How Am I Blind If My Eyes Work?

Unless you’re reading this in braille, your eyes should be working but that doesn’t mean you are not blind to the things around you. A New York Times article by Gabriel Popkin talked about this mental blindness and how most people just pass by everyday day things, like trees, and don’t think twice about them. But don’t worry there’s a cure! Knowledge. Just something as simple as asking a question, (What kind of tree is this?) can lead you down the rabbit hole of a field of study called Dendrology. This curiosity has encapsulated me for the past couple of years and now I am diving head first in bachelors program for Forestry and Wildlife.

This past week, I took a walk down to my local creek (Big Walnut Creek) with my trusty Peterson Field Guide of Trees and Shrubs by George A. Petrides, and found all sorts of amazing trees lining the creek bank and thought that this would be the perfect place to share them with you.

Black Walnut

(Juglans nigra)

I found many black walnuts lining both sides of the creek bank. This tree has some of the most beautiful and valuable wood in the world. Kind of crazy that it can grow in our backyards. They can be easily spotted from a distance because of their long pinnately compound leaves (7-17). Then once you get all up close and personal with the tree the leaves should be alternately arranged and you’ll often find the delicious nut hanging around or scattered all over the ground. The Peterson Field Guide also said that people once went fishing with the bruised nut husks but now it’s illegal. Useful survival tactics I guess.

There’s that delicious walnut that’s not quite ready for harvest.

Awesome picture of how long the leaves are and how they’re arranged.

Fun Fact: While this species is called black walnut, there is a more elusive “white walnut” also known as butternut, Juglans cinerea.

Box Elder

(Acer negundo)

This tree was a little intimidating to approach at first because the leaves look very similar to poison ivy and I am very allergic to that stuff. This tree is a very cool outlier in the maple family in that it has pinnately compound leaves (3-7) that are sometimes lobed but still retain that opposite leaf arrangement classic to the maple family. I’ve always heard this species be described as “zombie like” and this tree did not disappoint. From a distance it looked like an old tree that had fallen over towards the creek but upon closer inspection, it was indeed fully alive and kicking. The Peterson Field Guide said that you can still tap this species for maple syrup but I don’t know if I would try that on my pancakes in the morning. I might start craving brains for lunch.

Oppositely arranged leaves with those pinnately compound leaves.

The tree is far from straight and looks like a zombie reaching out, crawling for the water.

Fun Fact: According to wildflower.org, box elder got its name because the leaves resembled that of the elders genus (Sambucus) and the wood of the box plant (Buxus sempervirens).

Burr Oak

(Quercus macrocarpa)

This beautiful beast of a tree was one of the tallest trees around and had an insane amount of acorns on it. The big telltale sign of this species is the gigantic, deeply lobed, alternately arranged, blunt leaves and the massive acorns that accompanied it that look like they have a bowl hair cut. I think it must have been a mast year with the shear number of acorns of this tree because it was a lot. Lets also take a moment to appreciate the absolute craziness that mast years are. Like, how did they figure that out and how do they decide when to do it? Trees just blow my mind.

The leaves had big lobes and distinctly deep sinuses. Those acorns are also wild looking with so much hair.

Fun Fact: According to minnesotawildflowers.info, burr oak is well adapted to using fire ecology on the landscape.

Green Ash

(Fraxinus pennsylvanica)

This young buck to the block is a small but mighty tree with oppositely arranged, pinnately compound, serrated leaves. The leaves on the green ash are more narrow in shape in contrast to its close cousin, white ash, that has more oval like shaped leaves. Both ashes are having a rough time right now in the United States. Unfortunately, most of them will likely not grow up to be like that big burr oak we just saw not too long ago. Traveling back in time to the early 2000’s, a shiny green beetle was found in that state that rhymes with “meat chicken”. This beetle, rightly named “Emerald Ash Borer”, has come to wreak havoc on the ash tree population. Soon, there might not be any large ash trees left in the United States and that would be a huge shame because ash trees rank right up there with the best of the best in beauty, valuable lumber, habitat, and food resources for wild animals.

Only a handful of native trees have oppositely arranged leaves

The pinnately compound leaves on ash trees are pretty cool to see.

Just a young buck hoping it won’t get hunted by nasty invasive beetles later on in its life.

