Edisto Nature Trail

My family rented a house on Edisto Island, SC for the week of 10/19-25th.
Before I left the house I grabbed my latest SC State Champion Tree list to
see what trees I may have the opportunity to visit. Two were literally on
the highway; co-champion bottomland post oaks (Quercus similis). I was not
able to stop to measure them on the highway median but with more personal
experience with them, they just may become my favorite oak species. They are
SUPER gnarly trees with a "Gnarlage Factor" off the scale! In fact, most of
the coastal forests have high GF due to hurricanes and salt spray. The
coastal forests of live oak draped in Spanish moss are so beautiful they
almost defy description. (However, I can attest the beauty wears off a
little the next day after visiting these forests when the chiggers erupt in
full, unabated itch!)

Current SC State Champion palmetto

59'sabal palm on Jungle Shores Road

As it turns out, the house we rented was just 8 blocks from the state
champion sabal palm (Sabal palmetto). It was listed as 50' tall- a figure I
was skeptical of at first. Before seeing this tree I scanned the island for
tall palms and saw nothing that I thought would break 45'. So one afternoon
I rode my bike up to the tree to measure it. On the way I scanned for other
palms of similar size. Actually, since palms cannot grow in diameter I was
looking for 1) tall palms, or 2) palms with non-eroded trunks for added
girth. Palms most likely shrink over time as sand and wind erode the trunks.
Since diameter and spread are fixed (they only have leaves, no branches)
height was the key trait to scout out new champions. Within a few blocks I
saw a tree that looked much taller than others. It was snaking it's way up
around other trees, and the lasered height came out to 58.9'! This height
includes leaves which add 8' or more to the stem. Continuing towards the
state champion I spotted another palm down a side street which I vowed to
return to on the way back. I found the current champion with no trouble and
it turned out to be a "fat" tree that also stood 55.6' tall. WOW- I was
impressed! 

New co-champion sabal palm

On the return trip I detoured to the crown of leaves I spotted on
the way up. Following the tuft I found the tree growing out of a deck on the
front of a house. The girth was a bit larger than the current champ perhaps
due to shelter from the deck. I backed off to measure the height which was a
surprising 56.5'! This tree slightly out-points the current champ (with
updated height) to become a new state champion. I suspect that there are
larger ones to be found since I have "hunted" palms for a total of 2 hours.
Older cities like Charleston and old coastal forests probably will harbor
the tall ones. Here are the numbers on the three I measured:

1001 Jungle Shores Palm           37" X 59' X 12'= 100 points

2012 Baynard Road Palm           47" X 56' X 13'= 107 points

1121 Nancy Road Palm              48" X 57' X 14'= 110 points

Carl Blozan and Lichen Crust hickory

Crown of Swamp Sipper hickory

Next on the agenda was to revisit a grove of hickories I found on a bike
ride with my wife last year. The identification puzzled me for a year and I
vowed to determine what they were on this trip. My dad and I hiked to the
grove which is in the Edisto State Park. As I had suspected, the trees keyed
out to nutmeg hickory (Carya myristiciformis), an uncommon tree endemic to
the coastal and piedmont forests of SC, GA, FL, west to Texas and NE Mexico.
Jess Riddle says it has just been discovered in GA. It turns out this grove
is one of the northernmost populations and it is not known from NC according
to the sources I reviewed. Apparently, it has bark extremely conducive to
lichens because they were absolutely covered! I measured three of the
largest hickories, all of which will qualify as new state champions. Since
all represent maximum known ENTS dimensions I computed the Tree Dimension
Index values (TDI) for each.

"Lichen Crust" tree         87" X 80' X 74'= 186 AF points, 294.1 TDI. Huge
canopy!

"Swamp Sipper" tree       83" X 83' X 63'= 182 AF points, 278.1 TDI. Perhaps
2' above high water level and 15' from the water

"King of the Hill" tree      79" X 85' X 53'= 177 AF points, 262.4 TDI.
Growing on a "hill" ~4 feet higher than the other trees

Devil-wood crown

In true ENTS tradition I poked around looking at trees of other species that
we may not have any data on. In the process I discovered a few other SC
state champions, one of which I didn't even know what it was until I keyed
it out! This gorgeous little tree was growing under the "Lichen Crust" tree.
The common name of "devilwood" (Osmanthus americanus) apparently belies its
resistance to splitting, but I wonder why anyone would cut one down for
wood. It is a smallish, evergreen tree with almost artificially perfect,
lustrous, rich green leaves. Another record I chanced upon was yaupon holly,
with the unfortunate Latin name of Ilex vomitoria. It is a strong emetic and
was use (still?) by indigenous peoples to "cleanse the innards". No thanks!

