Saint Luke’s, Page Street: Liriodendron tulipifera, Tulip magnolia
Liriodendron tulipiferaWith distinctive square lobed leaf structure, large green and orange tulip-shaped flowers, and woody cone-like seeds, the prehistoric tulip tree is relatively unchanged since the Early Cretaceous period, 145 to 100.5 million years ago, when dinosaurs roamed North America.Liriodendron tulipifera or tulip tree is a stately, fast-growing, upright, pyramidal tree that broadens with spreading growth as it matures. The native tulip tree reaches over 150 feet in the wild and matures at 80’ by 40’ under urban conditions. The tulip tree is found in deciduous forests east of the Mississippi River, and as far south as northern Florida, and as far north as southern Ontario. Trees of New Bedford seriesLiriodendron tulipifera - Tulip Tree Submitted by J.E. Ingoldsby, ASLA· Common Name: Tulip-tree, Tulip Magnolia, Tulip poplar· Botanical Name: Liriodendron tulipifera· Distinguishing features: Liriodendron tulipifera or lily tree of many tulip flowers is a stately, fast-growing, upright, pyramidal tree that broadens with spreading growth as it matures. The native tulip tree reaches over 150 feet in the wild and matures at 80’ by 40’ under urban conditions. With distinctive square lobed leaf structure, large green and orange tulip-shaped flowers, and woody cone-like seeds, the ancestral tulip tree illustrates a mitochondrial genome relatively unchanged since the Lower Cretaceous period, when dinosaurs roamed North America.1· Spring features: The bilateral halves of the leaf are folded into a flag-like outline when the leaf emerges, then they separate like a butterfly's wings at the mid-rib as the leaf expands. Once fully emerged, the leaves are medium green, alternate, and broadly ovate with a square shape, having both a truncated base and a truncated, shallowly wedge-shaped apex, with several shallow lateral lobes and a long petiole. Foliage of this tree flutters in the slightest breeze.· Summer features: Tulip trees flower in late May and throughout June present large, solitary, showy flowers having six yellow-green petals surrounded by three green sepals and resemble a huge tulip. The interior of the flower contains a bright orange and yellow corolla, surrounding the central spire of immature aggregate fruits. Tulip trees often experience limited defoliation of yellow leaves in the interior of the tree’s crown by late July to early August, as a response to summer drought.· Fall features: Tulip trees are one of the best trees for yellow to golden-yellow fall foliage color. Each fruit is a green to chartreuse aggregate of samaras in the shape of an upright cone.· Winter features: Often the tallest and straightest tree in the open field or forest, ascending to great heights before finally losing its central leader and upper branches due to storms that twist the lightweight wood. The bark is distinctive in its light gray shades of youth blending into the light brown tones of maturity, with interlacing ridges that are contrasted with deep furrows on the straight trunks. In winter, the cones turn light brown. Upon their natural separation from the fruits, the winged samaras twirl downward in a spiraling fashion to the ground.· Crown: If spared by storms, the canopy is broadly pyramidal, widening as they age with stout ribbed limbs, heavy with tulip like flowers in early summer and woody cones in winter. On older trees, the lower limbs become pendulous, allowing for the close examination of the tulip-like flowers.· Use: A towering, majestic tree for shade, as a specimen, an ornamental, and as a focal point in parks with sufficient room for growth. The tree requires a deep, moist loam to thrive, though it is adaptable to drier conditions. The wood is an important timber tree for veneer and for the pulp industry.· History in the USA: L. tulipifera is native to North America. It belongs to a more unusual group of dicotyledons (plants with two seed leaves) known as Magnoliids, which are thought to have diverged early in the evolution of flowering plants2.Tulip trees are considered molecular fossils, representing one of the more primitive flowering plants in existence today, along with the other Magnolias. The tulip tree is found in deciduous forests east of the Mississippi River, as far south as northern Florida, and as far north as southern Ontario. In the Joyce Kilmer National Forest within the Appalachian Mountains, are virgin forests where these trees grow to more than 200 feet tall. Word has it that when the loggers experienced the magnificence of the tulip trees within the Joyce Kilmer National Forest, they teared up and refused to cut these virgin trees 3. These tulip trees in the National Forest are a reminder of the original forests that stood before industrial logging clear-cut the forest.Liriodendron tulipifera was one of the primary woods used for tall ship’s masts and Tulip Trees are also a caterpillar food plant for the Eastern Tiger Swallowtail butterfly!4References:Aaron O Richardson, Danny W. Rice, Gregory J. Young, Andrew J. Alverson, Jeffrey D. Palmer. The "fossilized" mitochondrial genome of Liriodendron tulipifera: Ancestral gene content and order, ancestral editing sites, and extraordinarily low mutation rate. BMC Biology, 2013; 11 (1): 29 DOI: 10.1186/1741-7007-11-29Ian Small. Mitochondrial genomes as living ‘fossils’. BMC Biology, 2013; 11 (1): 30 DOI: 10.1186/1741-7007-11-30Michael A. Dirr, Manual of Woody Landscape Plants, Stipes Publishing, 1998, 572-574Kim Smith, 2012, https://kimsmithdesigns.com/tag/tulip-poplar/
Bedford Street/Meriam Street, Nyssa sylvatica, Tupelo
Nyssa sylvaticaThe oldest known hardwood tree in North America is a tupelo tree estimated at >710 years old. In 1312, this tupelo sprouted in a hummocky swamp in southern New Hampshire.Tupelo trees are long lived. With a wide lateral root system and a deep taproot, the trees stand tall even in a gale. The trees are pyramidal in youth and picturesque with age. Horizontal branches become pendulous with the years. The lustrous deep green foliage becomes a kaleidoscope of color in autumn from florescent yellow, to orange, to scarlet, to shades of purple. Tupelo has blue-black drupes in the autumn, which birds and mammals relish. This is one of our most beautiful native trees as a specimen or in a naturalized setting.
