trees
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Time For Some Greens
A jack-in-the-pulpit (Arisaema triphyllum) wonderland. But shouldn’t they get darker, more stripey? Or does that come with age?The smell of the flowers of Liriodendron tulipifera incites reveries in my smell-brain. Where do I know that smell from? The ants, too, are intrigued. Wonder what they think when they fall out of the sky?While we’re on…
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Even More Evidence
Pictures from the last week here in Brooklyn and northwestern Philadelphia. As spring continues, so does the most corrupt administration in American history, doing deep and lasting damage to the country, our democracy, and the rule of law.
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More Spring
Red maple flowers. Eastern Phoebe.These are wind pollinated trees, so early spring emergence isn’t predicated on insects.An early arriving migrant, this bird is dependent on insects.Speaking of which, beetles and flies are emerging.A millipede in a leafy liverwort. Interesting similarity of shape…And here’s a frog-sex teaser. There’s some amplexus in the water…
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Gymnocladus dioicus
The distinctive bark of a young Kentucky coffeetree.The branches look dead in winter, bare of twigs, the buds hidden away. The genus name translates as “naked branch.”The high top of this older male tree looked amazingly shrubby.A nearby female was festooned with seed pods.The bark of a mature specimen. Of trees and their memories: there’s…
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The Flow
The initial sign. Seven days later. About right on time (see last year).
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Bark
Another tree I can’t quite identify. Click for larger views of barky life.
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Larix Snack
Blue Jay (Cyanocitta cristata) in a larch (Larix) scarfing up… something. It looked like popcorn. It was too big for a seed from the cones, which wouldn’t be white anyway. And besides, the things were also being gleaned from the limbs. I guess they was some kind of larvae. Something that thought they could while…
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Date Plum
Diospyros lotus is in the ebony family of plants. The bark is very similar to its genus mate, Diospyros virginiana, the American persimmon. As are the calyces. The subject of today’s post is the date plum or Caucasian persimmon, which is native to a swath of territory from Spain to southwest Asia. Diospyros, the genus…
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Beech
Looking up at another weeping form.Looking at the spear-like buds packed with spring.
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Trees for Tuesday
I like the way this tuliptree bifurcates and bifurcates again. Stripped of their greenery, the deciduous trees are especially beautifully revealed in winter.
Backyard and Beyond 