The first observation I posted to iNaturalist was this Sycamore (https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/20476571). Four years later, it's still here (and this is my observation # 4184).
This is supposedly the last wild Sycamore in Prince Edward County (although I hope there are a few more away from a road somewhere). When I was first shown this tree, it wasn't alone - there were trunks accounting for five trees in this grove, and while some had died, at least one other was still alive at that time.
So when I visited the tree in 2018, and every time I've seen it since, it didn't have any seeds that I could see. I've been worried that this tree might join its former compatriots without any replacements - which would mean local extinction. This time, happily, it had a few - at least 5 seed balls. That's not much, but that's not zero either. Keep on keepin' on, Buttonwood.
On corticated hardwood branch that was attached to a living tree (Frangula alnus) tiny erumpent cup fungi. Apothecia are up to 0.8mm in diameter, almost black.
Asci IKI+R, 4-spored.
Ascospores subfusiform with 3-septa. Old spores were slightly pigmented.
Paraphyses filiform with top part greenish-brownish.
Sunning themselves on a south-facing ledge of my office building
Lifer for me, and as far as I can tell, the first record from the Le Pinacle subpopulation in quite a while. Last few pictures are habitat shots.
This may seem like a lot of photos, but this is an impressive old-growth tree, and I wanted to try and convey how huge and impressive it is. (In a Strong Bad voice: the majesty. Points if you understand the reference.)
Also - you may notice some of the pictures are a smashed log with a pile of butternuts. Yes, that is related. In some of the wide shots of the tree's form, look for a thick, low lateral branch that has been torn off. There are a lot of (relatively) healthy Butternuts here and also a lot of Red Squirrels. The working theory is one of those squirrels made a very ambitious and delicious cache, the weight of which became too great for the hollow branch.
Remarquez les bourgeons foliaires sont allongés et pointus. Les écailles des bourgeons sont pubescentes, mais avec une bordure glabre, comme ici : https://www.pierrebedard.uqam.ca/bourgeons/Ulmus%20Thomasii/Ulmus%20Thomasii.html . J’ai déjà photographié cet orme liège, le 2 mars 2023 : https://inaturalist.ca/observations/150096353 et le 5 mai 2023 : https://inaturalist.ca/observations/160075969
Spécimens qui seront utilisés lors de la Nuit des chercheuses et des chercheurs, le 10 novembre à la Biosphère de Montréal. Nous ferons des tests avec l’outil d’aide à l’identification d’iNaturalist.
Je ferai équipe avec @apdp, au kiosque des sciences participatives (iNaturalist), à la salle 2, de 21h30 à 23h30.
Programmation complète : https://calendrier.espacepourlavie.ca/la-nuit-des-chercheuses-et-des-chercheurs-943033
Not far from a known location. A small tree (or cluster of trees?) That looks really good for rock elm [to me]. Painfully sharp huge buds, fairly symmetric leaf bases, branches that come out right at 90 degrees, and the start of corky wings at the junction of the truck and branches. Tree was in the shade so the lack of corky branches is not unusual. Leaf texture felt a little on the thick and rough side of what I have seen but seemed reasonable.
Look at that beautiful view. I came looking for rock elm and learned so much.
Well established on a rock (limestone) and spreading onto an adjacent cedar log.
Kirkup Woods Tract
Possible EZS track found on Ulmus americana: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/181158484
Remnant Rock Elm on a limestone upland that is now part of the NRC campus. A seam of bedrock is visible in one of the photos.
On a leaf identified by the landowner as Ulmas rubra rather than U. americana.
First location found in West Milton having both an Elm tree and a safe place to stop my car in the road.
After a lot of hem and hawing I made a "what else could it be" ID on this.
I annotated the Evidence of Presence for this as "Gall", although it's not really what we're looking at. If others have another view of what is appropriate, please weigh in.
Six (6).
Elm Zigzag Sawfly (Aproceros leucopoda) on Ulmus americana.
Out of a "thousand" of the upper canopy leaves photographed,
damage in one leaf can be attributed to Aproceros leucopoda.
c.f. https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/180157836
.
Two additional photos from the same tree added on 27 Aug.
Feeding damage from elm zigzag sawfly.
Update: this tree has now been cut down :( unrelated though I would hope !
