Broadleaf Mistletoe - Phoradendron spp.

  Broadleaf Mistletoe (Phoradendron spp.) is an evergreen plant that is parasitic in nature, it grows freely on a variety of large landscape trees. Some deciduous host trees of broadleaf mistletoe include Apple, Ash, Birch, Boxelder, Cottonwood, Locust, Maple, Oaks Walnut and Zelkova to name a few. Conifers are not found to often be host of the Broadleaf variety, but can host the dwarf varieties.

Mistletoe plants often develop in rounded form and can reach upwards of two feet in diameter. The plants develop small whitish colored berries that are sticky to the touch. Mistletoe plants are leafy and evergreen becoming most visible in the winter when the deciduous host trees have dropped their leaves. The plants are either female (berry producers) or male (pollen producing only). Many birds feed on the berries and excrete the living seeds which stick to any branch they land on. Older and large trees are often the first to be infested because birds prefer to perch on higher limbs. The down side of this is a heavy build up of mistletoe is most likely to occur in these same larger trees as the birds enjoy feeding on the berries of the mature Mistletoe plants. Often times growths in the upper branches will drop seeds to the lower sections below, spreading the growth even more. Dwarf Mistletoe does not spread in the same way as Broadleaf, instead it's seeds are forcibly discharged from the fruit, dispersing up to 40 feet away.

Image Citations (Photos 1 & 2): Paul A. Mistretta, USDA Forest Service, Bugwood.org

Once a seed is in place the seed will germinate, during this time it will begin to grow through the bark of the tree and into the tree's water conducting tissues. Within the tissues, structures similar to roots form, they are called haustoria. Haustoria will spread as the parasitic bush grows and spread. Young growths are slow growing and may take years before they bloom for the first time, their succulent stems become woody over time at the base of each growth. Even if an entire visible growth is removed from it's host plant, it will often resprout directly from the haustoria that is embedded into the host. On the other hand dwarf mistletoe is not woody when mature and is segmented with small scale-like leaves.

Mistletoe can be harmful to a tree that is already weakened but generally does not harm normal, healthy trees. It is possible for individual limbs and branches from healthy trees to become weak or die back. In instances of heavy infestation the entire tree may be stunted, weakened or killed if there are other factors such as disease or drought.

The most effective way to control mistletoe is to remove the infested branches, this will eliminate the haustoria which will prevent re-sprouting. Infested branches must be cut at least 1-2 feet from the base of attachment to be sure you are removing all of the haustoria from the inner tissues of the host. In cases of heavy infestation it may be recommended to remove the entire tree as you can not safely remove more then a portion of the trees crown without causing severe damage or death to the tree itself. If you are not able to prune the tree to eliminate the growth, completely removing the visible mistletoe growth annually will often help limit the spread as only mature growths can produce seeds.

More Cool Tree Facts: www.ArundelTreeService.com or  follow our blog:  www.MeetaTree.com

White Pines - Pinus strobus

  White Pines - Pinus strobus are a large growing evergreen with blue-green needles that are generally 2 1/2-5 inches long.  The needles grow very densely on the branches.  Pines are different from other conifers/evergreens, their needles grow in sheathed groups of 2,3 or 5.  It is a tall tree with straight gray-brown trunk and horizontal growing branches.  The cones are small and slender rarely growing longer then 3-6 inches.  White Pines can live on average 200-250 years although there are a few recorded to be over 400 years old.  Growing about 3 feet per year between the ages of 15-45, but at a slower rate in the juvenille and mature stages before and after that point-they can reach heights well over 150 feet tall, one record holder came in at 207 feet (The Boogerman Pine).  

The White Pine has a very wide growth range from the North Eastern United States through Southeastern Canada, this is the only five needled Pine that grows East of the Rocky Mountains.  Another five needled Pine found in the United States is the Sugar Pine, this is only found in the West. Thought to have originally covered most of the Eastern United States, there are only 1% of the original old growth forests remaining, after the extensive logging operations that occured in the early 20th century.  It is found in the neartic temperate broadleaf and mixed forests biome of Eastern North America.  Prefering well drained/sandy soils and humid climate, it also performs well in boggy areas and rocky highlands.  This tree towers over most others including many broadleaf hardwoods and provides food and shelter to many small mammals and numerous forest birds.

   

Image Citations (Photo 1 & 2): Steven Katovich, USDA Forest Service, Bugwood.org

Meet More Trees: www.ArundelTreeService.com or www.MeetaTree.com

Why do we decorate a tree for Christmas?

