Trees on the Yale Nature Walk

Tree ID: 65
Date of tree entry: February 8, 2017
A tall conifer located near the Yale Greenhouse, this Austrian Pine is especially easy to identify due to the placement of a name card on its trunk. To otherwise identify this tree, turn your head up and look towards the sky. The branches extend way above your head and the trunk stands straight and tall. Generally the Austrian Pine can grow to reach 40 to 60 feet, although this one is just about 40 feet. The Austrian Pine is extremely hardy, and can survive in many urban environments since it can grow even with pollution or abnormal levels of salinity in the air. You might even say that the Austrian Pine's motto is survive and thrive.
Tree ID: 72
Date of tree entry: February 8, 2017
The empress tree, also commonly known as the foxglvoe, princess, or kiri tree, originated from western and central China. Following its introduction to the United States, it has become popular because of its highly decorative floral blooms as well as its ability to grow extremely quickly. It is known for its extremely large leaves and pale violet flowers, which typically appear in late spring. Each of its capsule fruits produce up to two thousand winged seeds, which were also historically used as a packing material by Chinese porcelain exporters.
Tree ID: 66
Date of tree entry: February 8, 2017
Betula lenta, known by the common names of black birch, sweet birch, or cherry birch, is a native birch species present throughout much of eastern North America. It is valued for its wood, which when exposed to air darkens to resemble mahogany, as well as being a source of wintergreen oil. It has a dark brown to greyish black color. Unlike most other birches, mature Betula lenta can develop hard, scaly plates. Removed from its industrial history, it is now primarily found in forests and used as an ornamental tree in landscaping. Some visual cues for spotting the black birch include: dark brown bark; green cones in the spring and brown cones in the late summer; dark, shiny, serrated green leaves in the summer and bright golden yellow leaves in the fall.
Tree ID: 73
Date of tree entry: February 8, 2017
Toona sinensis, commonly known as Chinese Mahogany or the Chinese Cedar, is a deciduous tree found in woodland habitats. It originates in East Asia and is specifically found in northern and western China. It requires sun to grow, and does best in moist, but well-drained soil. It is a fast-growing and hardy species that resists attack by both pests and diseases. It is also highly tolerant of frost and can survive in moderate drought conditions. This particular tree is located near the greenhouses at Yale's Marsh Botanical Gardens.
Tree ID: 68
Date of tree entry: February 8, 2017
Named after the Edinburgh nurseryman Charles Lawson, the Chamaecyparis lawsoniana (Port Orford-Cedar) is large evergreen tree native to Oregon and northwest California. This evergreen can grow up to 200ft tall, with a trunk width anywhere between 4-7ft, and leaves between 3-5mm long. Along with its impressive size, the Port Orford Cedar can live for hundreds of years. The wood of the tree is considered to be one of the most valuable harvested in North America because of its durability, beauty, and scarcity. For generations, native people such as the Hoopa Valley Tribe has used the Cedar as a valuable resource to build ceremonial structures, referring to the tree as "the Healer."
Tree ID: 67
Date of tree entry: February 8, 2017
The Eastern Ironwood, known also as the American Hophornbeam, Eastern Hop-hornbeam, Hophornbeam, Ironwood, or Leverwood, stretches over much of the Eastern United States with its attractive foliage and bell-like inflorescences. Be sure to come in the summer to admire its attractive yellow-green color and festive white flowers. The tree has 3 trunks, arising from the main trunk at 17.5 cm, probably after coppicing. The estimated DBH is 0.1414 m based on calculations given by Hari.
Tree ID: 70
Date of tree entry: February 8, 2017
The apricot tree is a small tree with a dense, spreading canopy. Also known as the ansu apricot, Siberian apricot, or Tibetan apricot, its origin is not exact due to its extensive prehistoric history of cultivation, but it is almost certainly somewhere in Asia and commonly thought to be Armenia. In modern times, it is most heavily cultivated in the Middle East, Western Asia, Northeastern America, and Eastern China. Apricot trees are perennials, meaning that they can live for very long periods of time; apricots usually live between 40 and 150 years. The apricot is native to a continental climate with cold winters, but is somewhat versatile and can grow in more Medeterranian environments as long as they have a suffient dormant period. The apricot is quite cold-hardy, more so than most other drupes including the peach, and can withstand temperatures as cold as −30 °C.
Tree ID: 71
Date of tree entry: February 8, 2017
The Leyland Cypress is the hybrid cross between Monterey cypress, Cupressus macrocarpa, and Alaska cedar, Chamaecyparis nootkatensis. It is a tall and slender evergreen tree, and is very popular to plant as a screen or wind breaker because it forms a dense barrier, and can grow well in a variety of soil and climate conditions. In the Marsh Gardens, it is ironically planted in the middle of a relatively open area, so it does not serve its usual purpose as a wind breaker whatsoever.
Tree ID: 69
Date of tree entry: February 8, 2017
The Bald Cypress (Taxodium distichum), also known as the southern cypress, is a deciduous conifer in the family Cupressaceae that grows on saturated and seasonally inundated soils in the lowlands of the Southeastern and Gulf Coastal Plains of the United States. Because of its high presence in the south, it is the official state tree of Louisiana. The bald cypress is a large slow-growing and long-lived tree typically reaching heights of 30–35 m (100–120 ft) and a trunk diameter of 1–2 m (3–6 ft). The bark is gray-brown to red-brown, thin and fibrous with a stringy texture, having a vertically interwoven pattern of shallow ridges and narrow furrows. The leaves are alternate and linear, with flat blades borne on the twig that are spirally arranged on the stem, but twisted at the base to lie in two horizontal ranks, 1–2 cm long and 1–2 mm broad. The main trunks are surrounded by cypress knees, which come up from the surface at a distance from the trunk. Baldy cypress is monoecious. This species is a popular ornamental tree, grown for its light, feathery foliage and orange-brown to dull red fall color.
Tree ID: 59
Date of tree entry: February 7, 2017
"The shadow of the walnut tree is poison to all plants within its compass." --Pliny the Elder (23-79 CE) This imposing tree is located in the gaggle of trees behind 245 Prospect. Unsurprisingly enough, the Eastern Black Walnut is most well known for the fruit it produces--the walnut. While walnuts do not have a strong smell, the leaves, stems, and fruit husks have a spicy odor. Eastern Black Walnuts can live as long as 130 years. Eastern Black Walnuts are allelopathic, meaning that they excrete chemicals that harm competition that is "within its compass."

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