Can You Identify This

[TexasTimbers]

Sweetgum is like the harlot, alright.

[Radar67]

Dodgy, I haven't a clue what the wood is. It is the box my turning tools are stored in.

Stew

[SwampDonkey]

OK............All y'all have to say it out-loud (ALBIZIA JULIBRISSEN) and tell me if I am right .  Come on y'all, don't be shy.  If y'all have a better candidate of a latin name flowing off the tongue, fess up . 

Turdus migratorius comes to mind 

or maybe

Pinus strobus


shy?  Hmmm 

[DWM II]

Danny, sweet gum and chinaberry (aka tallow, chicken trees) are the most despised weed on the ground I'm living on. Toms right about the gum, it is pretty, but I aint found no use for them DanG chicken trees yet  . If anybody knows what to do with'wm now the time to fess up .

[WDH]

Donnie,  The chinese tallow, Sapium sebiferum, is all over Louisianna.  Some people call that chinaberry and some call it popcorn tree.  We were looking at a potential Mitigation Bank tract in Livingston Parish, and the Wildlife and Fisheries guy from the state said we had to eradicate all the tallow because it is good for nothing, not even for the birds and the bees.

Kevjay,  Chinaberry, Melia azedarach, was a mainstay of my youth.  Stripping the bark off the limbs, so we could fashion weapons  , resulted in a distinct smell that you will never forget.  If I have thrown one chinaberry, I have thrown a million .  Every fence row around here has some.

[Tom]

The popcorn tree is known for the oil in its nut.  You can impale one on a needle, light it with a match and watch it burn like a candle for a minute or more.

I've told this story before.  A professor in Hawaii wanted to replace all of the old cane fields with chinese tallow.  He had figured that they could get enough oil to fuel the airplanes back to the mainland without having to ship anymore to Hawaii, thereby making the tourist trade self-sufficient.

I've seen chinese tallow bowls turned and they are a non-descript brown.  I've seen Chinaberry (Melia azedarach) turned and it is beautiful, sort of a red-brown but mottled.

[limbrat]

I got some looks from teenagers cause the end of the tweesers on my pocket knife were burnt up from them tallow nuts

[WDH]

Tom, the chinaberry wood is very striking.  Has a ring porous structure and a bold grain like ash, only redder like you say.  I did cut one tree (and a nail), so I will try to post a pic of the wood (not the nail ).

[DWM II]

Danny, is that a wetlands mit. bank in Livingston you are looking at? Where at in Livingston? Weve got some lower areas in the southern end of the parish, but most of that is getting mitigated itself for subdivison construction. Livingston has some of the higher property values in the state, I'm surprised the state hasent sold to a private investor yet .

[WDH]

Yes Donnie,  the potential Mitigation Bank is just north of lake Maurepas about 15 miles south of Livingston.  There is a big demand for wetlands mitigation because of the rapid growth in Livingston, Parish.  Flight out of New Orleans I believe.