BLOG RERUN: Dr. Jane Bowles, a great botanist, friend and mentor

This blog post was originally posted on July 30th, 2013 in memory of Dr. Jane Bowles, the Herbarium Curator and Director of the Arboretum at Western University in London, Ontario. There are very few weeks that go by that I don't think of Jane, and I've even caught myself thinking "I have no idea what this plant is; I'll ask Jane when she gets back" like she's only out for coffee or something. Gone too fast and too young; I don't think I'm alone when I say she is dearly missed.

Species name: Acacia tortilis

Common name: umbrella acacia, Israeli babool (in Swahili: mgunga, mugumba or munga)

Location: all photos from Dave's Garden (photo 1 by DMersh, photo 2 by DMersh, and photo 3 by palmbob)

You might be wondering why I'm featuring this plant in my blog today; for a full explanation you can scroll down to the bottom of this blog post past the next plant profile. Umbrella acacia trees are probably one of the first plants that come to mind when you think of Africa. They are for me at least! They have an enormous native range, reaching from the north all the way to the south of Africa and into the Middle East. When I think of the African savannah, this is by far the first tree (and sometimes the only tree; I'll be the first to admit that my African botany knowledge is quite limited!) that comes to mind.

The umbrella acacia actually looks rarely like an umbrella when grown in cultivation. Because it is so extremely drought tolerant, it is often grown in climates where the type of ecosystem that prevails for most of the year is a dry, sandy desert. Here, the umbrella acacia looks more like an acacia with a bad hair day, and is very straggly and wiry. It is only when the young seedlings are exposed to large amounts of rain that the trees end up developing into the typical umbrella-shape that is so characteristic of the African savannah. That, and grazing animals that force the tree into that shape couldn't hurt; this tree is one of the preferred food sources of giraffes. The "umbrella" of the canopy begins where the branches are just out of reach from the giraffes and everything below that point is eaten away. That's not the only animal that eats the umbrella acacia: humans have also used this tree as a source of gum arabic (added to many, many food items), and the seed pods are used for various herbal medicines. The seeds may be eaten by humans but are rich in tannins so are usually avoided (but may be used as a source of natural dye instead!), however other grazing animals like small mammals or birds eat these seeds as a rich (and rare) source of protein and fat.

There are quite a few products made from the wood of this tree, and is one of the reasons why it is grown so much in cultivation in Africa and the Middle East. The wood is very important for fine woodworking products like wagon wheels and furniture, as well as raw lumber for fenceposts and animal pens. The tabernacle, built by Israelites in the Old Testament, was also exclusively built from wood of the umbrella acacia so it has important religious significance as well. It also has very high significance to more than 20 different groups of people (either groups defined by language, linguistic dialects, country lines, or cultural beliefs), but the most important of which for the purposes of this blog post is that it's the National Tree of Kenya.

Species name: Stylophorum diphyllum

Common name: wood poppy, Celandine poppy

Location: Dave's Garden -- DaylilySLP

I think this is probably the only critically endangered wildflower species that I've ever personally seen in Ontario. When I saw it I didn't realize what it was or how important it was, so I didn't bother photographing it despite having my camera with me. Next time! There are only three populations in Ontario, which is the most northern part of its native range (which extends into the United States and is still quite limited; it is now only a small fragment of what it used to be), ranging in population size from 42 individual plants to about 270 individual plants (at last reassessment in 2007). It is a victim of land use change (converting forests to agricultural land) and invasive understory species (like garlic mustard, which you can read all about HERE), which continue to threaten the last three populations in Canada.

Wood poppies are similar to bloodroot, another native species which grows on the forest floor in southwestern Ontario (which you can read all about HERE), in that they produce a rhizome in their first year of growth, and use the sugars stored in that rhizome to produce leaves every spring. The rhizome of one plant isn't nearly as long-lived as in bloodroot, with the lifespan of the average rhizome only being about 5 years. The plant rarely produces flowers in its first year of growth (except in cultivation; it has become a popular garden plant over the last decade or so), so it is sometimes mistaken for other wildflower species during that first year. The seed pods that the plant produces are very unusual and are far larger than you would expect from a plant as small as this one (rarely growing more than 20 cm off the ground) and also share seed characteristics with bloodroot. The seeds are produced with a fleshy, fatty outer covering called an elaiosome which attracts ants. The ants take the small seeds and carry them away to their underground chambers where they use the elaiosome as a rich food source, then discard the seeds when they are finished. The seeds then germinate the next spring and grow up through the ground to produce new plants. This ant-plant dispersal relationship is called myrmecochory. Other animals, if given the chance, will also consume the seeds (seeds were found in great numbers in mouse droppings near one of the remaining populations in Ontario).