4 Meriam Street, Ilex opaca, American holly
Ilex opaca“Deck the halls with boughs of holly” is a familiar traditional yuletide carol that speaks to the beauty of the holly in winter that adds to the celebratory mood of the holidays and New Year.American holly is an upright, pyramidal evergreen with symmetrical branching sweeping to the ground. The leathery leaves are elliptic–lanceolate in shape with spines that line the edges of the olive-green leaves. Female trees bear red berry-like fruit in autumn that festoon the holly trees in winter. Holly trees are dioecious. The male holly has staminate, pollen-laden flowers in clusters. The female trees have single white pistillate flowers with ovaries. Holly trees flower from late spring to early summer. The female flowers will produce holly berries when fertilized by pollinators. American holly berries color up in late autumn to a dull red on ¼-½” rounded drupes. American holly berries provide winter food for a range of winter birds including wood thrush, cardinals, robins, catbirds, and mockingbirds. The dense spiny foliage provides safe cover from predators for nesting and roosting birds.
7 Meriam Street: Quercus alba, White oak
Quercus albaThis is a tree that launched a thousand ships and timbered thousands of 18th-century post and beam homes with its weatherproof, close-grained hardwood. Massive in size and ancient in age, this slow-growing oak can live for five hundred to six hundred years.White oak is a long-lived native forest tree suitable for large open areas. It can reach 100 feet in height with wide-spreading stout branches and a rounded crown. The bark is light gray with shallow furrows forming scaly ridges or plates. The leaves are obovate to elliptical in shape with 5-9 lobes that are rounded at the apex of the grayish-green leaves. Catkins appear just before or with the appearance of new leaves. The round-lobed leaves turn burgundy in fall. Dried leaves remain into winter. Acorns are produced on mature trees. Acorns are a favorite food source for blue jays, crows, woodpeckers, squirrels, chipmunks, mice, and deer. Native Americans used white oak as medication. American colonists used the hardwood for building houses and ships, for furniture making, flooring, and for barrel staves.