Devilwood 16" X 35.3' X 18'= 51 points

Yaupon 10" X 21.9' X 19'= 37 points

A certainly underrated tree in the coastal forests is the exquisite southern
red cedar (Juniperus silicicola). Talk about gnarlage! These trees define
gnarly with their sinewy trunks, twisted, wind-blown crowns and likely
ancient ages. I measured one in the forest to 3'2" X 59.3' tall- the tallest
I saw. Most are twisted, spreading crags on the fringes of the forest or in
the understory of taller oaks and pine.

Live oak and sabal palm

I measured some live oaks (Quercus virginiana) but was not able to break 66'
tall. They formed a dense sub-canopy under laurel oak, water oak, the quiz
tree (remember?), and loblolly pine. The pines were by far the tallest trees
but near the coast probably did not exceed 110' tall. Further inland I saw
groves that may hit 140' and a few individuals that will exceed 12' in
girth. The largest live oak I saw was probably 19' or so- many large ones
grew on the island.

Unfortunately, the most impressive trees I saw I was unable to measure and
will have to wait until next year's trip. As my family caravanned back home
we passed through a few miles of towering 120'+ bald-cypress, loblolly pine
and cherrybark oaks along a rural SC highway. As if this wasn't tease
enough, a grove of huge spruce pine (Pinus glabra) came into view, many of
which will exceed the current SC champion. I was floored by the unusually
smooth, purple-gray bark and craggy crowns of this species, not to mention
the large size. I agree more and more that Pinaceae Rules!, and have been
terminally infected with Dr. Bob Van Pelt's conifer disease (Gymnophilia?).
I could just hear him in the backseat saying, "Dude! pull over, it smells
like big timber!"

5'5 X 55' Fraser fir

Twisted fir limbs

Pinaceae brings me to the next hunt. Mount Mitchell, the tallest eastern
mountain, is not far from my house, so I decided to measure the southern
Appalachian endemic Fraser fir (Abies fraseri). This small conifer grows in
dense forests on the highest peaks in NC, TN and north to southern VA where
they then hybridize and transition to balsam fir (Abies balsamea) further
north. Fraser fir does not currently have a National Champion so I thought I
would get a start on searching for a big one. According to current Great
Smoky Mountain research, 78" (6'5") is the largest known. I climbed that
tree in May 2004, and it was probably around 40' tall. I do not know how
tall they can get, but based on what I and other ENTS have measured, 60' may
be impossible to obtain. Before this trip the tallest I had seen was a tree
near my house in nearby Montreat, NC at 2'7" X 52.2' tall. The harsh
near-alpine environment where they grow and lack of older, dense stands
simply cannot produce tall trees. This is due to most forests being very
young, as they have regenerated from massive kills due to the introduced
balsam woolly adelgid. The largest trees are hence relic old-growth trees
that survived the initial wave of BWA.

6'10 fir crown

Lower trunk of 6'10 fir

My search began with measuring trees easy to access from the road in Mount
Mitchell State Park. The first tree I measured turned out to be the largest
I would see all day. It was a whopping 6'10" in girth and the twisted top
reached 40.1'. Not a bad start! Another extremely gnarly, relic tree nearby
was 5'5" X 39.6'. I then went into the younger re-growth to look for tall
trees. I figured the dense groves would be much taller, but alas, was wrong.
43.7' was the best I could find, even on the large trees up to 3'10" in
girth. I then returned to a tree I spotted on the way to the previous
forest. I missed it on the way down so when I turned around I noticed a
super-gnarly red spruce in a small cove. I passed it again on the return up
the road and thought the tree might actually be a fir. Unsure, I walked down
to it after measuring the first targeted tree to 3'7" X 47.5'- the tallest
so far for the day. I walked back down the road to the "spruce-fir" and
determined it to be a massive Fraser fir. Although not larger in girth than
the previous ones it maintained a columnar trunk and then split into two big
leads about 25' up. This tree and the 6'10" tree were by far, and I mean by
FAR, the largest firs I have ever seen. They both would be easy to measure
for volume, and it would be worthwhile since they are under threat by HWA. I
wonder if Fraser fir is one of the smallest Abies species? Neither tree
would have more than perhaps 60ft3. Undoubtedly, there are big ones in the
Smokies, but much harder to get to. I'll leave that to Kris and Marion, the
NPS fir explorers extraordinaire! (Remember your lasers!)

