Do you know what tree this is?

Let me start by saying that I have absolutely no idea about the tree in this post. Would you know the name of this tree or what tree this trunk might belong to?

I happened upon this one while I was visiting a friend –here in California — a few months back. We had parked at the parking lot at her apartment and there in front of me was this interesting looking trunk. The layers and the texture it portrayed caught my eye. I was so taken by the trunk that I felt compelled to take my phone out, swipe up the camera icon and take a couple of pictures.

‘A couple of pictures’ — that is exactly what I have and it was only later that I realized that I didn’t have pictures of the whole tree. I wish I’d taken better pictures of the foliage, so you could try to identify it. I’d asked a few people if they could identify it but I haven’t gotten any answers yet. A bit of internet search didn’t help either.

I hoping that someday, someone might come this way, find this flaky bark familiar, and let me know the name of the tree* this trunk belongs to. 

What an intriguing piece of (natural) sculpture! Is it not?

And it looks like we have a name!

Fellow blogger Sandra Nachlinger suggests it might be a Melaleuca Tree. I looked up the images tried to do some research in that direction. And it looks like this is the Melaleuca quinquenervia or a  Melaleuca Leucadendron that we have here. Guess what the common name of the tree is — Paperbark Tree. How neat! How apt!

Here are some links & images you might like to see if the pictures in the post got you interested in the tree:
Melaleuca quinquenervia (It is also commonly known as a ‘Punk Tree’ 🙂 )
Image of the Paperbark Tree— of the bark
Genus Melaleuc

Thank You, Sandra.
And Thank You to all the readers who put in their suggestions, hunches and observations. Thanks a ton, this was fun.

Linking to 
#ThursdayTreeLove
(on Happiness and Food)
&
Our World Tuesday

You might also like to see these interesting trees:

• The Giant Sequoia — some of the largest trees in the world
• The Coast Redwood — these are amongst the tallest trees 
• A Drive-Thru Tree – the Chandelier Tree in Leggett, CA
• Lone Cypress
• A Strangler Tree, one with a Crocodile-bark and another with a naturally sculpted elephant head on its trunk.

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