27 Meriam Street: Magnolia acuminata, Cucumbertree Magnolia
Magnolia acuminataThe prehistoric Magnolia is historically one of the earliest flowering Angiosperm trees from the Early Cretaceous period. The evolutionary rise of flowering plants fueled a diversity of pollinating insects, and herbivores, like the duck-billed hadrosaurs and long-necked sauropods, who fed on the nutritious leaves, flowers, and fruits, who in turn became prey for the carnivorous Tyrannosaurus Rex. This tree type dates to the days of the dinosaurs.This magnificent cucumbertree magnolia is at least 130 years old and must have been planted by Thomas Stetson’s gardeners on his former estate. This is an excellent tree for parks, estates, golf courses, and naturalized areas where it can reach its full size at maturity.The deciduous, May-flowering Cucumbertree magnolia can reach a height of 60-70’ with a comparable spread on massive outreaching branches. The multi-petaled 3” flowers color from green to cream to yellow with the <10” oblong, ovate leaves. Small cucumber-like fruits filled with red seeds follow the flowering on this prehistoric, native tree. The opening and fallen cucumber-like pods filled with fleshy seeds are relished by songbirds and ground birds as the towhee, grouse, and wild turkeys, as well as squirrels and other mammals. Historically, the flower buds and flowers were used as a food source for the First Nation people and the bark extract was used as a medicinal analgesic, cold, and toothache remedy.-----------------------------------------------------------------------------Trees of New Bedford seriesMeriam Street Cucumber Tree MagnoliaBy J.E. Ingoldsby, ASLA· Common Name: Cucumber Tree Magnolia· Botanical Name: Magnolia acuminataLocation of this month’s Tree of New Bedford: Meriam Street, New Bedford – on the West side of the street between Bedford Street and Moreland Terrace. · Circumference at chest height: approximately 25’· Diameter at chest height: approximately 8’· Height: approximately 60’ tall· Age: At least130 years old since it must have been planted by Thomas Stetson’s gardeners.· Distinguishing features: The deciduous, May-flowering Cucumber magnolia tree can reach a height of 60-70’ with a comparable spread on massive outreaching branches. The multi-petaled 3” flowers color from green to cream to yellow with the <10” oblong, ovate leaves. Small cucumber-like fruits filled with red seeds follow the flowering on this ancient, native tree.· Spring features: The silver, silky pubescent buds open to reveal small green petaled flowers that mature to cream color in May to early June. Leaves unfurl with a silver green pubescence beneath to a deeper green above on smooth gray-barked branches.· Summer features: The flowering fades in June and seed formation begins. The leaves are darkening and elongating to reach up to 10 inches in length on this fast-growing tree.· Fall features: By October, the seedpods enlarge to 3” in length and widen with aggregate clusters of pink to red-fleshed seeds. The deciduous leaves turn from deep green to brown to an ashen brown color before they drop in autumn.· Winter features: A mature Cucumber magnolia tree has great size and character with wide spreading silver-gray massive branches and a width equal to their height.· Crown: The outline of the Magnolia acuminata varies from a pyramidal shape in youth to a wide spreading, picturesque habit in old age. Cucumber tree Magnolias can reach 70’ by 70’ in protected locations over the centuries. The National Champion is found in Waukon, IA and is 75’ by 83’. 1· Use: Magnolia acuminata is best used in parks, estates, or protected in the wild where their great height and spread can be appreciated. The tree will not tolerate drought or wetland soils, nor will it tolerate pollution. The Cucumber tree Magnolia has been extensively hybridized to create more substantial yellow flowers. Superior cultivars include ‘Butterflies’, ‘Sundance’ with 8” yellow blooms, and ‘Yellow Fever’ with 8” lemon yellow, fragrant flowers tinged pink. The opening and fallen cucumber-like pods filled with fleshy seeds are relished by songbirds and ground birds as the towhee, grouse, and wild turkeys, as well as squirrels and other mammals. Historically, the flower buds and flowers were used as a food source for the First Nation people and the bark extract was used as a medicinal analgesic, cold, and toothache remedy.2· History in the USA: Magnolia as a species is prehistoric according to the Lady Bird Johnson Wildlife Center in Texas. The Magnolia acuminata has been found in the fossil record. Cucumber tree magnolia is native to western New York, southern Ontario, southern Indiana, and southern Missouri south to Florida and Louisiana.Magnolia acuminata native habitat includes rich, wooded slopes, stream banks, and uplands.2 1. Michael Dirr, Manual of Woody Landscape Plants, Stipes Publishing, LLC, 19982. Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, Texas, Magnolia acuminata-----------------------------------------------------------------------------Trees of New Bedford seriesA Cucumber Tree Magnolia, the Stetson Estate and Downton Abbey - ExcerptBy Steven Froias, Contributing WriterA great example is the former estate where we find this month’s entry in the Trees of New Bedford series, and the distinguished gentleman who once owned the property before it was divided to form the graceful neighborhood we know today.Our Cucumber Tree Magnolia on Meriam Street sits on what was once the Stetson Estate - and Thomas M. Stetson is a personage that sounds as if he could hold his own in verbal acrobatics with the dowager countess of Downton Abbey, Violet Crawley, as portrayed by Maggie Smith!Thomas Stetson is described in this way in a profile published in the book “Lawyers of the Past,” brought to our attention by Out on a Limb’s own Gig Lang:“Endowed with an impressive physique and a voice of marvelous power and resonance, Mr. Stetson was highly effective before a jury.” A