Could this be a Eurasian species? Can anyone ID this to speices without flowers or fruit? Estimated 8m tall individual found in a floodplain. Others found in swamp and moist soil and along a creek. Note the glandular hairs on petioles and twigs.
@owenclarkin is this right? The grafting, thin bark, and pruned structure is throwing me off.
Salix daphnoides is accepted as an introduced plant in Alberta by the Database of Vascular Plants of Canada, Flora of N. America, and Plants of the World Online:
https://data.canadensys.net/vascan/name/Salix%20daphnoides
http://floranorthamerica.org/Salix_daphnoides
https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:777425-1
This shrub is growing in a sheltered position on the east side of an apartment building; the damage you can see around the base is likely from our local herd of deer.
-stems are strongly glaucous
-old leaf back also appears glaucous
-stipules of old leaves are fused to the leaf petiole
-petiole is shallowly-grooved adaxially
-juvenile leaves densely long silky abaxially
-adaxial nectary is squared
I will post more observations of this plant over the course of the year.
Update: here are more photos, about 2 weeks later, not much different but better shots of the stipules adnate to expanded petiole bases:
https://inaturalist.ca/observations/112315115
Another update: same plant in mid-May, no seed produced:
https://inaturalist.ca/observations/117738571
@schmeather
50-60cm diameter
Mt Pleasant cemetery, London
Same tree as https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/109785676
Two of these trees next to each other. This is the larger of the two. They are both outside people's property, so I'm assuming wild. There were also a couple of Eastern White Pines at the same spot - so this was a little conifer oasis. Perhaps these were planted by flying squirrels, which prefer conifers to hardwoods.
Needles flat, hard to roll between fingers. Dark green, with two white lines on the underside. Tips of needles are rounded, not sharp. Needles are attached directly to twigs via a sort of suction cups.
Cones observed through binoculars
Soil over rock. Costate/elimbate, rhizoids smooth, setae in axillary branches, laminal cells smaller than F. adianthoides (FNA states 7-10um vs. 10-20, Crum 2004 states 6-12um vs. 9-20um), pale margin quite distinct. I couldn't find any bistratose areas in cross section (thought I saw some at one point, but I accidentally lost it when I tried to readjust), however my sections were not very good and I only got a few. Cells appeared to bulge.
On an Ash tree. The flying squirrels have an amazing ability to glide from tree to tree, sometimes distances more than a 100 feet at a time and speeds upwards to 20 mph. They are able to glide thanks to a skin flap, called the patagium, that connects their wrists to their ankles. The squirrel pushes off a tree and spreads its limbs, forming a square shape with the patagium, effectively turning itself into a sort of a parachute! A cartilaginous “wing tip” on each wrist allows the squirrel to achieve great stability and to reduce drag. Many airplanes have the ability to bend their wing tips upwards for the same reason. There are many species of the flying squirrel around the world, but only three are native to North America - the Northern flying squirrel (Glaucomys sabrinus), the Southern flying squirrel (Glaucomys volans) and Humboldt’s flying squirrel (G. oregonensis). I believe the species that I saw is the Southern flying squirrel, which lives in the eastern part of the United States, inhabiting deciduous and mixed woods. The Northern flying squirrel tends to live in coniferous and mixed coniferous forests, in parts of the northern United States and in most of Canada. Its range overlaps a bit with the Southern flying squirrel, and both can be found in New York State. However, the place where I saw this squirrel in Queens doesn’t have many conifers, so I’m assuming it’s the Southern species not the Northern. The Northern species is also darker in color than the one I saw. The Southern flying squirrel is an omnivore and will eat such things as seeds, buds, flowers, nuts, insects, mycorrhizal fungi, eggs, nesting birds and carrion. All three of the North American species are known to fluoresce a pink color under UV light!
LOL the label. So many cultivated oaks are mislabeled, even when the sign is more permanent than this.
Leaves scabrous, large teeth. Old leaves chocolate brown. Bark smooth with many lenticels.
Asymmetrical leaf base. Doubly serrate leaf margins. The top surface of leaf is glabrous/smooth, dark green and shiny, with parallel veins terminating in the tips of teeth, not the notches in between teeth. The abaxial surface is a lighter green, with some hairs visible on the veins under magnification. Small samaras, about 1/4 inch diameter, with seed in the center, growing in plentiful clusters. The samaras have a ciliate margin and a notch on one end.
Bunch galls on Ulmus americana
The tree OB is here:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/78177012