluid in them. The roots have orange bark. The branches have sharp spines and have yellow interiors. The tree was planted as a living fence in the past and did a good job of keeping animals penned. Several grew along the edge of a cemetery near me when I was a child.
Can you find any leaves that came from your trees, maybe a few stuck in the lower branches? Or compare the twigs with a winter tree ID guide.
Fairly smooth yellow bark doesn't really sound like osage. And if there are no thorns, it's something else. But if it turns out that these trees are indeed osage, you may not want all of them on your property, but please don't let yourself think of them as 'just weed trees'! They are highly prized by many woodworkers, and especially traditional bowyers. Someone would be thrilled to take some of them off your hands.