contemporary noted, “His arguments were examples of strong and beautiful language, graced by apposite quotations and the keenest wit.”Mr. Stetson was City Solicitor in 1871, 1872, and 1874. He had previously been a member of the Common Council for two years. While these were his only public offices, he served as a director of many local corporations, including an amazing 52 years in that capacity for Morse Twist Drill and Machine Company.Born in Medford, MA in 1830, his father was the Rev. Caleb Stetson, a Unitarian minister. His mother was Julia Ann Meriam - a clue to where the street name came from. This union bestowed upon Thomas Stetson a pedigree that included Mayflower descendants as well as Revolutionary war families of Lexington, MA.Thomas graduated from Harvard in 1849. He came to New Bedford in 1854 as part of the law firm Eliot, Pitman and Stetson. He married Caroline Dawes Eliot in 1856. As the years went by, the partners gave way to a family firm and Stetson and Stetson reflected the practice with not one but two sons, Eliot D. and Frederick D. Stetson.For a number of years, the family lived at the corner of Cottage and Grove Streets in New Bedford. But soon, Stetson bought a large tract of land extending - what was then - far west of Ash Street running from present-day Moreland Terrace to Bedford Street.It’s there that, according to “Lawyers of the Past,” he completed a “large and pretentious residence” which he completed in 1889 when he was 60 years old. The Stetson Estate - our own Downton Abbey - was founded.An article in The Standard newspaper noted, “The grounds were laid out by Charles Eliot, the son of the president of Harvard College, who was then forming the most famous firm of landscape architects this country has ever known - Olmstead & Eliot.” Like so many of his peers in 19th century New Bedford, Stetson was a cultivated person who took great care cultivating his landscape. “In his greenhouses he took great delight in the culture of plants and shrubs and flowers, and handsome trees ornamented the grounds,” Lawyers of the Past” states.This anecdote by the author reveals a bit about the character of the man:“One of the pleasantest afternoons I ever spent, was when, as a newspaper reporter, I called upon him to obtain some information for a feature article I was writing.“He took me through his greenhouses and showed me many strange and curious and beautiful forms of plant and fruit life, as well as more familiar growths, including oranges, figs, bananas, century plants, lovely orchids from the far corners of the world, and lordly palms.“All the while he told me, most entertainingly, everything, it seemed to me, it was possible to know about the products of nature which he cherished, and which he had thoroughly studied, until I gazed upon him as a marvel.”Thomas M. Stetson died on Feb. 10, 1916, in his 86th year. He lies in Rural Cemetery, the site of the American Holly recently included in the Trees of New Bedford. Soon after his wife died in 1921, the estate was sold.And, around 1923, a new vision for the property began to take shape.According to The Standard, “The development of the 12-acre estate of the late Thomas M. Stetson,” was well underway. Bedford, Meriam and Stetson Streets had been opened - and five homes built on the land. Each with a “double garage and attractive landscaping much the latter having already been established while Stetson was alive.”Standard journalist William Emery wrote, “Occasionally in the history of our cities comes unexpectedly the breakup of a beautiful estate which we have admired as one of our stately homes, with ample grounds, stables, greenhouses. We deplore the fact that it has been advisable to give up such an estate originally built in the suburbs but gradually overtaken and surrounded by the growth of the city.”“But there is the great opportunity of the modern home-seeker to find house lots centrally placed and where the character of the neighborhood and buildings has already been determined.”Robert Crawley, the 7th Earl of Grantham, managed to hang on at Downton Abbey through a six-season television series and one feature film. Other estates of the time, like the Stetson Estate, gave way to modernity.Still, the foundation Thomas M. Stetson laid with his eye for horticulture has proved the basis for one of New Bedford’s most pleasant neighborhoods - not to mention a home for our Cucumber Tree Magnolia.As William Emery summed up, “Such changes are inevitable in a prosperous growing city like New Bedford but when they occur we like to give a regretful look backward at the old centers of the city’s social life which are thus passing away…”
35 Meriam Street: Tilia species
Tilia speciesTilia or the linden tree comes in different shapes and sizes, leaves and habits, from messy to refined, depending on the cultivar.The American linden has large 8” leaves that are alternate and broadly ovate in shape that clothe a stately tree reaching 80’ in height and spread. In summer the air is filled with the fragrance of linden blossoms and the buzzing of bees. Linden flower honey is one of the most delicious you can obtain. This is a floodplain tree best left in the woods.It is the Littleleaf linden that is prized as an excellent shade tree for lawns, parks, and streets.There is a silver-leafed maple that is heat and drought-tolerant.However, from the sucker socks on our tree at 35 Meriam Street, it appears that this may just be Tilia europaea or the Common or European linden. This is a cross between Tilia cordata and Tilia platyphyllos. It is pyramidal in youth and more rounded as it ages. In time, it can reach 100 feet in height. This linden is known to sucker at the base and can have burls on the trunk as it ages. It was commonly used in Europe for allées, avenues, parks, and formal areas. The European linden would have been imported to America in the 19th century. The telltale sign is the sucker socks at the base of the linden trees within New Bedford and beyond.
