Trees on the Yale Nature Walk

Ginkgo/Maidenhair Tree
Ginkgo biloba
Tree ID: 24
Cretaceous Garden
Date of tree entry: April 17, 2014
This tree is considered a "living fossil", meaning it looks very similar to fossils that are millions of years old. Interestingly, it is the only surviving tree in the entire order of ginkgoales: the order, family, genus, and species are all used to describe a single type of tree. Perhaps more interestingly, ginkgo trees are older than the T. Rex.

Japanese Pagoda Tree (Scholar Tree)

Sophora japonica
Tree ID: 15
Marsh and Farnam Gardens
Date of tree entry: April 16, 2014
Despite its name, this magnificent tree hails originally from China, but was likely planted around early Japanese Buddhist temples. It proudly overlooks the Yale Farm, and its spreading canopy provides a lovely patch of shade in the summer for student farm interns to eat lunch and nap under. It is an "urban-tough" tree, highly recommended for city street planting because it can tolerate the heat and pollution of summer air in a bustling city like New Haven. Careful; the base of its trunk is guarded by a thorny shrub that eagerly tore holes in its surveyor's pants as she took its DBH.

Sugar Maple
Acer saccharum
Tree ID: 17
Whitney and Edwards
Date of tree entry: April 13, 2014
The Sugar Maple is known primarily for its sweet sap which can be processed into syrup and its colorful leaves which change to hues of crimson, orange, and yellow in the fall. Many people think that the Canadian Flag takes its image from the sugar maple, but it is instead recognizable as a fusion of the different maple leaves.

Cornelian Cherry
Cornus mas
Tree ID: 28
Cretaceous Garden
Date of tree entry: April 13, 2014
Between the entrances of the Peabody Museum and Yale's Environmental Science Center, this small tree brings great beauty to the area with its bright yellow flowers, greenish twigs, and dark brown branches. Its scientific name, "Cornus mas", comes from the word cornu which means “horn” and refers to the hard wood of the Cornelian cherry, and the word mas translates to male and refers to the adaptability of the species.

Yellowwood
Cladrastris kentukea
Tree ID: 5
Marsh and Farnam Gardens
Date of tree entry: April 12, 2014
This yellowwood tree is found on the hill leading down to Marsh Botanical Gardens. Yellowwood is a medium sized (about 30 to 50 feet tall) tree that is native to North America. The tree is famous for its beautiful white flowers in late spring, early summer and yellow foliages in the fall. However, the tree is not found easily in the wild, and most wild yellowood population exists near limestone cliffs in the Midwest states like Kentucky, Tennessee, and North Carolina.

Giant Sequoia
Sequoiadendron giganteum
Tree ID: 22
Cretaceous Garden
Date of tree entry: April 25, 2014
"Giganteum" doesn't even begin to describe the size of this species. Sequoiadendron giganteum can be as tall as 90m and as wide as 11m. It has fireproof, red/brown bark and evergreen leaves. Just imagine how big this tree will be in only a couple (thousand) years!

Japanese Cedar
Cryptomeria japonica
Tree ID: 25
Cretaceous Garden
Date of tree entry: April 11, 2014
Japanese Cedar

Mountain Pine
Pinus mugo
Tree ID: 23
Cretaceous Garden
Date of tree entry: April 12, 2014
Commonly known as mountain pine, dwarf mountain pine, and Swiss mountain pine—just to name a few—Pinus mugo has more names than any other conifer. A native to southwestern and Central Europe, mountain pine thrives in high elevation habitats and enjoys widespread popularity as an ornamental.

Sweetbay Magnolia
Magnolia virginiana
Tree ID: 20
Cretaceous Garden
Date of tree entry: April 11, 2014
Sweetbay Magnolia

Epaulette Tree
Pterostyrax hispidus
Tree ID: 8
Marsh and Farnam Gardens
Date of tree entry: March 23, 2014
A rare find, this epaulette tree (Pterostyrax hispida) is the only one of its kind on the Yale Campus. The genus name refers to its fruits, "pteron" meaning "wing" and "styrax" refering to the ribbed fruit. The species name, "hispidus", references the fruit's bristly texture.

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