This spectacular four-trunked specimen is fairly old for a paper birch, but it probably does not go back beyond 1900. Native to Connecticut, it is often confused with the gray birch, a shorter-lived tree. The bark of this tree was used by native Americans to make canoes, and it is sometimes called a canoe birch. The native white ash has compound leaves, usually with 7 leaflets. The bark is gray with diamond-shaped grooves.
White ash provides the finest wood for baseball bats.
Our old tree, now completely hollow, continues to hold onto life with a tenacious grip. This hybrid was first noted in Crimea around 1860. Old trees are fairly rare in America, but plantings have been common since the 1980's. The pin oak, a native tree , tends to grow near water. Nursery owners love it, because its lack of tap root makes it the easiest oak to transplant.