6 Stetson Street: Quercus rubra, Northern Red Oak
Quercus rubraOaks’ lineage with beech makes this tree another from the fossil record. Quercus dates back to the Cretaceous period, when dinosaurs roamed the Earth.A member of the beech family, this deciduous oak reaches 75-100 feet in height. Its straight trunk is clear of branches for some distance above the ground and supports a wide canopy, commonly 3/4 that of its height. The dark bark is striped with long, smooth plates, separated by deep furrows. Leaf lobes are bristle-tipped. Fall color is can be crimson, golden-orange, or russet. Acorns are produced in the autumn, which provide food for wildlife. Northern red oak is a handsome shade and street tree, with good form, and dense foliage. It is one of the most rapidly growing oaks, is hardy in New England, and is tolerant of city conditions
42 Grove Street: Platanus acerifolia, London Planetree
Platanus acerifoliaThe London planetree was so named because of its adaptability to the smoke and grime of early industrial London. The London planetree is a massive tree rising up to 100‘, and out to 80’ from a stout trunk with plating exfoliating bark in shades of olive-green, cream, gray, and fawn. The muscular branches spread outward with 10” leaves similar in shape to the Acer, maple leaf. This noble tree is suitable for parks, golf courses, and campuses.In autumn, clustered buttonball seeds can be seen suspended from long peduncles beneath the symmetrically arranged spray of leaves. With the frost, the parchment textured leaves turn brown and drop with a clatter. In winter, the tree reveals its multicolored bark exfoliating in plates revealing cream, green, gray, and fawn colors on the stout trunk, and wide spreading branches. The buttonballs persist on the twigs through the winter. Eventually, the brown buttonballs shatter to allow seeds born on silken parachutes to be carried by the winds. Squirrels and finches relish the seeds. The London planetree is one of the most handsome large trees in winter, when its branching character is revealed.-------------------------------------------------------Trees of New Bedford seriesLondon Planetreeby Joseph Emmanuel Ingoldsby, ASLACommon Name: London planetreeBotanical Name: Platanus acerifoliaDistinguishing features: The London planetree is a massive tree rising up to 100‘, and out to 80’ from a stout trunk with plating exfoliating bark in shades of olive-green, cream, gray, and fawn. The muscular branches spread outward with 10” leaves similar in shape to the Acer, maple leaf.Spring features: The red faced green globular flowers are monoecious with male and female flowers on separate peduncles (stems) that emerge with the unfurling orange leaves in April.Summer features: In summer, the London planetree leaves have fully emerged and are a medium to deep green in color. The tree creates a dense shade from the fully leafed, extending branches1.Fall features: Clustered buttonball seeds can be seen suspended from long peduncles beneath the symmetrically arranged spray of leaves. With the frost, the parchment textured leaves turn brown and drop with a clatter. Winter features: In winter, the tree reveals its multicolored bark exfoliating in plates revealing cream, green, gray, and fawn colors on the stout trunk, and wide spreading branches. The buttonballs persist on the twigs through the winter. Eventually, the brown buttonballs shatter to allow seeds born on silken parachutes to be carried by the winds. Squirrels and finches relish the seeds2. The London planetree is one of the most handsome large trees in winter, when its branching character is revealed.Crown: The London planetree is pyramidal in youth and wide spreading with age. The wood is heavy, hard, and tough which allows massive branches to extend outward giving the London planetree its monumental appearance.Use: The London planetree was so named because of its adaptability to the smoke and grime of early industrial London. The London planetree can be seen at its best along Memorial Drive in Cambridge, Hyde Park in London, along the roads following the Tiber in Rome, and the alléewithin the Jardin des Plantes in Paris. This noble tree is suitable for parks, golf courses, and campuses. The tree does best in deep, rich, well-drained soils like its American cousin, the native sycamore, which thrives along streams, on riverbanks, and in bottomlands. History: The first seedling hybrid tree was discovered in 1663 in London. It is a cross between the American sycamore and the Asian planetree. Soon after, it became the dominant street tree of industrializing London. It has become overused and as an urban street tree has an average lifespan of only 39 years1. Because Anthracnose disease and mildew are fatal problems, disease resilient and resistant cultivars have been bred in America including ‘Bloodgood’, ‘Columbia’, ‘Exclamation’, ‘Liberty’, and ‘Ovation’, and ‘Yarwood’1,3.1. Michael A. Dirr, Manual of Woody Landscape Plants, Stipes Publishing, LLC, 19982. leafsnap, Canada, Platanus acerifolia, London planetree3. Morton Arboretum, London PlanetreeAcer saccharinum, Silver Maple, 38” DBHSilver maple can reach great heights quickly in the right conditions of moist soils and fukl sun.. Generally, it is a short-lived tree prone to winter storm damage. It has a shallow spreading root system that can lift sidewalks and block drains. However, its lacy canopy is beautiful with its upright spreading branches and pendulous habit. It is native from Quebec to Florida wihin river floodplains where it can grow to full size.
