Which tree species produces this strange bark growth on the small branches and twigs? The tree is found along the public footpath and one of it's traditional uses was to mark field boundaries. Look out for the answer next week....
Found quite commonly at Langford along the eastern public footpath and indeed throughout much of England, the tree is the field maple, or Acer campestre. The leaves bear a resemblence to the familiar sycamore, Acer pseudoplatanus, having 3 lobes, but are untoothed and smaller than sycamore leaves. The field maple is a native tree to the UK and is closely related to the sycamore, which is widely considered non-native and another non-native species that you may see growing in the UK - the Norway maple, or Acer platanoides.
The field maple is a medium sized tree, reaching 25m, however can often be seen clipped into a hedge. The new shoots are conspicuously red in colour at the beginning of the season and the flowers, which appear in May and June are borne on erect stalks in clusters and are green/yellow in colour.
Another good diagnostic feature of the field maple is the shape of the keys. As in sycamore and Norway maple, the keys are comprised of two parts, each bearing a seed and a 'wing'. In field maple, the two seed pods are attached together so the top edge forms an almost straight line, whereas in the other two species, there is an angle.
And finally....one to watch out for, English elm, Ulmus procera, also produces corky growth like this on it's twigs, but has an obviously different leaf shape in summer and can be characteristed in winter by having alternate instead of opposite leaf buds.