Medicinally, despite having close relatives that produce morphine and codeine, this plant has no value. It does contain some alkaloids that may prove useful in some medicinal sense in the future, but right now there is no documented medical use of this plant either currently or historically as an Native North American herbal medicine. The alkaloid cocktail in the plant is more than likely toxic to humans, so avoiding grazing on the leaves if you grow this plant in your garden would be strongly suggested. Wearing gloves when gardening around this plant is also suggested, as the sap from the plant may irritate sensitive skin.

Unfortunately, the fact that this plant is now grown in cultivation and the source of these plants is not a native source (which is actually a good thing; wild-harvesting of this plant in Canada is illegal and would be extremely detrimental to the few plants left in the wild) means there is now the risk of genetically contaminating the remaining plants. The populations in Canada had their DNA sequenced and compared to the US populations and it was shown that these three populations are genetically distinct from their American counterparts. This doesn't mean there was enough difference for them to be considered different species, but there was enough of a difference for it to be noteworthy. When the pollen of a foreign population mixes with the ova of a native population to make seeds, the foreign DNA from the pollen contaminates the native population, effectively creating "genetic hybrids" of both populations. Since plants in cultivation are usually much more susceptible to disease than their wild counterparts, this could be really bad news for our last three native populations.

_________________________________________________________________________________

So why these two plants, you might be wondering? Well, these were the two plants I could best think of to commemorate the loss of a great botanist, my friend and mentor, Dr. Jane M. Bowles.

Jane grew up in Kenya, and some of the stories she shared about her childhood there are out of this world and beyond belief for someone that has lived in Canada their whole life (can you imagine growing up with a lion living in your front yard?! Mind-boggling to me!). She went to school in England, then moved to Canada to complete her PhD in botany about sand dune ecology at Pinery Provincial Park. Since the completion of her PhD, Jane was an adjunct professor in both Biology and Geography at Western and, most recently, the curator of the herbarium and the director of the arboretum.

I first met Jane at the field station associated with Western when I was out there with my supervisor searching for fungi in the woodlot at the back of the property. My supervisor introduced Jane as the curator of the herbarium (assuming I knew what a herbarium was; I was thinking "herbari-what?!"), and we went on our merry way. It wasn't until a couple of months later that I realized that, aside from my supervisor, Jane would probably be the single most important person (well, aside from myself, too, obviously) involved in the successful completion of my PhD. I rely so heavily on herbarium loans to look at historical mushroom specimens that I would have been completely lost without her. Not to mention that Jane was universally loved and respected by all herbarium curators around the world; with her as my primary source of communication to other herbaria I would have no problem having a loan in my possession two, three, sometimes four times longer than the period of time I was actually given. If you think that's bad it's not; it's not unheard of to have herbarium loans for 10 years or more!

Over the last 6 years I would say that Jane and I had become friends. I always knew I could count on her to provide me with a laugh thanks to her biting sense of humour, I could count on her for a swift kick in the bum to get myself in gear when I asked for it, and give me some helpful tips on how not to lose my sanity along the way. I would also say that her love for plants inspired me to grow to love them (sorry for the pun...actually, not sorry. That was carefully planned!), too. She taught me about the importance of native species, and drilled into my head the dangers of invasive non-native species. She opened my eyes to a whole new world of Biology: being a naturalist, and helping preserve the world for what it currently is and not try to change it to be what we want it to become to "improve our life" (it's often too late when we realize that having a giant forest was perhaps a bit better than yet another strip mall...).

Earlier this year, Jane was diagnosed with cancer. On Saturday, July 27th 2013, Jane lost her fight at Victoria Hospital. There won't be a day that goes by where I won't think of her, not a week that goes by during the rest of my time at Western that I won't remember one of her tidbits she told me, and not a year that goes by where I won't be reminded of what an amazing lady Jane was.

