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Flower Show in the Woods

Elm_flowers.jpg
Elm flowers are perfect - that is, each flower has both female (pistil) and male (stamen) parts. When the pistil matures, it stands above the stamens to catch foreign pollen, thus promoting cross-pollination and genetic diversity. Later in the flower's development, the stamens grow and surround the pistil. If cross-pollination has not occurred, self-pollination takes place.

For six wintry months, trees have appeared as woodblock reliefs or iron sculptures, their bare limbs framed against a cold horizon. But as spring unfolds, stark branches morph into soft beauty. It’s as though one night the woodland fairies that Irish poets so readily imagine came and decorated every tree branch with a bouquet of flowers.

Spring foliage doesn’t usually get the glossy photo coverage that fall foliage does, but looking up into a tree’s crown this time of year can be similarly spectacular. All deciduous trees flower, and while forest trees may not have the wow factor of a dogwood or a flowering crab, each one wears a subtle boutonniere of stamens and sepals, petals and pistil.

Last spring, photographer Andrew Crosier took his camera for a walk among the river bottoms and hedgerows of western New York and southern Vermont to capture some of this beauty. He shot dangling poplar catkins that offered hillsides their first blush of pale green, sycamore globes that hung like inverted alliums among piebald limbwood, red maple flowers with matryoshka doll blossoms – flowers rising out of flowers.

From hundreds of his photographs we selected these 12 shots, a nice sampling of tree flower elegance and grace.

Happy spring, all. Here’s to the end of a long winter and the promise of summer days to come.

How Do You Sex A Tree?

Generally speaking, tree flowers have up to four parts: sepals (the green parts that protect the flowers), petals (the showy parts that attract pollinators), a pistil (the female part that matures into fruits), and stamens (the male, pollen-producingparts). If both male and female parts are present, the flower is said to be perfect.

If a flower has only one of the sexual parts, it is said to be imperfect; in this case, the male and female flowers grow separately. If male and female flowers are found on the same tree, the species is said to be monoecious, from the Greek meaning “one house.” If male and female flowers grow on separate trees, the species is dioecious (“two houses”). Many of our northeastern tree species are wind-pollinated, and many wind-pollinated plants are dioecious – this strategy promotes outcrossing.

Red maple is usually a good example of a dioecious tree (although every so often nature throws a curve ball and a male tree will produce a few female flowers).

You can tell a male flower by the spiky parts that protrude above the petals – these are called stamens. A stamen is made up of two parts, the filament – the long, thin stalk – and an anther –that little bump on the end. Each anther is full of pollen.

If a flower doesn’t have stamens, it’s female; instead, it has a pistil, the female part that is made up of an ovary, a style, and a stigma. The ovary is where eggs (technically “ovules”) are produced – when fertilized, they become the tree’s seeds. The style extends from the ovary and supports the stigma, a sticky or hairy pollen-receptive surface. In the case of red maple, the stigma is pollinated by both insects and the wind.

Spring Tree Flowers Gallery

Pussy willows are often the first trees to flower in the spring. Hungry bees depend on this crucial, early pollen source.
Pussy willows are often the first trees to flower in the spring. Hungry bees depend on this crucial, early pollen source. | Photo: Andrew Crosier
Wind-pollinated trees, like this hophornbeam, have long, drooping
catkins that contain millions of pollen grains. Why so many? Wind is a
fickle pollinator, especially compared to a reliable insect, and the stigma
(pollen receptor) of a tree flower is small – about the size of the head of
a pin. Botanists estimate that it takes about a million grains per square
meter to assure that a one-square-millimeter area of stigma can be
pollinated. This, allergy sufferer, is the mathematics of your misery.
Wind-pollinated trees, like this hophornbeam, have long, drooping catkins that contain millions of pollen grains. Why so many? Wind is a fickle pollinator, especially compared to a reliable insect, and the stigma (pollen receptor) of a tree flower is small – about the size of the head of a pin. Botanists estimate that it takes about a million grains per square meter to assure that a one-square-millimeter area of stigma can be pollinated. This, allergy sufferer, is the mathematics of your misery. | Photo: Andrew Crosier
Balsam poplar catkins look almost like tiny sumac bobs.
Balsam poplar catkins look almost like tiny sumac bobs. | Photo: Andrew Crosier
There are plenty of imported trees and shrubs with screamingly beautiful white flowers, but the understated beauty of humble, native Amelanchier has a way of making its showier brethren look a touch tarty. You may know this tree as “shadbush,” as its flowers were said to coincide with the shad run in Northeastern streams, or serviceberry because it comes out just after the ground thaws, when the winter’s dead people can be buried.
There are plenty of imported trees and shrubs with screamingly beautiful white flowers, but the understated beauty of humble, native Amelanchier has a way of making its showier brethren look a touch tarty. You may know this tree as “shadbush,” as its flowers were said to coincide with the shad run in Northeastern streams, or serviceberry because it comes out just after the ground thaws, when the winter’s dead people can be buried. | Photo: Andrew Crosier
Red maple female flowers. Citizen scientists around the country are tracking when red maples blossom in their area as a way of studying how trees respond to climate change. To participate, visit the National Phenology Network at www.usanpn.org
Red maple female flowers. Citizen scientists around the country are tracking when red maples blossom in their area as a way of studying how trees respond to climate change. To participate, visit the National Phenology Network at www.usanpn.org | Photo: Andrew Crosier
Red maple male flowers.
Red maple male flowers. | Photo: Andrew Crosier
Conifers are gymnosperms – their seeds are not produced in an ovary as they are in the flowers of deciduous trees but are instead born naked on cone scales. A conifer cone is not technically a flower, but the exquisite form of this tamarack cone is as lovely as a rose.
Conifers are gymnosperms – their seeds are not produced in an ovary as they are in the flowers of deciduous trees but are instead born naked on cone scales. A conifer cone is not technically a flower, but the exquisite form of this tamarack cone is as lovely as a rose. | Photo: Andrew Crosier
Norway maple flowers with developing leaves. Note the bowed bud scales, the petal-like structures from which the flowers emerge.
Norway maple flowers with developing leaves. Note the bowed bud scales, the petal-like structures from which the flowers emerge. | Photo: Andrew Crosier
The red, banana-shaped anthers of this male boxelder flower are poised on the edge of explosion.
The red, banana-shaped anthers of this male boxelder flower are poised on the edge of explosion. | Photo: Andrew Crosier
Male boxelder flowers having just opened.
Male boxelder flowers having just opened. | Photo: Andrew Crosier
Black locust, a member of the legume family, is one of the last trees to flower. The gorgeous blossoms are a great visceral example of why naturalists sometimes carry on scandalous love affairs with invasive species. On the one hand, locust is native to southern states – not the Northeast – and yes, on some woodlots up here it does exhibit invasive-like tendencies. But on the other hand, the woodstove loves it, it’s aesthetically interesting, and both bees and humans are enraptured by the blossoms.
Black locust, a member of the legume family, is one of the last trees to flower. The gorgeous blossoms are a great visceral example of why naturalists sometimes carry on scandalous love affairs with invasive species. On the one hand, locust is native to southern states – not the Northeast – and yes, on some woodlots up here it does exhibit invasive-like tendencies. But on the other hand, the woodstove loves it, it’s aesthetically interesting, and both bees and humans are enraptured by the blossoms. | Photo: Andrew Crosier

Discussion *

May 31, 2010

Nice to know about flowers and trees.

shabnam yasmin
Apr 30, 2010

Those are beautiful photographs.  Thanks for sharing them.

Kathy Romero

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