| Maple
Drive Gallery, Cook Forest State Park, PA
April 12, 2005, Page
2 of 2
Maple Drive Gallery Page 1 of 2
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Black Cherry Double - This image
shows some of the classic bark pattern of a mature black cherry
tree. The total for the double was over 11 feet.
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White Oak bark - flaky white oak
bark could be seen in this example from the area. Age variant
patterns of bark could be seen on a number of different species
in the area and could be useful additions to out Tree -ID
project discussed periodically on the list.
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The most peculiar tree of the day was a spectacular sugar maple that
sported a flutelike bark pattern. It seemed to originate from its
closest associated root flare that fanned into a unique buttressing
system. Can anyone explain what's going on here? It is definitely the
largest and oldest sugar maple I've found to date in the park - 10.4ft CBH x 116.6ft high. It's
sitting just inside the park boundary and across from a recent cutting
on private land, which explains why it is still standing today.
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Sugar Maple - showing the prominent fluting pattern extending
upward from root flairs along the trunk.
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Sugar Maple - overview of the tree
demonstrating the pattern extends along the entire trunk of the
tree well into the branches.
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Sugar Maple - view looking upward from the base of the tree.
This was the most unusual tree in my
opinion found on the trip. I have never seen a fluting
pattern as prominent and as perfect like this on any tree before.
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Detail of the base of the sugar maple showing roots and prominent
fluting on the tree surface.
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The pattern extends to the corkscrew top of the tree.
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Oh yes, I almost forgot to mention that the yellow bellied sapsuckers
appreciated the tree also. Their horizontal bullet like staccato drill
pattern gave their presence away.
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Overall, it was a great day in the woods
and a nice break away from program planning. I'd also like to thank Ed for
driving 45minutes over to help out today too. Not every park naturalist has the pleasure of
having a resident geologist, computer tech, photographer, and spelunker
(all wrapped up in one person) to go on a hike with... even if he does
try to trip me up on the intricacies of cross-bedding on
Pottsville
sandstone...
Dale
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| Dale and I visited a few other locations before the end of the day. I showed him the towering 15 foot high specimen of what I believe is an American Chestnut near the fire tower. Then we traveled down the River Road to measure two Sassafras trees
at around 25 and 29 feet in height respectively. And finally we stopped by the picnic area along the river to add a couple of Shagbark Hickory trees to the park's database. |
Shagbark Hickory bark
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| There are only a handful
of measurements of Shagbark hickory from the park. The
tallest of this trio measured 102 feet or so the others just
under 100. Another skinny one in the vicinity measured
96. The tallest reported in the park previously is only
107 feet tall. |
Young Shagbark Hickories
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