Species in the Spotlight Archive
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Staghorn Sumac
Short-lived and barely more than a shrub, sumac flourishes on exceedingly poor sites. The trees crowd up to railroad tracks and fill vacant lots- places no other self-respecting tree would consider. Full sunlight is essential and only old sumac skeletons are found in deep woods. The tallest trees reach 35 feet, and heights of 25 feet are considered respectable. The… (more)
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Black Gum
Last September a black gum tree made the news. Discovered in a southern New Hampshire swamp, it was found to be New England’s oldest tree. The 30-inch diameter specimen has 562 growth rings and easily tops the previous record holder, a 412 year old red spruce in the White Mountains. It may be the oldest hardwood tree in the world.… (more)
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Paper Birch
Is paper birch overrated? Nearly every New England calendar includes a clump of snowy white birches gleaming in the sun. People clearing building sites will ruthlessly attack young veneer-quality oak and yet spare all the paper birches. Even the trees themselves lean out over lakes and ponds as though to better admire their own white limbs reflected on the still… (more)
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Red Maple
Soon the leaves of red maple will turn every imaginable shade of yellow, pink, purple and crimson. The first trees to change from green to these bizarre hues will be those in hardwood swamps where red maple is the unchallenged ruler. Later, those on drier sites- sometimes on extremely dry sites- will change to the same startling array of colors.… (more)
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Eastern White Pine
The fortunes of eastern white pine, far and away our most majestic tree, have risen and fallen like no other species. When Europeans arrived in New England they were awestruck by the vast expanse of giant pines. It’s easy to understand why the pine were awe-inspiring, harder to figure out why there were so many of them. The complete content… (more)
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Boxelder
Though boxelder is indeed a true maple, most tree books and field guides are quick to point out that is the “poor relation” of the family and is unlike its stately relatives in almost every regard. The wood- of which there is little, for the tree is short-boled- is spoken of with outright contempt: soft, weak and lightweight, it is… (more)
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White Ash
Could it be that the wood of white ash was specially designed for the manufacture of snowshoes? First, the trees almost always grow straight as an arrow; the grain is beautifully aligned, which is essential in a snowshoe frame. Second, ash can be steam bent than most other woods- into the shape of a pretzel if so desired, which, come… (more)
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Red Spruce
It is mostly red spruce, mixed with balsam fir, that makes up the vast northern spruce-fir forest, occupying about 11 million acres of northern New England and New York. Farther south in New England, red spruce grows on cold mountain tops or in cold depressions, with sugar maple and other hardwoods tending to win out where it’s warmer and soils… (more)
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Eastern Hemlock
On some steep north facing slopes, where hemlocks and only hemlocks grow, there is a quietness unmatched anywhere else in the woods. Beneath the dense canopy it is so dark that nothing grows on the forest floor. No fallen leaves crinkle underfoot, and only a serious wind will be audible, and even then, the wind is so high above that… (more)
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Sugar Maple
The exhilaration that sweeps through people when the warm spring sun first coaxes the temperature above freezing is due entirely to the sugar maple. For a few weeks, many of us, including some who are a good distance from the nearest evaporator, evaluate each day on the basis of how the sap is running. The complete content of this article… (more)