Trees on the Yale Nature Walk

True Northeast icon, this Sugar Maple is even more gorgeous alone on Halloween, although in reality, its gorgeous cascade of blazing reds, golds, and oranges makes it one of the continent's most hallowed trees. Autumn is their season, here an absolute spectacle, reducing landscape to living paintings and drawing locals off-branching tourists by the droves for one look at New England's seasonal magic. This specific tree, however, is more than just eye candy. Early spring, when warm weather arrives but nights still snap with cool, this Sugar Maple works behind the scenes: dripping sap that, boiled, is converted to that rich, gold syrup that sweetens breakfasts across America. Some 40 gallons of sap yield one gallon of maple syrup, a testament to nature's slow, generous rhythms. Its sweet offering aside, Sugar Maple is an admirable member of local landscape citizenship. Its wide leaves offer dappled summer shade, creating cool microclimates for ferns and in-dwellers below. Its limbs offer nesting to birds, seed rewards to squirrels, and nutrient-rich components to soil when it falls. Its hardwood is also prized for strength and beauty, and is used from floor wood to fine violins. Deeply rooted in North American culture and ecology, Sugar Maple is more than all its components in total, it's not simply a tree, but an icon for strength, bounty, and cycles as well. Whether traveling to see it for leaf-peeping, syrup, or simply sitting in its shadow, there's an aspect that this tree offers in every season of the year.

The ancient warrior of myth and more popularly known Disney princess Mulan (木兰) got her name from the magnolia blossom, a flower that represents beauty, nobility, and strength in Chinese culture. And so represents the magnolia family of flowering plants, which has survived events such as ice ages, continental drifts, and large-scale mountain formations -- they are so ancient that they were pollinated by beetle because bees hadn't evolved yet! In the winters, these trees may be barren, but in spring, they show their full beauty in explosions of large bowl-shaped or star-shaped blooms of whites and pinks. Besides its beauty, magnolia has also long been used for other functions like in traditional Chinese medicine (with its bark used to treat anxiety, bloating, and inflammation), cooking (leaves are broiled and eaten as vegetables in Japan), and fragrances (stop and smell for a sweet, rose-like aroma!)

This flowering dogwood tree is situated at the bottom of a staircase by path at the bottom of Sachem's wood. Given its small stature, it is frequently overlooked by passers by; however, it is sure to turn heads when in full bloom.

This red maple, although a late bloomer, is a seasonal showstopper. Located in Sachem's Wood, it brings a burst of fall flair to Science Hill. What it lacks in age and size, it makes up in its bright, red leaves and fiery presence that turns heads and lights up the campus. Stop by in the fall to witness its beautiful foliage.