Goodbye, Jane. May your memory live on, and may you continue to inspire young impressionable scientists such as myself to become one with nature forever.

Jane was known for her amazing artistic abilities; this is one of her drawings 

of the wood poppy, which she drew for her co-authored species status report 

(you can read the most recent version HERE)

Dr. Jane Bowles: a great botanist, friend, and mentor

Species name: Acacia tortilis

Common name: umbrella acacia, Israeli babool (in Swahili: mgunga, mugumba or munga)

Location: all photos from Dave's Garden (photo 1 by DMersh, photo 2 by DMersh, and photo 3 by palmbob)

You might be wondering why I'm featuring this plant in my blog today; for a full explanation you can scroll down to the bottom of this blog post past the next plant profile. Umbrella acacia trees are probably one of the first plants that come to mind when you think of Africa. They are for me at least! They have an enormous native range, reaching from the north all the way to the south of Africa and into the Middle East. When I think of the African savannah, this is by far the first tree (and sometimes the only tree; I'll be the first to admit that my African botany knowledge is quite limited!) that comes to mind.

The umbrella acacia actually looks rarely like an umbrella when grown in cultivation. Because it is so extremely drought tolerant, it is often grown in climates where the type of ecosystem that prevails for most of the year is a dry, sandy desert. Here, the umbrella acacia looks more like an acacia with a bad hair day, and is very straggly and wiry. It is only when the young seedlings are exposed to large amounts of rain that the trees end up developing into the typical umbrella-shape that is so characteristic of the African savannah. That, and grazing animals that force the tree into that shape couldn't hurt; this tree is one of the preferred food sources of giraffes. The "umbrella" of the canopy begins where the branches are just out of reach from the giraffes and everything below that point is eaten away. That's not the only animal that eats the umbrella acacia: humans have also used this tree as a source of gum arabic (added to many, many food items), and the seed pods are used for various herbal medicines. The seeds may be eaten by humans but are rich in tannins so are usually avoided (but may be used as a source of natural dye instead!), however other grazing animals like small mammals or birds eat these seeds as a rich (and rare) source of protein and fat.

There are quite a few products made from the wood of this tree, and is one of the reasons why it is grown so much in cultivation in Africa and the Middle East. The wood is very important for fine woodworking products like wagon wheels and furniture, as well as raw lumber for fenceposts and animal pens. The tabernacle, built by Israelites in the Old Testament, was also exclusively built from wood of the umbrella acacia so it has important religious significance as well. It also has very high significance to more than 20 different groups of people (either groups defined by language, linguistic dialects, country lines, or cultural beliefs), but the most important of which for the purposes of this blog post is that it's the National Tree of Kenya.

Species name: Stylophorum diphyllum

Common name: wood poppy, Celandine poppy

Location: Dave's Garden -- DaylilySLP

I think this is probably the only critically endangered wildflower species that I've ever personally seen in Ontario. When I saw it I didn't realize what it was or how important it was, so I didn't bother photographing it despite having my camera with me. Next time! There are only three populations in Ontario, which is the most northern part of its native range (which extends into the United States and is still quite limited; it is now only a small fragment of what it used to be), ranging in population size from 42 individual plants to about 270 individual plants (at last reassessment in 2007). It is a victim of land use change (converting forests to agricultural land) and invasive understory species (like garlic mustard, which you can read all about HERE), which continue to threaten the last three populations in Canada.

Wood poppies are similar to bloodroot, another native species which grows on the forest floor in southwestern Ontario (which you can read all about HERE), in that they produce a rhizome in their first year of growth, and use the sugars stored in that rhizome to produce leaves every spring. The rhizome of one plant isn't nearly as long-lived as in bloodroot, with the lifespan of the average rhizome only being about 5 years. The plant rarely produces flowers in its first year of growth (except in cultivation; it has become a popular garden plant over the last decade or so), so it is sometimes mistaken for other wildflower species during that first year. The seed pods that the plant produces are very unusual and are far larger than you would expect from a plant as small as this one (rarely growing more than 20 cm off the ground) and also share seed characteristics with bloodroot. The seeds are produced with a fleshy, fatty outer covering called an elaiosome which attracts ants. The ants take the small seeds and carry them away to their underground chambers where they use the elaiosome as a rich food source, then discard the seeds when they are finished. The seeds then germinate the next spring and grow up through the ground to produce new plants. This ant-plant dispersal relationship is called myrmecochory. Other animals, if given the chance, will also consume the seeds (seeds were found in great numbers in mouse droppings near one of the remaining populations in Ontario).

