Franklin Park, Boston:  A few urban forest trees of interest   Andrew Joslin
  Aug 04, 2006 16:35 PDT 

I've been measuring DBH on some trees in an area called "The
Wilderness" in Franklin Park, Boston. The trees in this park have
been surveyed many times, most recently in a study commissioned by
the Franklin Park Coalition.

For my own interest I've been checking out some of the more wild
trees in the park. In the Wilderness area there is a selection of
fine trees in a classic eastern New England semi-upland forest
setting. Besides a beauty of a huge White Oak with a nice arching
canopy and a chunk solid White Pine there are two trees nearby that I
found interesting:

Sassafras, DBH = 25"
This is the largest diameter I've seen in my area. I know it's a
dwarf compared to some of the southern U.S. specimens. Does anyone
know what the champion Sassafras DBH is for Massachusetts? The bark
structure on this mature tree is really lovely, I'll have to
photograph it when I get a chance.

Sweet Birch, DBH = 32"
I'm sure there are much bigger Sweet Birch in Massachusetts but this
is the largest I've seen in my area and remarkably canker free.

Red Maple, DBH = 59.5"
This is in a wet thicket near Shattuck Hospital, Franklin Park. This
is the largest by diameter and apparent volume Red Maple that I've
seen in my general area. A magnificent tree with superb spreading
limb structure. Also has beautiful visible root structure, another
one to be photographed.

Andrew Joslin
Jamaica Plain, MA
Re: A few urban forest trees of interest   Andrew Joslin
  Aug 06, 2006 21:32 PDT 

Yep, Betula lenta. I've heard it called Cherry Birch, Black Birch,
and Sweet Birch by different people. Dirr gives Sweet Birch as the
first common name. Do the ENTS usually call it Black Birch?

It's amazing how different the bark on a mature Black Birch looks
from the younger ones. I was showing the 32" dbh Black (Sweet) Birch
to an arborist friend and he was sure it was a Black Cherry. He was
going by the heavy scaled bark which looked a bit like Black Cherry.
The leaves were up high enough that it took a careful look to see it
was birch and not cherry. Also the trunk was nice and straight which
I rarely if ever see in a Black Cherry, they always seem to be
twisting and leaning their way up into the forest canopy.
-Andrew

At 11:46 AM 8/6/2006, you wrote:
  Re: Sweet birch, do you mean Black birch?
Michele