[paulh]

[noelcmn]

[jersey]

[WPRESTO]

Two trees in Africa

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[ramseybuckeye]

This tree met an untimely end

[WPRESTO]

Southern Live Oak. It's a wonder how long these heavy, nearly horizontal branches can grow without breaking.

[OrchidJulie]

Southern Live Oak. It's a wonder how long these heavy, nearly horizontal branches can grow without breaking.

Some of these live oaks (Quercus virginiana) grow to huge-mongous size and live hundreds and hundreds of years. The local Girl Scout Council owns some property near Fairchild, used for troop activities including overnight camping, etc. There was a monster live oak on that property, called the "Council Oak", reputed to be growing there when Columbus arrived in the nearby Bahamas. Hurricane Andrew savaged it, alas, and after some years of decline it went on to Tree Heaven. RIP

[WPRESTO]

Some of these live oaks (Quercus virginiana) grow to huge-mongous size and live hundreds and hundreds of years. The local Girl Scout Council owns some property near Fairchild, used for troop activities including overnight camping, etc. There was a monster live oak on that property, called the "Council Oak", reputed to be growing there when Columbus arrived in the nearby Bahamas. Hurricane Andrew savaged it, alas, and after some years of decline it went on to Tree Heaven. RIP

While in Florida on that particular trip we hunted down what was reputed to be the largest known live oak. It was not as well situated for pictures as those in the images I posted. With such sprawling trees it's hard to see how you could determine which one was the largest. DBH, a standard measure of tree size, doesn't really convey the dimensions of a tree with such a sprawling growth habit. Locally there's and American Elm - dubbed the "Grayson Elm" - which has escaped the blight and is thought to be the largest specimen still living. With that tree, DBH is a meaningful measure (BTW, just GOOGLE "Grayson Elm, Amherst MA"). It is not an easy tree to photograph because of surrounding very large maples and oaks. An image I saw on line must have been taken long ago.

[OrchidJulie]

While in Florida on that particular trip we hunted down what was reputed to be the largest known live oak. It was not as well situated for pictures as those in the images I posted.

There's another one called "Council oak" on the Seminole reservation land, it's quite large but I don't think it compares to the original one on the Scout property (Camp Mahachee)...I remember that one from scouting weekends at the camp there. It was, at the time, the largest tree I had ever seen. I really don't know any measurements for it, alas, and I haven't been able to dig up anything about it. My recollection -- from very long ago -- is that it was extremely tall and massive, not sprawling as much as many others do. You're right, though, about the horizontal branches. They are common street trees here, but the municipalities trim them to keep the lower branches above traffic. Left to themselves, they do sprawl.

[paulh]

Winter colors? Not sure what type of tree this is - I see a lot of them in parking lot islands & medians...this was taken around new years here in SoCal.

[OrchidJulie]

Winter colors? Not sure what type of tree this is - I see a lot of them in parking lot islands & medians...this was taken around new years here in SoCal.

Next time see if you can get a tighter shot of the branches -- are we looking at leaf color, flower color, or seed capsule color? There are some tropical and subtropical trees that put on displays in the winter, for sure, but without some detail I can't even begin to opine, sorry.
We have one here, commonly called "Chinese flame tree" (Koelreuteria bipinnata), that produces small yellowish flowers in the fall, and then a big display of colored seed capsules in late winter/early spring. The seed capsules are little papery things, much larger than the flowers, and from a distance it looks like the tree is covered in flowers -- ranging in color from dusky pink to orange-red. This could actually be one of these trees, can't be sure.

Many of the ones we have here produce dusky-pink capsules, and lots of them, so it looks like a flowering tree. A coworker and I puzzled for months about these trees, she had some near her house and I have some not too far from my house, so I went on a crusade to ID the "tree with dusky pink flowers". Finally tracked it down to the Koelreuteria and discovered that the "dusky pink" flowers weren't flowers at all, but the seed capsules. The flower display in fall is much less obvious.

[paulh]

Next time see if you can get a tighter shot of the branches

I'll do that. It's strange that this tree will go into Fall colors, and put on small white blooms at the same time! It reminds me a bit of the Bradford Pear trees we had in Texas.

Ok, found one, taken in Jan. 2020

[OrchidJulie]

I'll do that. It's strange that this tree will go into Fall colors, and put on small white blooms at the same time! It reminds me a bit of the Bradford Pear trees we had in Texas.

That is strange, if we're seeing colored leaves and white flowers, then I'm stumped at the moment. Stumped, but tenacious...

[WPRESTO]

That is strange, if we're seeing colored leaves and white flowers, then I'm stumped at the moment. Stumped, but tenacious...

I'm poor at tree identification (our daughter is amazingly good at it), but the small clusters of white flowers and leaf shape.remind me of some fruit trees, cherries or flowering pear.

[OrchidJulie]

I'll do that. It's strange that this tree will go into Fall colors, and put on small white blooms at the same time! It reminds me a bit of the Bradford Pear trees we had in Texas.

Ok, found one, taken in Jan. 2020

OK, thanks, will cogitate!

---------- Post added 01-19-22 at 08:46 AM ----------

I'm poor at tree identification (our daughter is amazingly good at it), but the small clusters of white flowers and leaf shape.remind me of some fruit trees, cherries or flowering pear.

I know some --- far from all! -- tropical and subtropical trees, very few temperate ones. Southern California has a mix of both, so this will take a bit of sleuthing. There are clues in Paul's second post, I need to sift them and see if I can turn up something... film at 11!

---------- Post added 01-19-22 at 09:23 AM ----------

I'll do that. It's strange that this tree will go into Fall colors, and put on small white blooms at the same time! It reminds me a bit of the Bradford Pear trees we had in Texas.

Ok, found one, taken in Jan. 2020

Maybe -- emphasis maybe -- it's a Chinese Evergreen Pear (Pyrus kawakamii). Widely planted as a street tree in SoCal. Lots of small white flowers, winter foliage is red. Typically blooms in spring, but as with most flowering plants, exact bloom time depends on local weather conditions. I don't think they're planted here, can't say I've ever seen one. Whatever it is, it's attractive!