144 Hawthorn Street: Fagus sylvatica, European Copper Beech
Fagus sylvaticaThe magnificent European Copper Beech is a climax forest tree of mammoth proportions, with a youthful smooth gray bark that becomes elephantine with age; with wide-spreading branches often sweeping the ground; and emergent copper foliage that deepens to crimson-purple and that glows in the sunlight. The European Copper Beech can reach 100’ in height on a densely pyramidal to oval shape whose crown canopy provides wonderful and cooling shade.Beneath the dark copper-green colored foliage, three-winged nuts encased with prickly leaf whorls emerge in fall. As with the American Beech tree, the European Copper Beech tree develops edible beechnuts that birds and other wildlife relish.The European Copper Beech tree has a network of sturdy silver branches reaching out from the massive trunk tempting children to climb upwards often leaving initials on the smooth bark. The European Copper Beech lends itself to open sunny and expansive park-like sites where it has the room to grow to its full size over an average life of 150 years. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------Trees of New Bedford seriesFagus sylvatica – European Copper BeechBy: Joseph Ingoldsby, ASLA· Common name: European Copper Beech or just Copper Beech· Botanical name: Fagus sylvatica ‘Cuprea’· Distinguishing features: The magnificent European Copper Beech is a climax forest tree of mammoth proportions, with a youthful smooth gray bark that becomes elephantine with age; with wide spreading branches often sweeping the ground; and emergent copper foliage that deepens to crimson purple and that glows in the sunlight. The European Copper Beech can reach 100’ in height on a densely pyramidal to oval shape whose crown canopy provides wonderful and cooling shade.· Spring features: Shiny chestnut-colored apex-pointed buds unfurl tender copper-green simple 2” to 4” long elliptical deciduous leaves in April. It produces flowers with the emerging leaves. Flowers are monoecious with separate male and female flowers on the same tree.· Summer features: In summer, its leaves deepen to a lustrous purple-red green above with a glabrous surface (smooth, hairless) beneath. · Fall features: Beneath the dark copper-green colored foliage, three-winged nuts encased with prickly leaf whorls emerge. As with the American Beech tree, the European Copper Beech tree develops edible beechnuts that birds and other wildlife relish.· Winter: In winter, the tree reveals its stout gray trunk and wide spreading branches.· Crown: The European Copper Beech tree has a network of sturdy silver branches reaching out from the massive trunk tempting children to climb upwards often leaving initials on the smooth bark. · Use: The European Copper Beech lends itself to open sunny and expansive park-like sites where it has the room to grow to its full size over an average life of 150 years. There are many handsome cultivars including ‘Asplenifolia’- fern leaf beech, ‘Fastigiata’ – columnar beech, ‘Pendula’ – weeping beech, and ‘Riversii’- Rivers purple beech. Beech wood is hard, strong, and heavy with a fine tight grain and an even texture, very light in color, and with high shock resistance making it an ideal wood for furniture making and veneers. As a smaller and younger plant, it can be pruned to any desired hedge style.· History: The original purple-leaf beech was discovered in the Hanleiter Forest of Germany before 1772, and it became the most common beech in European nineteenth century gardens.1 The Copper beech was an early offspring of this wild form but with paler leaves.· History in the USA: The European Copper Beech was brought to America by colonists in the mid-1700s and has remained a popular ornamental tree ever since. In 1807, Thomas Jefferson ordered two “purple beeches” from Thomas Main’s nursery for his house at Monticello; one tree survived to the 1950s and the other lived until the 1970s. 2 With a hardiness rating of Zones 4-7, European Copper Beech is not suitable for the extreme heat of southern gardens but is well suited to coastal New England. At its peak, New Bedford had many impressively landscaped estates and the Copper Beech was an important and distinguishing marker of wealth and property.1. Denise Wiles Adams, Restoring American Gardens: An Encyclopedia of Heirloom Ornamental Plants, 1640-1940 (Portland, OR: Timber Press, Inc., 2004), 79.2. Peggy Cornett, Thomas Jefferson Encyclopedi
148 Hawthorne Street: Acer saccharum Sugar Maple
