Winter Solstice Field Trip, December 21, 2014, to the old-age forest community at Ferry Hill, Washington County, Maryland, co-led by Rod Simmons and Carole Bergmann. Trip participants measured the new State Champion Black Maple (Acer nigrum), which received a hug from one of the participants, and they saw several other, similar-sized Black Maples. The barks dark, sooty color apparently arises from heavy pecking by sapsuckers, which releases a sap flow that provides a food base for fungi (see Black bark as an indicator of bird peck defect in sugar maple: nrs.fs.fed.us/pubs/rp/rp_ls14.pdf). Photo by Carole Bergmann. Carole Bergmann also discussed the characteristic three-lobed, thick, dark green, veiny leaves of the Black Maple (Acer nigrum) vs. the typically five-lobed, thinner, lighter green, and not prominently veined leaves of the Sugar Maple (Acer saccharum). Photo by Jil Swearingen. More photos from the trip: https://plus.google/photos/105387518523574520606/albums/6095480002603743601
Posted on: Mon, 29 Dec 2014 03:04:05 +0000
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