Medicinally, despite having close relatives that produce morphine and codeine, this plant has no value. It does contain some alkaloids that may prove useful in some medicinal sense in the future, but right now there is no documented medical use of this plant either currently or historically as an Native North American herbal medicine. The alkaloid cocktail in the plant is more than likely toxic to humans, so avoiding grazing on the leaves if you grow this plant in your garden would be strongly suggested. Wearing gloves when gardening around this plant is also suggested, as the sap from the plant may irritate sensitive skin.

Unfortunately, the fact that this plant is now grown in cultivation and the source of these plants is not a native source (which is actually a good thing; wild-harvesting of this plant in Canada is illegal and would be extremely detrimental to the few plants left in the wild) means there is now the risk of genetically contaminating the remaining plants. The populations in Canada had their DNA sequenced and compared to the US populations and it was shown that these three populations are genetically distinct from their American counterparts. This doesn't mean there was enough difference for them to be considered different species, but there was enough of a difference for it to be noteworthy. When the pollen of a foreign population mixes with the ova of a native population to make seeds, the foreign DNA from the pollen contaminates the native population, effectively creating "genetic hybrids" of both populations. Since plants in cultivation are usually much more susceptible to disease than their wild counterparts, this could be really bad news for our last three native populations.

_________________________________________________________________________________

So why these two plants, you might be wondering? Well, these were the two plants I could best think of to commemorate the loss of a great botanist, my friend and mentor, Dr. Jane M. Bowles.

Jane grew up in Kenya, and some of the stories she shared about her childhood there are out of this world and beyond belief for someone that has lived in Canada their whole life (can you imagine growing up with a lion living in your front yard?! Mind-boggling to me!). She went to school in England, then moved to Canada to complete her PhD in botany about sand dune ecology at Pinery Provincial Park. Since the completion of her PhD, Jane was an adjunct professor in both Biology and Geography at Western and, most recently, the curator of the herbarium and the director of the arboretum.

I first met Jane at the field station associated with Western when I was out there with my supervisor searching for fungi in the woodlot at the back of the property. My supervisor introduced Jane as the curator of the herbarium (assuming I knew what a herbarium was; I was thinking "herbari-what?!"), and we went on our merry way. It wasn't until a couple of months later that I realized that, aside from my supervisor, Jane would probably be the single most important person (well, aside from myself, too, obviously) involved in the successful completion of my PhD. I rely so heavily on herbarium loans to look at historical mushroom specimens that I would have been completely lost without her. Not to mention that Jane was universally loved and respected by all herbarium curators around the world; with her as my primary source of communication to other herbaria I would have no problem having a loan in my possession two, three, sometimes four times longer than the period of time I was actually given. If you think that's bad it's not; it's not unheard of to have herbarium loans for 10 years or more!

Over the last 6 years I would say that Jane and I had become friends. I always knew I could count on her to provide me with a laugh thanks to her biting sense of humour, I could count on her for a swift kick in the bum to get myself in gear when I asked for it, and give me some helpful tips on how not to lose my sanity along the way. I would also say that her love for plants inspired me to grow to love them (sorry for the pun...actually, not sorry. That was carefully planned!), too. She taught me about the importance of native species, and drilled into my head the dangers of invasive non-native species. She opened my eyes to a whole new world of Biology: being a naturalist, and helping preserve the world for what it currently is and not try to change it to be what we want it to become to "improve our life" (it's often too late when we realize that having a giant forest was perhaps a bit better than yet another strip mall...).

Earlier this year, Jane was diagnosed with cancer. On Saturday, July 27th 2013, Jane lost her fight at Victoria Hospital. There won't be a day that goes by where I won't think of her, not a week that goes by during the rest of my time at Western that I won't remember one of her tidbits she told me, and not a year that goes by where I won't be reminded of what an amazing lady Jane was.

Goodbye, Jane. May your memory live on, and may you continue to inspire young impressionable scientists such as myself to become one with nature forever.

