Many shrubs really come into their own in the spring when they flower — not necessarily big, flashy flowers, but more subtle and delicate blossoms, with beautiful colors and designs. Beaked Hazel (Corylus cornuta) is such a shrub. Its female flowers are now blooming – exquisite little maroon flowers with magenta highlights and pistils that curl this way and that in hopes of catching pollen. One advantage to flowering before leaves are out is that there is less interference with pollen dispersal. The entire flower is less than 1/4” in diameter.
April 5, 2012 | Categories: Adaptations, April, Flowering Plants, Pollination, Shrubs, Signs of Spring | Tags: Beaked Hazel, Corylus cornuta, Flowering Plants, Pollen Dispersal, Shrubs, Signs of Spring, Woody Plants | 4 Comments
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Black walnut (Juglans nigra) is a relatively easy tree to identify, as it has so many distinctive qualities. In the summer there are round, tennis-ball-sized nuts, which have a delightful smell. The bark of black walnut is dark and deeply furrowed. Best of all are the twigs and buds. If you cut a twig at an angle, you will see the central portion, or pith, is chambered. It is also brown. The only other tree that is chambered (not solid) like this is its relative, butternut (Juglans cinerea), and butternut’s pith is buff colored. The buds of black walnut are greyish and fuzzy – lacking bud scales. By far the most amusing thing about black walnut (and butternut) is its leaf scars – the scar left when a leaf falls off. The vessels that transport food and water, called vascular bundles, are darker than the rest of the scar, and are shaped in such a way that the leaf scar resembles nothing more than the smiling face of a monkey! (Butternut leaf scars also look like monkeys, but they have a “furrowed brow” of fuzz on the top edge of the leaf scar.)
February 1, 2012 | Categories: Bark, Buds, Deciduous Trees, February, Tree Buds, Tree Identification, Trees, Trees and Shrubs, Woody Plants | Tags: Bark, Black walnut, Butternut, Juglans cinerea, Juglans nigra, Leaf Scars, Pith, Tree Buds, Tree Identification, Woody Plants | 7 Comments
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Yellow birch (Betula alleghaniensis) buds are oval and pointed, and there are two shades of brown on each of their 3 – 5 bud scales. The buds and twigs of yellow birch taste like wintergreen. In the early morning and late afternoon, look for ruffed grouse filling their crops (“budding”) in yellow birch trees, as these buds are one of their favorite foods. The thin bark of a mature yellow birch is a very distinctive yellow-bronze color (the bark of saplings is a shiny red-brown color), and curls when it separates from the trunk.
January 28, 2012 | Categories: Bark, Deciduous Trees, January, Tree Buds, Tree Identification, Trees and Shrubs, Woody Plants | Tags: Bark, Betula alleghaniensis, Tree Buds, Tree Identification, Trees, Woody Plants, Yellow Birch | 1 Comment
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While identifying an oak species by the shape of its leaf is fairly easy, there are other characteristics in winter, when leaves aren’t available (except under the snow), that serve as clues to an oak’s identity. A mature northern red oak can be readily recognized by its bark — its ridges appear to have shiny stripes down the center. The buds of northern red oak are also distinctive. Like most oaks, red oak’s terminal (located at tip of twigs) buds occur in clusters. Northern red oak’s terminal buds are conical, and are a reddish-brown color.
January 17, 2012 | Categories: Deciduous Trees, January, Plants, Tree Identification, Trees and Shrubs | Tags: Bark, Buds, Deciduous Trees, Northern Red Oak, Quercus rubra, Tree Identification, Trees, Woody Plants | 1 Comment
Bark, silhouettes and buds are the three keys to identifying trees in winter. My preference is buds, as they are so distinctly different from one species to the next. American basswood, or linden (Tilia americana), is a favorite. Its plump, oval, asymmetrical red buds, bearing only one or two bud scales are unmistakable.
January 7, 2012 | Categories: January, Plants, Tree Identification, Trees and Shrubs | Tags: American Basswood, Buds, Linden, Tilia americana, Tree Buds, Tree Identification, Trees, Woody Plants | 1 Comment
Many shrubs really come into their own in the spring when they flower — not necessarily big, flashy flowers, but more subtle and delicate blossoms, with beautiful colors and designs. Beaked Hazel (Corylus cornuta) is such a shrub. Its female flowers are now blooming – exquisite little maroon flowers with magenta highlights and pistils that curl this way and that in hopes of catching pollen. One advantage to flowering before leaves are out is that there is less interference with pollen dispersal. The entire flower is less than 1/4” in diameter.
Bark, silhouettes and buds are the three keys to identifying trees in winter. My preference is buds, as they are so distinctly different from one species to the next. American basswood, or linden (Tilia americana), is a favorite. Its plump, oval, asymmetrical red buds, bearing only one or two bud scales are unmistakable.
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