Acer saccharumIf ever a tree typifies New England, it is the sugar maple. Sugar maple is a stately native tree rising above the forest with its tall trunk and rounded oval canopy. Sugar maple is known for its brilliant autumn yellow to burnt orange leaf color and in winter, sugar maple, as the name suggests, can be tapped to produce maple syrup from its sugary sweet sap.The sugar maple reveals its upright, oval shape and medium to deep green leaves in summer creating a shady canopy on the lawn. With autumn, the dark green leaves of summer color transition from yellow to burnt orange with shades of red in autumn. The samara fruit develops with 1-2” divergent wings that children open to use as noses.With age, the smooth gray to brown bark develops deep vertical furrows along the trunk. In winter, the sap of the sugar maple flows, and the trees are tapped for the production of maple syrup. It takes forty gallons of sap, which is boiled down, to make one gallon of maple syrup.Acer saccharum is native to the hardwood forests of northeastern North America. The range extends from Eastern Canada southward to include the North Central and the northern United States. The slow-growing sugar maple can live for three to four hundred years and reach heights upward of 100 feet. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------Trees of New Bedford seriesA Stately Sugar Maple by Joseph Ingoldsby, ASLA Landscape ArchitectCommon Name: Sugar Maple (also known as Rock Maple)Botanical Name: Acer saccharumThe Oak Grove Sugar Maple Distinguishing features: If ever a tree typifies New England, it is the sugar maple. Sugar maple is a stately native tree rising above the forest with its tall trunk and rounded oval canopy. Sugar maple is known for its brilliant autumn yellow to burnt orange leaf color and in winter, sugar maple, as the name suggests, can be tapped to produce maple syrup from its sugary sweet sap.Spring features: In spring, ¼” long chartreuse-colored flowers emerge in clusters suspended by pendulous 1” to 3” long pedicles (stalks) before the tripartite terminal leaf buds open to reveal opposite, simple, three to five lobed olive-green leaves that darken to deep green as the season progresses.Summer features: The sugar maple reveals its upright, oval shape and medium to deep green leaves in summer creating a shady canopy on the lawn.Fall features: The dark green leaves of summer color transition from yellow to a burnt orange with shades of red in autumn. The samara fruit develop with 1-2” divergent wings that children open to use as noses.Winter: With age, the smooth gray to brown bark develops deep vertical furrows along the trunk. In winter, the sap of the sugar maple flows and the trees are tapped for the production of maple syrup. It takes forty gallons of sap, which is boiled down, to make one gallon of maple syrup.Crown: Younger sugar maple trees reveal their ascendant branching structure and oval shape. In maturity, the branching becomes pendulous (droopy) at the tips. The slow growing sugar maple can live for three to four hundred years and reach heights upward of 100 feet.Use: The sugar maple is best used as a specimen planting in parks, cemeteries, or large lawn areas where it can reach full size away from roadway salt and pollution. Some of the best cultivars are Commemoration and Green Mountain. History in the USA: Acer saccharum is native to the hardwood forests of Northeastern North America. The range extends from Eastern Canada southward to include the north Central and Northern United States. Being a New England tree, sugar maple is intolerant of extreme heat and drought. Evenly moist, mesic soils and changing seasons are required. Sugar maple is used for its brilliant autumn coloring and its sap for maple syrup production. The wood of this maple is used in furniture making; bird’s eye maple, where tiny knots are revealed in flat sawn boards, is sought for fine cabinetry work and can still be found used as finish flooring in some older buildings – including mills. Sugar maple charcoal is used to filter Jack Daniels Whiskey in Lynchburg, Tennessee to mellow their whiskey 1. 1. Michael Dirr, Manual of Woody Landscape Plants, Stipes Publishing, LLC, 1998
Hawthorn Street opposite Page Street: Ginkgo biloba, Maidenhair Tree
Ginkgo bilobaThe Ginkgo tree dating to the days of the dinosaurs is a survivor of geologic time and historic time. Trees can live for over a thousand years. A Ginkgo tree re-sprouted from the charred radioactive remains of the atomic bomb blast at Hiroshima. The surviving Ginkgo tree is alive in a temple named Hosenji located about 1 km away from the blast center. The tree is resistant to pollution, pathogens, and insect damage making it an ideal choice for urban locations. It is used as a park tree, where it can grow to its full height and width over hundreds of years. Ginkgo is regarded as a “living fossil” because of the species’ uninterrupted existence for 270 million years without changes and for being the oldest tree in the world, with no living relative