Jane was known for her amazing artistic abilities; this is one of her drawings 

of the wood poppy, which she drew for her co-authored species status report 

(you can read the most recent version HERE)

RERUN: Canada's National Tree

Since today is Canada Day, I figured I should either do a post that has to do with this great country, or at the very least re-post the blog I did last year on this day. Last year's blog it is! A new blog post continuing the "Sandra's Garden" theme will be coming shortly. To keep you tied over until then, enjoy this post from Canada Day last year about the differences between sugar maples (our National tree) and Norway maples (an invasive species). Happy Dominion Day!

Species names: Acer saccharum, Acer platanoides

Common names: Sugar maple, Norway maple

Location: Ontario

Since one of these trees is native and the other is not, and there's a reason why one would be featured more prominently over the other on a wonderful day such as today, I put up the photo for a native species.

Since today is Canada Day, I figured I should probably feature our national tree, the one proudly flown every day on our flag, the sugar maple (a species that I didn't quite do justice to in this blog post). Unfortunately, the Norway maple has become almost as common as the sugar maple in Canada (if not more common in some areas) because it is, for some obscure reason, planted in preference over our native species. Perhaps it's because it doesn't succumb to the native sugar maple pests that we have, but it was also the reason why we have periodic outbreaks of the Asian longhorned beetle, its primary pest, which is decimating forests across the country. The other downside of the Norway maple is that it produces phytochemicals from its roots that deter understory growth (including grass, if you choose to plant one in your front yard), and when fully mature it can inhibit the growth of native species of trees and shrubs in a forest to such an extent that you sometimes find "Norway maple oases" where nothing else exists.

So how can you tell the difference between a native sugar maple and an invasive, non-native Norway maple? The key is in the leaves. First, if you've got a purple maple tree in your front yard you've got a Norway maple. Sugar maples have never been bred to have purple leaves, so that's a great place to start to be able to stay away from the Norway maple. Second, take a look at the lobes of the leaf, specifically the top lobe. Does it have deep groves running almost halfway down the leaf, separating the top lobe from the ones on each side of it? Or is the lobe very shallowly separated from the rest of the leaf? Shallow lobes are Norway maple leaves, deep lobes are sugar maple leaves. If you look at the second picture (sugar maple on the left, Norway maple on the right), you can also see that when you compare them side-by-side the number of teeth along the leaf's edge also differs quite a bit; the Norway maple has quite a few more teeth along each lobe where the sugar maple doesn't. Third, take a look at where the petiole (or the "leaf stalk") branches off into the main veins of the leaf. Are these veins approximately the same colour as the tissue of the leaf, or is there a drastic difference in colour? As in the third picture, veins roughly the same colour as the leaf is seen in the sugar maple, drastically different leaf main vein colouring is characteristic of the Norway maple. The last and most easy method for telling the two species apart is by breaking a leaf off the stem and looking to see what happens. Is there a white milky latex that oozes out of the petiole? Or is the base of the petiole dry? The Norway maple is the one producing latex, the sugar maple doesn't (and that latex can be irritating to the skin, so be careful!).

Now you know how to tell the two trees apart. And not to leave out my American friends, the sugar maple is also the state tree of New York, West Virginia, Vermont and Wisconsin. All four of those states have impeccable taste in trees! :)

Happy Canada Day!

The Magnificent Mango

Species name: Mangifera indica

Common name: mango, Indian mango, common mango

Location: Dominican Republic

The mango tree, the largest fruit tree in the world, is native to India and Pakistan, but was brought very early in the domestication process to the Philippines (the native mangoes to India and Pakistan were once thought to be a different species than those in the Philippines, but now we know they're the same species with different locally selected features through traditional breeding). I was under the impression that "mangoes" were a single species with some variation in fruit characteristics due to traditional breeding, but it turns out that there are over 70 species in the Mangifera genus, about 25 of which produce edible fruit that are "mangoes." The Indian mango is the most commonly grown in the world, and other species are grown on a much more localized basis. This genus is in the family Anacardiaceae, which is probably a very unfamiliar name. It will be very commonly known once you know the common name: the Cashew family. It also has some other, not so nice members: poison ivy and sumac (a very popular ornamental genus). Both of these species can produce intense skin irritation and rashes, and some people being so sensitive to poison ivy that sumac (sometimes called staghorn sumac) and mangos produce the same effect. The cashew is only the seed of the cashew apple (which does look remarkably like a mango!), so it is unlikely that someone with a hyper-sensitivity to poison ivy would have the same result with a cashew.