 The custom of the Christmas tree developed in early modern Germany with predecessors that can be traced to the 16th and possibly even the late 15th century. Customs of erecting decorated trees in wintertime can be traced to Christmas celebrations in Renaissance-era guilds in Northern Germany and Livonia. Fir trees have been traditionally used to celebrate winter festivals by both Pagan's and Christian's for thousands of years. Pagans used Fir branches to decorate their homes during the winter solstice, as it reminded them to think ahead to Spring. The Romans used Fir Trees to decorate their temples at the festival of Saturnalia. Christians use it as a sign of everlasting life with God. A Christmas tree is a decorated tree, usually an evergreen conifer such as pine or fir, traditionally associated with the celebration of Christmas.

Image Citation: Amy Gilliss, Arundel Tree Service

Each year, 33 to 36 million Christmas trees are produced in America, and 50 to 60 million are produced in Europe. In 1998, there were about 15,000 growers in America (a third of them are "choose and cut" farms, which allow buyers to select their tree before cutting it down). In that same year, it was estimated that Americans spent $1.5 billion on Christmas trees. Some trees referred to as living Christmas trees, are sold live with roots and soil, often from a nursery, to be stored in planters or planted later outdoors and enjoyed (and often decorated) for years or decades to come. In the past, Christmas trees were often harvested from wild forests, but now almost all are commercially grown on tree farms. Almost all Christmas trees in the United States are grown on Christmas tree farms where they are cut after about ten years of growth and then new trees are planted to begin the cycle again. Christmas trees are a large attraction for small mammals, birds and spiders as they provide nesting and shelter.

Though the why of decorating a Christmas tree may remain the same, the ways to go about doing it are limitless. Today you are not just limited to a classic evergreens with white or multi colored lights.  Artificial trees have become very popular over the last few decades and are considered by most to be more enviromentally friendly (until they end up in landfills at least...).  You can now purchase thousands of different sizes, colors, styles, themes and materials of artificial trees some even come with built in lights.   For those of us who are a bit more tech savvy, lights can even be programmed to music and come in colors beyond the basic rainbow. The options are as endless as our imaginations, maybe this year your family will out-decorate the Griswold family!  ;-)

More Cool Tree Facts www.ArundelTreeService.com or follow our blog www.MeetATree.com

Red Spruce - Picea rubens

  The Red Spruce - Picea rubens is a small-mid sized tree that can reach 50-80 feet tall. Red Spruce is a long lived tree that can live to be well over 400 years old. Red Spruce can be found growing from Canada in the North through North Carolina, Tennessee and Georgia in the South. The branches on the Red Spruce are close in proximity to one another, growing straight out from the trunk and gently sweeping upward near the ends. The wood of Red Spruce is light in color and weight, straight grained, and resilient. This type of lumber is used for making paper, construction lumber, and stringed musical instruments.

Image Citation: Keith Kanoti, Maine Forest Service, Bugwood.org

Red Spruce is moneocious, with male and female flower buds occurring on the same tree but different branches, each year in May. The pendant male flowers are bright red while the female flowers are erect and bright green in color with a hint of purple. The seeds are small and winged, borne in cones. Cones mature from about mid-September to early October, the autumn following flowering. Cones are 1.3 - 1.5 in long, light red-brown, with rigid, rounded scales that are slightly toothed on the edges. Cones are receptive to pollen only when fully open, a condition which lasts briefly for only a few days. The needles are easily identified, they are shiny yellow-green on all sides and point out in all directions very much like porcupine quills. The needles are stiff 3/8 - 5/8 inch long, sharply pointed, four sided and awe shaped.

Image Citation: Georgette Smith, Canadian Forest Service, Bugwood.org

Meet more trees on our website www.ArundelTreeService.com or follow our blog https://arundeltreeservice.meetatree.com/

Atlantic White Cedar - Chamaecyparis thyoides

  The Atlantic White Cedar - Chamaecyparis thyoides is a small cedar with irregular rounded cones.  It is also known regionally as the Post Cedar or the Swamp Cedar.  It is a member of the Cupressaceae (Cypress) Family.  A monoecious evergreen tree that grows to up to 120 feet tall on rare occasions but averages 40-60 feet tall.  It generally appears with a single straight trunk and spire shaped crown.  The tree mostly occurs in bogs and swamps or in highly acidic soils, they also form pure stands within forests dominated by other species.  It appears naturally along the Atlantic coastal plain from Maine to South Carolina and along the Gulf Coast Plain from Florida to Mississippi. 

