Canadian Hemlock

For some time I have been on the lookout for a Canadian Hemlock, Tsuga canadensis, wishing to add to the list of conifers. And here it is, just up the road from me. I'm getting the feeling that I can choose a very small area and achieve a good representative ecosystem of the lake environment. Perhaps some differentiation to come will be by forest, lowland, swamp, and lake shore.

Also known as the Eastern Hemlock, this graceful evergreen is monoecious, that is having both pollen and seed cones on the same tree. Sexual maturity comes at about 20 years of age and these trees are known to live for 150 to 200 years.

I had the special satisfaction while researching this specimen that I could find reproductive information only from within my library. John Eastman's Forest and Thicket had four pages of details on this tree! Nothing readily Googleable. This reduces the guilt of book buying while increasing Amazon's profit. And, I'm doing my part to stimulate the economy! Makes sense to me.

Cones Concluded

I made it to that clump of Red Cedars just at sunset. Noticing that some trees were without female cones, I bounded through a snowbank in pursuit of a male cone. No matter where I looked, I could not find even one. I checked the ground in case they'd dropped. Nada. I broke off a small branch to later assure myself that these were all Red Cedars. Sure enough, the branches were squared off nicely, indicating Red and not White Cedar.

Back home, while looking closely at my branch, I noticed some tips were browned and rather different from the greened tips. Cones! Here were the male cones! They are absolutely tiny and really just look like the end of a branch.

Now for a bit of botanical terminology. Cones are known as strobili (plural, that is). The male cone is called the microstrobilus or pollen cone, while the female is the megastrobilus, seed cone, or ovulate cone.

Conifers and Cones

Here's a young Red Cedar to bring us in on a clarification of cones. It seems that the 'berries' illustrated in an earlier Red Cedar post might better be called cones. Whether male or female, it's common to refer to conifer reproductive components as cones. Cones for conifers. Makes sense. Of course, like anything else, there are exceptions. The berry-like female cones of the yew are called arils.

I'm familiar with Eastern White Pine and Pitch Pine female cones but I never really considered genders. Now that I think about it, I do remember the White Pine's male cones. When the wind blows, the pollen can come off in thick yellow clouds.

The Red Cedars are dioecious--there are separate male and female plants. I'll be on the lookout for a male Red Cedar. I remember seeing a group about twelve feet tall and I think only some of them had female cones.

Plant biology is so interesting! Here are a couple of books from my library that are extremely informative and entertaining:

Plant Form by Adrian D. Bell with drawings by Alan Bryan. The line drawings are absolutely wonderful--beautiful detail with stippling that I admire so much. There is also a lot of excellent photography by the author.

Introductory Plant Biology by Kingsley R. Stern. I don't know that I'll ever get through it all but there are plenty of color photos and illustrations.

Red Cedar

It's cold! When will the temperature move above freezing? Maybe in a few days, when more snow comes in.

I guess that's my segue to excuses why I don't have more and better photo material. I am simply not into clambering over snowbanks in the cold! Okay, with the grumbling over... ;-)

Here's a shot of yesterday's cedar, nestled under an Eastern White Pine. I've read that this cedar, loaded with berries, is a female. The males have tiny tan colored pollen structures. Today I spotted quite a few Red Cedars around the lake but didn't get close enough to determine gender. I find it so entertaining that when I gain a new identification, that I can then find so many examples of that specie.

I am humbled when I look across a section of the lake's shoreline and realize how few species I can identify. I wonder just how many there will be when I feel that I'm closing in on the whole environment? I can't even begin to guess!

Red Cedar

Here are some berries on a branch of Eastern Red Cedar, Juniperus virginiana. From a distance, the berries have a bluish bloom but close up (~5x) we can see the color variations.

I wasn't sure if this was White or Red cedar as I remember only knowing the difference from heartwood coloration. Now I know that Red will have squared evergreen scaly twigs while White's will be more flattened. The twigs are quite small and an easy trick is to roll them between the fingers. Also, Red has the berries we see here while White has some little cones instead.

I didn't have my camera with me when I took this sample so a full tree shot will be forthcoming.

I am wondering why these berries are still around. Do the local birds not care for them? Will the migrants like them?

Macro Testing

Here's a closeup of a white pine bud shot with my new macro lens. Holding up the actual bud against my monitor screen, this shot comes out about five times actual size.

I used to shoot macro back in the seventies and all this new digital technology sure eases the process. But, nothing come without cost. It's been an evening of learning how to use CF card readers and installing drivers until finally finding a level of compatibility for RAW files with Photoshop Elements 5.0 and the Canon 50d.

Now I can spend more time on efficient workflows and smoothing out my macro techniques. But for tonight, I'll quit while I'm ahead!

Eastern White Pine

It's time for a spot of color!

Here is the Eastern White Pine, Pinus strobus, the tallest tree in Eastern North America, with records of this creature reaching heights of 180 feet.

What we have here is a terminal bud on the lowest reaching branch of a nearby youngster. What's to be expected when collecting in the dark? With the weekend coming and weather permitting, I hope to stock up on specimens for later photos and research.