Nordmann fir, red spruce, Austrian pine, Red pine and Fraser fir forest

Teetering red spruce!

Further down the road, I spotted some strange conifer crowns, including what
looked like another massive fir. I stopped and hiked up to the tree. I had
found my way into a plantation which I dubbed, "The Forest of International
Delights". BVP would agree it was conifer heaven! Mixed in with the native
red spruce and Fraser fir where gorgeous examples of Nordmann fir, Norway
spruce, Austrian pine, red pine and white pine. Only the Norway spruce and
Nordmann fir were doing well, vastly out-growing both of the native trees.
Norway spruce reached ~105' tall and 8' in girth. The pines were stunted and
not doing well other than providing some twist and turn to the otherwise
strongly vertical forest. Some of the spruce looked like Norway but may have
been some other species that I did not recognize. Now that I think about it
they may have been white spruce. I'll have to check. The upper bark was
strikingly whitish and smooth more like a fir, which doesn't sound like the
white spruce I have seen in Michigan. Regardless of the canopy, the
blissfully open understory of this grove was dominated by scattered Catawba
rhododendron (Rhododendron catawbiense) which was doing quite well:

14" X 18.8' X 13'= 36 AF points

16.5" X 18.3' X 16'=39 AF points; Potential National Co-Champion.

Before I had to return home another tree caught my eye across the road. It
was a well-formed mountain-ash (Sorbus americana) 4'3" X 48' tall. This
species is under threat from the mountain-ash sawfly so to see it in good
shape was probably unusual. I did not measure the spread but it may be a NC
state champion.

Mountain-ash fruit

I will stop rambling now and send photos for Ed to post. So, any guesses on
the common species between the two sites? I will post the answer before I go
up to New England Wednesday morning for the ENTS gathering and Forest Summit
Meeting.

Will Blozan

Will B

A fascinating account of the trees on the coastal plain of SC. One note
on the cabbage palmetto, while there is some erosion of the trunk of a
Sabal, there is another cause for the relative girth of the trees. As
you pointed out Sabal's have only one growing point, the tip, but the
girth is largely determined by the relative vigor at that growing point.
Just as a dicot tree puts on wider or narrower rings depending on the
growing conditions, the girth of the trunk at the growing tip is
affected by the conditions as it grows. Cold winters, drought, site
damage, storms can all cause a narrowing of the trunk at that particular
instant. Sabals on the islands tend to have harsher existences from
environmental factors and droughty soils. In GA the tallest Palmettos
are inland in the swamps with better soils and less exposure to weather
and development. They tend to be fatter trunked (50-55" cbh) and
noticeably taller. During the early eighties there were a series of
record freezes that repeatedly defoliated the sabals in the northern
reaches of their range such as in SC & GA. Say you had a Sabal that was
15 foot tall during that period, now it would have a narrowing of the
trunk at 15 foot. Many areas on the coast have transplanted Sabals. When
a Sabal is transplanted, ALL the roots die, no matter how carefully it
is moved. These trees essentially are re-rooted in the ground resulting
in a narrowed girth during this period.

We recently added a nutmeg hickory up in NW GA above Rome in the Ridge &
Valley Province. I am confident in the ID as it was submitted by
knowledgeable sources. This would be a bit further north than Edisto,
being only about 35 miles south of the western NC border. Are you
familiar with the Fernow Oak listed on Hilton Head? It was submitted by
Ken Knox, an arborist from up your way. He has a number of trees on the
GA list.

I've attached a snap showing some Sabals remaining after a clear-cut on
an inland site in SE GA.

WF