Image Citations (Photos 1-3): Karan A. Rawlins, University of Georgia, Bugwood.org

The bark is flaky at first becoming a red-brown with age, often furrowing into long spirals with thin peeling strips.  The branches become fan shaped sprays with age that are flattened.   The leaves are scale like and slightly overlapping often with a small rounded resin gland, the stomata form a white X on the lower surface.  The seeds appear in cones, they are rounded but generally not symmetrical.  When mature the cones are relatively small only 4-9 mm wide and long.  They are either bluish-purple to reddish-brown, glaucous, not very resinous and made up of 6-8 woody scales. The cones mature and open within 1 year, within the cones the seeds occur 1-2 per scale and are 2-3 mm long with a narrow wing.  It is monoecious, but the staminate and pistillate flowers are produced on separate shoots.  The flowers appear in the summer but are so small they often are unnoticed by the untrained eye, they remain on the tree untill late fall or early winter.

The Atlantic White Cedar has become a very popular ornamental, with over thirty cultivars on the market today. The climate throughout most of the range of Atlantic White Cedar is classed as humid but varies widely in all other aspects. It is recommended for hardiness zones 3a-8b.  Average annual precipitation needed is 40 to 64 in and is best distributed throughout the year. The frost-free season required for optimum growth is 140 to 305 days. Temperature extremes range from -36° F during Maine's winter to highs of over 100° F during the Summer seasons in the Southern range.  It is often times confused with other similar appearance trees such as the Arborvitae (Thuja occidentolis) which also has branches forming fan like sprays and the Port Oxford Cedar (Chamaecyparis lawsoniana) an ornamental found commonly in the East.  The wood is very light and decay resistant but has not been logged heavily since the 20th century. 

Meet More Trees on our Website: www.ArundelTreeService.com or Follow our blog: www.MeetATree.com

Common Hackberry - celtis occidentalis

  The Common Hackberry - celtis occidentalis, is a deciduous tree or sometimes large shrub.  It grows primarily in an erect upright fashion with a single trunk and low branching, rounded, broad crown.  The branching habit of the Hackberry can range from slender and horizontal to zig-zag or irregular.  It is native to stream banks, flood plains, wooded hillsides and often found in areas that are moist from 0-1800 m.  In the North they can be found from Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba and Maine, in the South from North Carolina, Georgia and Alabama, West through Wyoming, Colorado, Arkansas, Northern Oklahoma and Northern Texas.  

Most easily recognized by the combination of alternate, simply shaped leaves that are 3-14 cm long and coarsely toothed and the hard rounded single stoned drupe.  The bark is light brown ans silvery gray, divided into narrow ridges with corky wart like growths.  The leaves are alternate, simple, thin, leathery and either broadly ovate, ovate-lanceolate or triangular in shape.  The leaf tips are usually abruptly pointed and the edges are coarsely toothed from mid-blade to the tip.  The upper leaf surface is light green or blue-green and the lower is a paler green.  The flower is greenish in color and tiny, 5 sepals and absent of petals, found in the Spring growing solitary on the axils of the upper leaves.  The fruit is an ellipsoid or rounded single stoned orange-red or purple drupe, with a cream colored stone, maturing in the Fall and shriveling but persisting through winter.

T. Davis Sydnor, The Ohio State University, Bugwood.org

The Hackberry is recommended for hardiness zones 3-9 and is considered both a shade tree and an ornamental.  On average the Hackberry reaches heights of 40-60 feet tall and the same broad, maximum recorded heights are upwards of 115 feet tall.  It is a fast grower and can gain 12-24 inches in height per year.  Hackberry fruit is a popular food for Winter Birds including the Cedar Waxwing, Mockingbird and Robin.  The tree also is very attractive to many butterfly species including, Comma, Hackberry, Mourning Cloak, Tawny Emperor, Question Mark, and American Snout.

Meet more trees at www.ArundelTreeService.com or https://arundeltreeservice.meetatree.com/

Mountain (Fraser) Magnolia - Magnolia fraseri

  The Mountain (Fraser) Magnolia - Magnolia fraseri is most easily identified by the combination of gray colored trunk, leaves that are eared near the base and hairless buds and twigs. It is also referred to in some areas as the Mountain Magnolia.  Native to rich woods and cove forests from 300-1520 m, this species is confined mostly to the Southern Appalachians, found in Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee and Northern Georgia. It is similar in appearance to the Pyramid Magnolia and is often only distinguished by the native range and habitat.

