Bill Tindall, E.Tn.
As I was cleaning up to enable restoration of the cover on my bench I examined the cut-off waste from where these shavings were made. And I examined an adjacent piece of wood.

These shavings were made from wood no more than a few inches from ground level. Normally trees are not cut this low, so I have never experienced wood properties of wood from this location. And I do not know how typical this specific tree might be.

This wood has no distinct pores. Note in Warren's picture you can clearly see the boundary between spring and summer wood. In my shavings one can see pores in the lighter colored band which is the veneer, which is a lighter color. This veneer wood is from 10' above the darker ground level wood, same tree.

This "stump wood" is not lighter weight. But again it planes, and looks, like a piece of plastic.