You'll have to excuse my poor photograph of a mango inflorescence; the wind was blowing quite hard and it was nearly impossible to get the flowers still (I was even pulling on the bottom of the branch in the photo to try to stabilize the flowers...). I hadn't had any rum that day (yet), I swear! :) The flowers are usually quite inconspicuous, but the sheer number of them make a mango tree in full flower a sight to behold. Almost the entire tree turns yellow, and the scent is also quite impressive. Each flower, if pollinated, could become a mango. Some trees produce 20 mangoes per "bunch" during their peak in productivity! With hundreds of bunches on a tree, that's a whole lot of mangoes.

Mangoes are incredibly important fruits around the world for a variety of reasons. In India and Pakistan, the fruits are not only eaten (and if you go to an Indian restaurant, count the number of dishes that contain mango in some form!) but the mango tree leaves, skin of the fruit, and fruit itself is used in their traditional herbal medicines (called ayurveda). It is believed that the mango can clear the digestive tract that is blocked due to vatta or heat. This might sound like a bunch of hogwash, but if you consider how spicy some Indian food is (in other words, contains "heat"), the addition of mangoes to that dish, or eating them on the side, has a real calming effect on the taste buds and the esophagus leading to the stomach. In North America we wouldn't give these digestive issues the same fancy terms, but if you want spicy food to taste less spicy, eat it with a mango! To Hindus, the perfectly ripe mango is regarded as a symbol of high attainment and perfection, and Lord Ganesha is often depicted holding a ripe mango in either his trunk or in one of his hands. The mango itself is the national fruit of India, Pakistan and the Philippines, while the tree is the national tree of Bangladesh.

The Royal Palm

If you were looking forward to a blog today about shamrocks, sorry to disappoint you! If I do plants associated with important dates all in the first year of my blog, I'll have nothing left to blog about in future years! So you'll have to be satisfied with a different green object for today :)

Species name: Roystonea sp.

Common name: Royal palm

Location: Dominican Republic

The royal palm is one of the most instantly recognizable, and arguably one of the most beautiful, palms around the world. It is native to Central and South America, as well has having a "hyper-diversity" of species in the Caribbean Islands. In countries where it is native, there is usually only one species native to each country with the exception of Jamaica which has two native species of Roystonea, and Cuba which has five native species. The tree is recognized by its green leaf sheathes which encircle the tree at the top and its concrete-like stem (much more pronounced as the tree matures and loses the leaf sheath scars). As the leaves mature, they are easily sheared off by the wind. They are also easily cut off from the tree and used as roofing material for thatched roof houses or huts. There are approximately 20 species in the genus, and other than extreme examples like R. violacea with its purple stem, they are almost impossible to distinguish unless you pay close attention to flower morphology.

The royal palm has many uses throughout the Caribbean and Central/South America, not the least of which is as a coffee substitute. The seeds to not contain the caffeine that is naturally present in coffee beans, but it does have a very similar flavour when roasted. It makes me wonder why it is not used more often as decaf coffee! The men that pick the ripened fruit of the royal palm have special training starting from when they are very young (and much more fearless than the average adult male) to teach them how to properly climb the trees. By the time they are in early adulthood, they are able to climb a 20 meter tall royal palm very quickly with bare feet and only a rope for assistance. A machete is used to cut the stalk that all of the fruit is attached to (very similar to a bunch of grapes), and the fruit bundle is carefully lowered to the ground with the assistance of a second rope. The wood-like material of the stem of the royal palm is used as a building material, and the "heart" of the palm (when the plant has only started producing its first few leaves, the plant is cut at the soil surface and carefully peeled apart to reveal the young, tender area responsible for the upward growth and the production of new leaves. This is called the palm "heart") is used as a source of food. The hearts of palm we buy in North America in cans in the grocery store is highly unlikely to be from the royal palm; it is more likely to be from the coconut palm or the jucara (also called the palmito, Euterpe edulis). The tree also serves a huge cultural significance in Cuba; it is their national tree. It is said that for every citizen of Cuba there are at least three royal palm trees!