in existence. Its relationship with other plants is uncertain. As a result, it is classified in its own division: Ginkgophyta, having the extant species G. biloba. For this reason, the ginkgo is considered the “missing link” between gymnosperms and angiosperms.Vigorous growing young Ginkgo trees display pyramidal growth with a principal central leader and spaced spirals of lateral branches growing out in a diagonal orientation to the trunk. As they mature, the vigorous increase in height slows, accompanied by the formation of a spreading crown due to the filling out of the branched, younger tree form. This dioecious tree bears clusters of fan-shaped, deciduous, alternate, and simple leathery leaves (2-5 cm long) with forking parallel venation. The leaves turn bright yellow and then drop with the first freeze in autumn. The edible seeds are coated with a fleshy, malodorous, poisonous covering on the female tree. It is thought that the smell, likened to rotting flesh, was an incentive for dinosaurs to consume the fruits and distribute the seeds.The ginkgo has tremendous medicinal, spiritual, and horticultural importance in Chinese culture. The supplements are bestselling herbal medications with a long history of use in traditional medicine to treat blood disorders; these are known to improve memory and offer the best-known way to keep the mind sharp. The Gingko was venerated and protected within Chinese, Korean, and Japanese temples for centuries. 1.In the United States,merchants, explorers, and collectors imported botanical specimens to arboretums and private estates in America in the 18th and 19th centuries. During it zenith, New Bedford was green with exotic plantings brought back in the holds of merchant ships and whaling vessels. Many fine estates, like the Plummer homestead, boasted specimens from every corner of the globe, including the oriental Ginkgo tree.http://arnoldia.arboretum.harvard.edu/pdf/articles/1981-41-4-the-ginkgo-in-america.pdf1. Tasiu Isah, Rethinking Gingko biloba L.:Medicinal uses and conservation, Pharmacogn Rev. 2015 Jul-Dec; 9(18): 140–148.
172 Page Street at Moreland Terrace –Liriodendron tulipifera, Tulip Magnolia
Liriodendron tulipiferaCan you hear the low-frequency infrasound calls of the duck-billed hadrosaurs vibrating to the soles of your feet or smell the flatulence of the long-necked sauropods browsing on the leaves of the prehistoric Liriodendron? This was a common daily routine in the Cretaceous period, when flowering Angiosperms like the Magnolia family evolved and when dinosaurs ruled the Earth.With distinctive square lobed leaf structure, large green and orange tulip-shaped flowers, and woody cone-like seeds, the prehistoric tulip tree is relatively unchanged since the Early Cretaceous period, 145 to 100.5 million years ago, when dinosaurs roamed North America.Liriodendron tulipifera or tulip tree is a stately, fast-growing, upright, pyramidal tree that broadens with spreading growth as it matures. The native tulip tree reaches over 150 feet in the wild and matures at 80’ by 40’ under urban conditions. The tulip tree is found in deciduous forests east of the Mississippi River, and as far south as northern Florida, and as far north as southern Ontario. References:Aaron O Richardson, Danny W. Rice, Gregory J. Young, Andrew J. Alverson, Jeffrey D. Palmer. The "fossilized" mitochondrial genome of Liriodendron tulipifera: Ancestral gene content and order, ancestral editing sites, and extraordinarily low mutation rate. BMC Biology, 2013; 11 (1): 29 DOI: 10.1186/1741-7007-11-29Ian Small. Mitochondrial genomes as living ‘fossils’. BMC Biology, 2013; 11 (1): 30 DOI: 10.1186/1741-7007-11-30Michael A. Dirr, Manual of Woody Landscape Plants, Stipes Publishing, 1998, 572-574Kim Smith, 2012, https://kimsmithdesigns.com/tag/tulip-poplar/
150 Page Street at Moreland Terrace: Acer palmatum, Japanese maple
Carpinus caroliniana, American Hornbeam, IronwoodWhat kind of tree looks as if it is flexing its biceps with it muscular smooth barked branches festooned with pendulous cut green leaves? It must be an one hundred year old Japanese maple. These trees are native to Japan, Korea, and China. Acer palmatum cultivars include small trees with graceful habits, elegantly cut leaves, and extraordinarily colorful autumn foliage in shades of golden-yellow, red, purple, and bronze. Mature trees have multi-layered branching structure from single or multiple trunks reaching 25 feet in height and width. Acer palmatum trees are slow growing and long lived.
142 Page Street: Massive Mystery Tree
What kind of tree can grow so large as to fill a city block with its branches?The answer is to be determined. No trespassing...requires the owner’s permission to investigateReturn to St. Luke's Hospital to finish this tour.
