Tuesday, October 10, 2017

Goodbye Sabalites ... Hello Boxelder?

If I had an extra $85,000 (64,000 £), I could have Sabalites right here in my own home! Then I wouldn’t need to travel (5-foot slab, Denver rock show; photo courtesy Mike N).

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For the second time, bad weather foiled my plan to travel to southwest Wyoming to visit what was once the home of Sabalites—a fossil palm I was following. Just like in mid June, a surprise spell of rain, snow and cold arrived. But this time I knew it would get colder, not warmer, so I'm moving on—choosing another tree to follow for the year to come.

After four years of tree-following, I now have realistic criteria for choosing a tree. Actually, there are only two: easily accessible and dynamic. It needs to be somewhere that I can get to on short notice if necessary, and in whatever weather. And it needs to do things! or be where things happen. There are some impressive conifers not far away, but from our perspective, they hardly change through the year. So I’m considering deciduous trees in or very close to town.
The cottonwood on the Laramie River that I followed in 2014 (photo taken yesterday).
A leading candidate is a boxelder (aka ashleaf maple, 3-leaf maple, Acer negundo) just five minutes from my house. It’s a tough little “street-tree” that manages to survive in the light-industrial / riparian ecotone on the edge of town (ecotone = biological transition zone). This area is vegetated mostly with herbaceous species—Canada thistles, dandelions, tumbleweeds, knotweeds, and such. Most people call them weeds, but really they’re pioneering species able to colonize disturbed sites (like yards). I think they’re under appreciated, which is another reason I’m interested in following this tree.
Being deciduous, the boxelder will reveal a lot more about its life than a conifer would—buds, flowers, leaves, changes in color, and surely things I can't predict. The next photos show it at the height of the growing season in 2015. [Recently, the old palettes and trash that accumulated in this nook were hauled off. Hopefully no one will decide to remove the boxelder in the interest of urban renewal!]

Now, most of the leaves are dead, killed by frost. Interestingly, the few that catch late afternoon sunlight still show signs of life.

Living where it does, human activity will contribute drama to the boxelder's life—delivery trucks, trash that comes and goes, and, for the next year, road construction.
Boxelder in corner by parked car.
Road construction in foreground, Murdoch's warehouse in mid-ground, riparian habitat in distance. 
The big cranes on the skyline are installing a new bridge across the railroad tracks.


Monthly gatherings of tree-followers are kindly hosted by The Squirrelbasket. Consider joining us; it’s easy and always interesting! More information here.


12 comments:

  1. Very sensible criteria for choosing your boxelder. I look forward to reading more about it over the coming year.

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    1. Thanks, Tim. Are you going to join us? A friend sent some interesting info-bits about boxelder in response to the post. So I'm leaning more and more that way.

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    2. Due to the ME, I find it difficult to keep up with the real time nature of following 1 tree through the year. That's why I did a year of tree trunks, and then tree flowers. Next year I'm planning to do a series of posts on the Yew, which I find fascinating.
      I understand that in the UK boxelder is called ashleaf maple, but I don't think I've ever seen one, so will enjoy learning about it via your posts.

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    3. Sounds good to me. I saw a few yews when I lived in California, but that was long ago--I remember very little about them. So I'm looking forward to your series.

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    4. As you're half of my readership, I'd better follow through on my plan :)

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  2. So glad you are thinking about next year already and I love your detailed habitat notes!
    You have reminded me that we have an Acer negundo in our local park. Every time I see it I think it looks lovely - especially with autumn colour - but I keep on forgetting what species it is. I will remember properly now you have featured it.
    Thanks for encouraging Tim - I don't mind if people tree-follow only occasionally, but I would love to link to his tree posts of any sort.
    All the best as winter draws on :)

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    1. Hi, thanks for your interest in my posts. I had a gap of a year due to illness, but I post about trees each month. If you'd like to have a look, I've filtered by category: http://notesofnature.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Trees

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  3. Since I moved back up north a couple of years ago to deep snow and cold temperatures for half the year I have pretty much the same criteria as you do for choosing a tree to follow. I have to be able to reach the tree in winter (without snowshoes, skis or snowmobiles since I'm not buying any of those) and all pines and spruces are disqualified.

    This seems like a good time of the year to pick a tree to follow.

    Since all trees where I live are covered in snow and very hard to identify in December-January I've been on the lookout for my next tree for a while now.

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  4. You already have snow! Boggles the mind of this Texan. :) I've enjoyed following your trees, so I'm glad you're continuing.

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    1. Thanks for the comment, Tina, I need the encouragement! With work and getting ready for winter, it's easy to let my beloved blogging go by the wayside :-( Btw, the snow came and went ... back to mid-60s now.

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  5. Oh I love to have been the first time. It is not often that i see a tecnical person posting with technical terms in them. I miss the word ecotone, riparian, words I heard in Ecology and Botany subjects. But being archipelagic in the tropics, they are not seen. But we have lots of colonizing species. And sometimes maybe I am the only one who noticed them in vacant lots

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    1. Thanks, Andrea :) Will you be following a tree with us? It would be great to hear news from your tropical archipelago! (which is it?)

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