The royal palm is also very important as an ornamental species in the Caribbean, and not just because of its beauty. The tree also has a hidden secret that you wouldn't know until it was pointed out to you: it is a natural lightning rod. The new leaves are produced from the middle of the bundle of leaves and sticks straight up towards the sky until it starts unfurling. This single palm frond can make the tree significantly taller than a lot of hotel buildings, and almost twice the height of the average beach hut. When you walk around hotel grounds in tropical countries, look for trees that are very tall but have no leaves on top. Those have almost certainly been struck by lightning and lost all of its leaves, but leaving the very tough stem still standing.

The English French Oak, or the French English Oak

Species name: Quercus robur

Common name: English oak, French oak

Location: Ontario

Luckily, given the common name, this plant is native to most of Europe and parts of North Africa. I'm glad I didn't have to come up with some kind of creative way to explain why it's named the way it is! Despite being a common natural species in European woodlands, it has never truly made its way into North America as a popular ornamental plant unlike the many others that have. North Americans will see this plant in the odd garden, but it never achieves great height here so is not planted as a shade tree; that's one of the qualities that makes for a popular non-native ornamental tree. Fast growth to provide shade quickly, and growing to be a large size to provide shade across a large area.

In Europe this species is commonly planted for lumber use, as it produces very hard heartwood with a desirable grain pattern. It is used most often in fine furniture, and is also sometimes used in hardwood flooring. As an ornamental there have been about 15 hybrids created for various desirable characteristics, from dwarf characteristics to a "creeping" stature similar to a weeping willow.

As a symbol, this tree is very important across much of Europe. In Britain, it is the national emblem and is often used by the royal family as an emblem (where it gets another of its common names, the Royal oak). The Royal Oak is the name of 547 different pubs across Britain (all owned by different people!), and has been the name of at least eight Royal Navy ships. There is a rather famous specimen of this tree (sometimes referred to as the Carroll Oak) growing at Birr Castle in Ireland that is 6.5 m in circumference, and is estimated to be over 400 years old! That's an old tree.

The Angel Oak

Species name: Quercus virginiana

Common name: live oak, southern live oak

Location: South Carolina; photo #1 from HERE, photo #s 2-4 from HERE

Since today is Independence Day in the United States, I figured that, like for Canada Day, I would profile the national tree of the US for today's blog. Unfortunately, I don't have any other spectacular pictures of oak trees other than the ones I've already posted so I had to resort to the internet. I have heard of this rather iconic tree in Charleston, South Carolina and after seeing the photos of this tree I really want to go see it in person! It's called the Angel Oak, and (thankfully) it's a native species of oak to the southeastern US called the live oak or southern live oak (since the common name "live oak" applies to many species of oak in North America, South America and Europe). This species is also iconic to the southern United States, being the tree of choice to line roadways in Georgia, Louisiana, South Carolina, and Florida. It is an evergreen tree in most areas of its range (the further north the more likely the tree is to lose its leaves in the fall, and the further south the more likely the tree is to lose its leaves during the driest months in the summer) with dark green, glossy leaves that look nothing like what you would typically think of as an oak leaf. They have almost a smooth border with no lobes, and look very much like a leaflet of a willow tree; long and quite narrow. They do form the characteristic acorn of the Quercus genus, so that should give away that it's an oak at first glance.

The Angel Oak is a single tree that is estimated to be between 350 and 400 years old, so it was an adolescent (as far as "tree years" go) when the United States gained their independence from Great Britain in 1776. Despite providing shade for almost 17,000 square feet of parkland, it's only about 65 feet tall! One of the defining characteristics of the southern live oak is it's short stature compared to its outward growth (the longest limb of the Angel Oak is 105 feet long).

How this tree obtained its common name is up for debate, and which story you believe has more to do with folklore and if you believe in ghosts than anything else. It has been said that the oak is growing on the former Angel estate, but the borders of that estate land have been recently disputed, and the border of the estate may or may not include the tree. The other story behind the name is that the Angel family heavily employed slave labor on their farm and now the ghosts of the slaves gather around the tree. Regardless of how the tree got its name, it has become one of the most popular tourist attractions in Charleston. Not bad for a tree!

Happy Independence Day to all my American readers!