Sam, Clement, Resin and bboy, thank you very much for your answers. All three P. menziesii should be of almost exactly the same age. Is it a possibility that genetic variances between them caused one's bark to mature faster? It is quite likely that the third one is P. pinaster since that tree used to be planted on small scale for forestry around where I live. Thank you for the compliment, Sam. :) Taxus baccata is a conifer which is wild growing here anywhere; presumably because of its extensive use for hedges. Close to the one I found were numerous "normal" (single coloured, dark green ones) so this one catched my eye immediately. This one has smaller, more sickle shaped leaves which are green on the inside and bright-yellow across their edges. This post was edited by liopleurodon on Fri, May 17, 13 at 5:23

They will re-sprout. Cut them near the ground. Use a spade bit (a.k.a. paddle bit) to drill several large holes in the trunk. Fill the holes with Round-up BRUSH killer. Cover with a pot to keep the sun from evaporating the Roundup, to keep birds from drinking and to keep rain from diluting it. Do this about 3 times over the next 3 months. It won't come back and will kill the roots

As you stated, there indeed are a number of plants that have a similar appearance. A picture of one going to flower would allow a more sure ID, but, chances are that products that treat dandelions would work on this one. hortster

I posit that the photo above DOES show extended wings, though without further information I absolutely agree that it doesn't have the widest/biggest wings of a Euonymus alatus individual that I've ever seen. There used to be one sold as 'Monstrosus' from Chicago area nurseries that could be used as a glider. Here is an image from the Morton Arboretum's herbarium collection that looks similar to the photo above: http://redwood.mortonarb.org/images/jpg/sheet/4/0035464MOR.jpg The posted photo above appears to almost taken in "plan view", i.e., directly from above and doesn't provide nearly the information that photos from various other angles might provide. "Wings" on 'Compactus' are often/always reduced to lines on the twigs - nearly absent. I believe what I see in the photo above does not equate whatsoever with "nearly absent." I'd say they equate with "average winginess" for the species. I also think the photo angle may create an idea of denser twigginess, but examination of the number of bud breaks along the stem for additional twigs along those main branches shows that there are fewer (far fewer) than one will see on run-of-the-mill 'Compactus' in eastern US landscapes. I did not suggest that "...the plants make different wings in different parts of the country..." I suggested that when a plant is typically found in abundance in a certain region - and some participants here may have encountered it far more often than other participants - that the seeker of information consider that when assessing the posted information. I would assert that your evaluation of plants and performance for northwest coastal conditions is superior to many contributors here. I do believe that plants can express different growth characteristics in different locations (not necessarily winginess of twigs, but certainly things length of shoots during growth spurts) due to common variables like fertility, moisture levels, daylength, etc. Certainly traits like maximum size for a species will be different in the Ohio River valley region than in the Puget Sound region.