On Thu, 20 Aug 2015 23:32:51 -0500
dpb wrote:

Sure, that can explain the trunk; doesn't explain the smooth bark vis
a vis all the other sample shots of the species...

you are entering into an area of study that is interesting
i think the technical word used in biology is morphology

in common terms it is the study of the different forms of a given species

the environment plays a big part in what form a species can take
like middle of the forest versus the forest edge
northern edge versus southern edge
windy versus calm
and so on and so on

i would expect rougher bark on trees that receive more sunlight on the
trunk then a tree that gets very little sunlight