“A tree is a tree - how many more do you need to look at?”

Ronald Reagan, former U.S. President 

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Unidentified tree in Coppell, northeastern Texas, located in a city park near a canal and flood zone. Other similar trees nearby do not have such pronounced zigzag protrusions. This tree is growing next to a stand of Hackberry, but he bark has such exaggerated texture compared to those next to it,  so it is doubtful that this is another species of Hackberry. I have been unable to locate any information on the internet, including university and numerous arborists’ websites, and no feedback on popular photography website groups like Flickr either.

Please help identify this tree…thanks.

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Eastern Cottonwood Unidentified Growth

Flowers, fruit, seeds? Does anyone know what these are Growing alongside the Ottawa River, Ontario, Canada, all of the branches ended with these oddly shaped, hard, glossy growths on Eastern Cottonwood, about 3 x 3 inches. If they appeared more randomly on the branches I would suspect insect galls for sure, but they all look like they belong there, and are all uniform in shape and size. Are they seed heads?

Please help identify these odd growths…thanks.