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It's beginning to look a little like Christmas...
I would just like to point out that right now, it's snowing outside.
--mark -
Tree of the Month for October, 2008: Fraxinus americana - Part IV
Part IV: Big Trees
To be a tree enthusiast is to be a big tree enthusiast. After all, the primary characteristic which distinguishes trees from all other plants, which makes people like me get more interested in them than in flowers and mosses and vines, is their size. There is a true wonder in seeing a living thing which dwarfs you a thousandfold ( Read more... ) -
Tree of the Month for October, 2008: Fraxinus americana - Part III
It's been a busy couple of weeks, what with midterms and my fall break trip to see Luke & my parents. So please excuse me for going ahead and changing F. americana into a tree of the Month, so that I can go into right proper detail about it.
Part III: Ecology & range
The white ash grows in almost all of our eastern forests, from the sub-boreal ( Read more... ) -
Tree of the Week for October 12th-19th, 2008: um, it's Fraxinus americana again... - Part II
Part II: Tree ID
It is relatively easy to distinguish an ash tree from a member of any other genus, but distinguishing between one species of ash and another is a much trickier matter. However, by the end of this Part, you will be able to do both, so long as you actually bother to pay attention.
The genus of the ashes, Fraxinus, can most readily ( Read more... ) -
The Centurion
As I've pointed out before, for quite a few years, the five tallest species of trees in the world have been, in the following order:
1. Sequoia sempervirens, the Coast Redwood
2. Pseudotsuga menziesii, the Western Douglas-Fir
3. Picea sitchensis, the Sitka Spruce,
4. Sequoidendron giganteum, the Giant Sequoia ( Read more... ) -
Acer rubrum part VI
Part VI: Myths & Folklore
How the Red Maple Got its Color
As related to this researcher by a small, gnomish gentleman of an earthy character and curious facial hair during a walk through the maine woodsLong ago, when the world was first being made, all of the trees gathered together for a council, to divide up the lands of the east between them. ( Read more... ) -
Tree of the Week for September 22nd-September 29th, 2008: Acer rubrum - Part V
Part V: Physiology
A. rubrum is generally considered a shade intolerant species, preferring by far open skies and sun to the closed canopy of a mature forest. But there are exceptions to this; Red Maple seedlings are quite willing to germinate in deep shade. They seem ambivalent about the prospect, and first spend a year properly rooting ( Read more... ) -
Tree of the Week for September 22nd-29th, 2008: Acer rubrum: Part IV
Part IV: History & Silviculture
Well, you know all the things that I said in the previous entry about how the Red Maple is mostly restricted to poorer sites, where competition is low and resources scarce? Yeah, forget it. Well, maybe, don't go that far, because the Red Maple is especially common in such sites, especially in the Deep South, where ( Read more... )
