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:
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Re:
Sweet birch, do you mean Black birch?
Michele
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