OT Things to ponder

[geofflambert]

I'm sure you're right but taxonomy allows us to call one tree a "bald" cypress and then there's these other trees we also call cypresses which are not cousins even 1,000 times removed. I love those bald cypresses by the way.

[Canoerebel]

That is what lawyers refer to as nonresponsive.

[Flicker]

I lost every tree in my yard larger than a dogwood to a tornado a few years ago. I planted (native) small trees / large shrubs like fringe tree, serviceberry, and crapemyrtle. I don't want to have a large tree squish my roof again. However, the crapemyrtles make me wish I had taken down the trees and planted them before, they're so pretty.

[Canoerebel]

"Cypress" and "cedar" are both used for a wide variety of unrelated trees, which can be very confusing.

For instance, the Atlas cedar of North Africa is unrelated to the southern red cedar of the eastern United States. Southern red cedar, in turn, is commonly as "juniper" and carries the botanical name Juniperus virginiana.

The bald cypress and the pond cypress of the eastern United States are related, but they are not related to the cypress of the Middle East.

[Canoerebel]

ORIGINAL: Flicker

I lost every tree in my yard larger than a dogwood to a tornado a few years ago. I planted (native) small trees / large shrubs like fringe tree, serviceberry, and crapemyrtle. I don't want to have a large tree squish my roof again. However, the crapemyrtles make me wish I had taken down the trees and planted them before, they're so pretty.

Crape myrtle (Lagerstroemi indica) is a native of India or Asia. It is a lovely ornamental planted in the USA.

[MakeeLearn]

I have a straight up biology degree and have morphed into a seeker of esoteric naturalist/historical knowledge. Along with working wood by hand after having a EXPERIENCE with trees.

[MakeeLearn]

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

Buckeye isn't related to chestnut, though one variety of buckeye (horse chestnut) does bear that confusing name. Buckeye is in the family Sapindacea. Chestnut is in the family Fagaceae (making it a relative of the oak and the beech). If you have a book that says buckeye and chestnut are related, throw it away.

Buckeyes are not edible and horse chestnuts (again, a type of buckeye) are poisonous. Red buckeye is a very small tree with gorgeous displays of red flowers in April. Yellow buckeye is a massive tree of the eastern montane forests (and the inspiration for the Ohio Buckeyes).

"Red buckeye has hybridized with common horse-chestnut (Aesculus hippocastanum) in cultivation, the hybrid being named Aesculus × carnea, red horse-chestnut. The hybrid is a medium-sized tree to 45-55 feet tall, intermediate between the parent species in most respects, but inheriting the red flower color from A. pavia. It is a popular tree in large gardens and parks, most commonly the selected cultivar 'Briotii'. Hybrids of red buckeye with yellow buckeye (A. flava) have also been found, and named Aesculus × hybrida."

[Canoerebel]

To make this clear: horse chestnut is not a chestnut, it's a buckeye. So you're speaking of a buckeye x buckeye hybrid.

[geofflambert]

ORIGINAL: Flicker

I lost every tree in my yard larger than a dogwood to a tornado a few years ago. I planted (native) small trees / large shrubs like fringe tree, serviceberry, and crapemyrtle. I don't want to have a large tree squish my roof again. However, the crapemyrtles make me wish I had taken down the trees and planted them before, they're so pretty.

I hate to have to be nonresponsive to your post but sometimes it is just necessary. I'm hoping to plant a couple of Paw-Paw trees and a couple of Persimmon trees in my back yard someday. You have to plant them in pairs because they are either male or female, unlike the Red Buckeye. Also we are advised that planting (in both cases) a male of one cultivar and a female of another increases yield, and that is what I plan to do. None of these trees, including the Buckeye, get very large but they can produce sizable fruits, as big as grapefuits in some cases.

[MakeeLearn]

Staghorn Sumac is my latest obsession.

Still trying to find the plant-tree morphine of North America.

[Canoerebel]

Buckeyes do not produce fruits as large as grapefruits, unless you're growing banzai grapefruits the size of walnuts or smaller.

Yes, persimmon is dioecious (male and female plants) while buckeyes are monoecious.

[MakeeLearn]

Yes, using common names not saying its a chesty chestnut[;)]

[geofflambert]

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

"Cypress" and "cedar" are both used for a wide variety of unrelated trees, which can be very confusing.

For instance, the Atlas cedar of North Africa is unrelated to the southern red cedar of the eastern United States. Southern red cedar, in turn, is commonly as "juniper" and carries the botanical name Juniperus virginiana.

The bald cypress and the pond cypress of the eastern United States are related, but they are not related to the cypress of the Middle East.

I have a Blue Atlas Cedar in my front yard, as well as two "Green Giant" Thujas and a Juniper bush, two Hollys and two Yews and some other stuff. So there, professor!

[geofflambert]

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

Buckeyes do not produce fruits as large as grapefruits, unless you're growing banzai grapefruits the size of walnuts or smaller.

Yes, persimmon is dioecious (male and female plants) while buckeyes are monoecious.

Are you saying my nuggets aren't as big as yours? Take it back varlet! [:D]

[MakeeLearn]

persimmon use to be a often used wood for fiddles.

[MakeeLearn]

Shagbark Hickory are my favorite nuts. No not that Shaggy .... from Scooby...

[geofflambert]

ORIGINAL: MakeeLearn

Staghorn Sumac is my latest obsession.

Still trying to find the plant-tree morphine of North America.

That would be Sassafras. Beware all ye who enter there.

[Canoerebel]

Persimmon wood is dark, very heavy and shock resistant. It was commonly used for golf club heads and gun stocks. It is so valuable that there was actually a black market for persimmon wood back in the '70s and '80s. People would trespass to cut down the trees and sell the wood to golf club manufacturers. Today, though, "woods" are made of graphite or steel or composite wood.

Black walnut was used for making airplane propellers during World War I. Back in my forestry days in the early '80s, I spoke to farmers who recalled government agents traveling through Georgia looking to by black walnut.

I recall that a single black walnut tree, I think in Illinois, selling for something like $40,000 in the 1970s.

[geofflambert]

ORIGINAL: MakeeLearn

Shagbark Hickory are my favorite nuts. No not that Shaggy .... from Scooby...

Black Walnuts for me. An uncle would take me on walks through black walnut forests and his basement had mounds of them and he used a bench vise to open them up. Oh, the memories.

These stands of black walnut trees were within walking distance of Moundsville WV.

[MakeeLearn]

ORIGINAL: geofflambert

ORIGINAL: MakeeLearn

Staghorn Sumac is my latest obsession.

Still trying to find the plant-tree morphine of North America.

That would be Sassafras. Beware all ye who enter there.

Aware of Sassafras. I speak of a true morphine as written in the personal letters of Tecumseh, among others. A plant and a tree in a proximity and chemical combination.