Species in the Spotlight - Archive
Black Birch: Betula lenta
June 01, 2008
Also called sweet birch, cherry birch, or mahogany birch, this species is perhaps the only tree around that is best recognized by the flavor of its twigs. The inner bark, as any twig-chewing child can tell you, is delicious and fragrant: its wintergreen taste is from the very same oil found in Gaultheria procumbens, a small, creeping forest plant also …
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Jack Pine, Pinus banksiana
March 01, 2008
Rare is the day when all the resources that a tree needs are available in abundance. And for jack pine, a far more frugal and less aggressive species than, say, sugar maple, survival depends on gleaning something from nothing – every day. Its specialty is what might count as the tree equivalent of squatting: it benefits from forest fires so …
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White Spruce, Picea glauca
December 01, 2007
During the most recent ice age, the Great Plains were part of a white spruce forest that existed in a broad, transcontinental band south of the tundra, which in turn extended north to the southern limit of the glaciers. White spruce still grows farther north on this continent than any other conifer, and now almost all of its range is …
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Black Walnut, Juglans nigra
September 01, 2007
The large, deep green, lustrous leaves of black walnut give the tree a luxuriant appearance that is more suited to the tropics than to our clime, where, typically, trees are far more restrained. Indeed, the genus Juglans, which also includes our native butternut, is believed to have arisen in warmer latitudes at a time when the entire earth was warmer, …
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Shagbark Hickory, Carya ovata
June 01, 2007
When the Earth cooled during the Pleistocene, the continental glaciers that formed in the northern latitudes flowed southward slowly enough that tree species across North America were able to survive the advancing ice sheets by migrating southward. This was possible because each new generation of tree seedlings, growing from those seeds that happened to have been dispersed south of their …
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Red Osier Dogwood, Cornus sericea
March 01, 2007
For holding soil in place along the upper banks of streams, it would be hard to improve upon red osier dogwood – though there are other dogwood species and many willows that also perform that function. Aboveground, the mass of red osier stems, although they are each less than an inch in diameter, collectively absorb energy from floodwaters, moderating the …
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Winterberry, Ilex verticillata
December 01, 2006
Extensive wetlands often have masses of winterberry. From afar, its abundant, bright red berries sometimes cause large areas of wetland shrubbery to glow with a reddish orange color well into the winter. This shrub is willing to grow with its roots deeply submerged at the edges of ponds, and in these situations, the fruits’ watery reflections double the apparent redness. …
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Common juniper, Juniperus communis
September 01, 2006
If you are following a compass course through the woods, one sight that can sink your spirits in a hurry is an expanse of common juniper directly ahead. Juniper patches are not as painful to navigate as robust stands of blackberries, but the contorted horizontal branches, as much as 3 feet high and often 8 feet long, and interwoven with …
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Alternate-leaved Dogwood, Cornus alternifolia
June 01, 2006
Alternate-leaved dogwood can withstand considerable shade and is common in the forest understory, especially where soils remain moist. But in dim light, beneath a forest canopy, it rarely puts on the good flower show that occurs where sunlight is more plentiful. In forest openings, in hedgerows, along the road, or in the yard, this small tree often flowers and fruits …
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Pussy Willow, Salix discolor
March 01, 2006
Last fall, I went to a nearby wetland with a pair of clippers and cut twigs from one willow shrub after another. It wasn’t hard to tell the willows from the non-willows because willows are the only woody plants in this area whose buds are covered by a single bud scale. These cute, pointy caps are very different from the …
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