Fun Fact: According to wildflower.org, green ash is the most wide spread of the native ash trees in the country. Ranging from the east coast to nearly the Rocky Mountains.

Common Cottonwood

(Populus deltoides)

This dancing behemoth in the sky shuttered in the wind along the creek bank. This genus is easy to spot from far distances as long as there’s a bit of a breeze shaking the heart shaped serrated leaves. Upon closer inspected you can find that they are alternately arranged and the part attaching the leaf to the tree (petiole) is flattened along one plain, creating that shimmering affect in the wind. This tree is cool because you can often find the seeds of the tree long before you find the tree itself, as long as it’s late spring-early summer. The seeds of the cottonwood tree are wind dispersed and the thing that catches the wind and carries the seeds away is… you guessed it, cotton.

The leaves were shimmering in the wind I swear.

These trees towered over everything else in the forest.

Fun Fact: According to minnesotawildflowers.info, you need to be cautious if you live near these trees while they are spreading there seeds in the late spring-early summer because the cotton balls it disperses can clog up window screens, ac coils, and lawnmower filters.

Honey Locus

(Gleditsia tricananthos)

Watch out! There’s a honey locus over there. Honey locus is a crazy tree because of how extreme this tree gets. The leaves are not just once pinnately compound but they are twice pinnately compound, alternately arranged, and pretty long (6″-15″). The fruit is also an extreme characteristic, it is one of the longest fruits I have ever seen and the dried out pod smell pretty sweet. The other, but most extreme part of this tree is the giant needles it uses to protect itself. The armaments this tree developed is quite impressive and kind of scary. According to the Peterson Field Guide, the thorns have been used by woodsman for pins, spear points, and animal traps for a long time.

Bi-pinnately compound leaves and a massive legume.

Fun Fact: According to wildlflower.org, livestock and wildlife love the sweet pulp that comes from the bean pods.

Tall Pawpaw

(Asimina triloba)

The pawpaw is probably one of my favorite things to find in the forest, especially during the late summer-early fall. And that is because of the amazing fruit that you can find on this tree. This tree is alternately arranged, with giant, simple leaves that come to a point at the end. The fruit is so interesting because it’s something that you just can’t get from the grocery store. The pawpaw is part of the custard-apple family and the ripe fruit tastes like a mix between a banana and a mango but has the texture of custard.

Fun Fact: According to heritageconservancy.org, the pawpaw tree evolved along side the megafauna in North America and the seeds were dispersed by Giant Ground Sloths and others eating the fruit before they became extinct.

Sycamore

(Platanus occidentalis)

The great sycamore is a beautiful tree with giant maple like leaves, but are alternately arranged, and bark that seems to peels off as you go up the trunk making the bark look like abstract art. This tree is one of the biggest species on the eastern half of the United States. The Peterson Field Guide said that the Native Americans used the giant sycamore trees to make dugout canoes and one even reported to be 65′ long and weighed 9000 lbs. Now that’s an impressive boat. This tree is a staple of creek side ecosystems and is a cool find while on my little expedition.

The bark at the bottom of the trunk is totally different than the bark towards the top.

Fun Fact: According to wildflower.org, sycamore grows to a larger trunk diameter than any other native hardwood.

White Mulberry

(Morus alba)

White Mulberry is a cool find although I prefer to see its native cousin, red mulberry. The leaves on the white mulberry tree are quite unique and can be easy to spot once you know what you are looking for. The leaves are alternately arranged, simple in complexity, serrated, and can be either lobed or not lobed. The lobe-y-ness of the leaves is pretty cool to see because you can have a heavily lobed leaf right next to a leaf with no lobes at all and its all the same plant. The easiest way this non-native invasive tree can be differentiated from the native red mulberry tree is from the glossiness of the leaves. The more common white mulberry as much glossier leaves. The fruit that both produce are pretty good and are a staple of my foraging diet in the early-mid summer months.

Fun Fact: According to minnesotawildflowers.info, white mulberry was introduced to the United States in the 1600’s in an attempt to create a silk industry here in North America because the white mulberry is the favored food of silk worms.

I had a blast on my creek bank expedition and found some of my absolute favorite trees along the way. I think this walk not only cured my tree blindness, but also got me off my butt and into the great outdoors. Time really does fly while you’re having fun out there but I can’t wait to explore new and exciting ecosystems and see what kind of trees are living there. Until next time.