Tree ID

[ahlkey]

Visited a small island on a large lake this past weekend only 30 miles from my hunting cabin.  I found a large 35 dbh tree that appears to be Black Cherry with alternate branching, simple leaves, and with the leaf margins being serrate.  However, the bark was not black but grey which was confusing and the bark was a little different than my large Black Cherry trees on my property. Thoughts?

 

[WDH]

Could be an elm.  Is the leaf base inequilateral? That is, both sides of the leaf base do not match up, and the leaves are doubly serrate.

Slippery elm can have scaly bark.   I am betting that is what it is.  http://dendro.cnre.vt.edu/dendrology/syllabus/factsheet.cfm?ID=42

[ahlkey]

Thanks for the reply.  Yes it could be a Elm as the leaves were inequilateral and I believe the leaves were also double serrated.  The bark sure does look Elm like and the fact it was on a island probably protected it from Dutch Elm disease.   At 35" inches dbh it really is an impressive healthy tree!

[CTYank]

 The dead giveaway for american elm, to me, is the distinctive vase-shaped branching of the leaders. Super-easy to ID from a distance, and from a distance looks nothing like black cherry.