Need help identifying a tree.

[Steven Peters]

I've had this tree in my yard for years and I've never really paid any attention to it(The inside of my house needs way to much work.) and I'm trying to identify it:

[Steve Clardy]

Upper bark looks like a Mulberry tree.
If it is, never seen one that big

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

That is a Yard tree. Genus Yardotriferous

[Steven Peters]

It's definitley not a mulberry. The bark and leaves are different, plus no mulberries.

I'm located in South Florida and the aluminum that is out of reach was part of a neighbor's trailer and was deposited there by hurricane wilma.

[Russ Massery]

I found this website very helpful in identifying trees.http://www.arborday.org/trees/treeID.cfm
I didn't enough info to finish it.

[John Shuk]

If some of the leaves look like mittens it is sassafras. The leaves look like either that or some kind of magnolia but I'm not sure the wood looks like any magnolia I know of.

[Steven Peters]

The leaves don't match a sassafras and the arbor day website says that this is a maple. I'm gonna need a lot more beer before you can convince me that this is a maple.

[larry merlau]

ill' have one of those steven it definatly aint no sassafras and i agree completly that it isnt a maple..i was leaning towards magnolis as well. but the ones i have seen arent that large. not even the mississippi versions.

[Martin Shupe]

Not maple, not sassafras, not mulberry.

Not sure....

Could it be an "ornamental"?. (Used to describe non-native species bought at plant stores).

The leaf is pinnately compound with 3 leaflets. Do all leaves have 3 leaflets, or do some have 5? 5 makes more sense to me, 3 throws me for a loop.

Is the branching opposite or alternate?

If opposite (leaves and branches opposite (or a branch can be missing), then I am guessing it is in the ash family.

If alternate, I have no idea.

Consult your local forester...

[Steven Peters]

All of the leaves are in pairs of three. The branching seems completely random. The wood looks similar to mahogany, but I'm not that lucky.

[Jake Helmboldt]

natural range isn't that far south, but I don't know what else it could be. Not sure what you mean by pairs of three. If at the end it is three leaves as depicted but compound along the length of the branch (i.e. leaves are symmetrical, being located directly opposite eachother) then that fits with black locust.

It is not sassafras, maple, or mulberry.

What kind of flower does it have? If there are white flowers and pea-pod type seeds then it is black locust.

After looking at a couple other things, notably the wood color it might also be honey locust. Any spiny clusters on the trunk? Apparently some cultivated forms don't have them, and given this is in FL then that might be the case. Either way, I'm thinking locust; black or honey.

[Martin Shupe]

All of the leaves are in pairs of three. The branching seems completely random. The wood looks similar to mahogany, but I'm not that lucky.

It must be an ornamental or an exotic.

Take a small branch with leaves to your local county extension agent or forester. They will be familiar with locally planted exotics.

I am familiar with most of the trees that typically grow in the south, and I don't recognize that one at all.

Let us know what you find out.

[John Gornall]

So...... what plans do you have for the wood?

I'd like that lump by the crotch on the left side for turning.

[Don Baer]

Not sure what it is but if you want to send me some of the wood, I'll turn you a bowl...

[Bob Nieman]

Remember this is south Florida--any number of natives or exotics from the sub tropics are possible. It isn't a mulberry, ash, sycamore, locust, mulberry or magnolia.

It reminds me of trees in a parking lot of a hotel in Ft Lauderdale where I had a training class. I have a seed pod from the tree, but I never could figure out what it was (nothing like it in Ohio/Minnesota/Arizona/New Mexico)

I'd try a plant nursery.