Chris Evans, University of Illinois, Bugwood.org

The Fraser Magnolia is a deciduous tree that reaches heights of about 80 feet tall. It grows in an upright and erect form with either a single or multiple trunks, the crown is spreading, irregular and most often high branching. The bark is gray to gray-brown in color and smooth or just slightly roughened, sometimes it is compared to concrete in appearance. The leaves are produced in whorl like clusters near each branch tip, they are simply shaped, ovate or nearly spatulate (spoon shaped). The leaves are broadest near the tip becoming more narrow closer to the base which is eared. The upper leaf surface is green and hairless, while the lower is paler in color. The entire leaf becomes a coppery brown at maturity. The flower is creamy white in color, 16-22 cm in diameter, fragrant and showy usually with 9 tepals each occurring in late Spring annually. The fruit is in a cone like form, shaped like a small cucumber, ranging in size from 6-13 cm long. Fruit is green when young, changing to pink when mature. Once mature each fruit splits to reveal bright red seeds that are 7-10 mm long. Fruit matures in late Summer or early Fall each year.

Image Citation: William M. Ciesla, Forest Health Management International, Bugwood.org

Meet more trees on our website www.ArundelTreeService.com or follow our blog https://arundeltreeservice.meetatree.com/

Turkey Oak - Quercus laevis

  The Turkey Oak - Quercus laevis is most easily identified by the small stature in combination with it's twisted petioles, some leaves that are tri-lobed almost resembling a turkey footprint and dry sandy habitat.  It is a small deciduous that grows in a typically upright fashion with a narrow crown.  It is native to deep, well drained sandy ridges and sunny hammocks.  The trees growth range is limited to only Virginia to Louisiana and Florida. The Turkey Oak covers over 9-10 million acres of land in Florida. It is very similar in appearance to the Southern Red Oak.

Image Citation: Nancy Loewenstein, Auburn University, Bugwood.org

The bark is dark gray to nearly black in color with vertical ridges.  The leaves are alternate and simply shaped, broadly elliptic, with 3-7 lobes each.  Upper surface lustrous yellow-green, hairless, lower surface varies from pale green to a rust color.  In the fall the leaves become scarlet-red or almost brown in color.  Named for some of the tri-lobed leaves that resemble a Turkey foot.  

Image Citation: Chris Evans, University of Illinois, Bugwood.org

The Turkey Oak is not commercially grown as it is not important because of it's size, but it is close grained, hard and heavy.  It is recommended for hardiness zones 6-9.  The wood is considered excellent fuel and is used very widely as firewood.  The bark and twigs contain valuable materials for tanning leather. 

Meet more trees www.ArundelTreeService.com or follow our blog https://arundeltreeservice.meetatree.com/ 

Eugenia (Stoppers) - Eugenia

  The genus Eugenia  (Stoppers) - Eugenia is made up of approximately 1000 species distributed throughout the tropical areas worldwide.  Only six species occur in North America.  Four of these species are considered to be native and 5 are found only in the far South-Eastern portion of the United States.  The five species found in North America are Eugenia axillaris, Eugenia foetida, Eugenia confusa, Eugenia uniflora, and Eugenia rhombea.  The Eugenia/Stoppers are evergreen shrubs or trees with opposite, simply shaped, leathery leaves.  The flowers are generally bisexual with 4 petals and 4 sepals each, they can be found clustered or individually depending on the species.  The fruit is in the form of a rounded berry with either 1 or 2 seeds, the top of each berry appears to have a crown shape from the remains of the calyx. 

Image Citation (Eugenia brasiliensis fruit) Cesar Calderon, USDA APHIS PPQ, Bugwood.org

The White Stopper - Eugenis axillaris, is most easily identified by the combination of opposite leaves with an acute tip and dotted underside, short fruit  and flower stalks.  It is native to the coastal hammocks from North Carolina through the Florida Keys.  The White Stopper is considered to be the most common Stopper in Florida.

The Boxleaf Stopper - Eugenis foetida, is most easily identified by the combination of opposite, oblanceolate or obvate leaves with rounded tips and tapering bases.  It is native to the sub tropical hammocks, pinelands or where lime stone is present in Southern Florida.  This species is found on a widespread basis in the tropics and actually reaches much larger sizes outside of the United States.  I is one of the more commonly found Stoppers in Florida, but not as widespread as the White Stopper.

The Redberry Stopper - Eugenia confusa, is most easily identified by the combination of bright red fruit and opposite, long-pointed leaves with drooping tips.  It is native to sub tropical hammocks and is considered a endangered species in Southern Florida due to it's rarity.  It is more commonly found growing in the West Indies where it is also native.

The Red Stopper - Eugenia rhombea, is most eaily identified by the combination of dull green opposite leaves and red to orange berries that become black when mature.  It is native to hammocks in Southern Florida and the Keys, where it is also considered an endagered species due to it's rarity and limited numbers.  

Image Citation (Eugenia uniflora)

Juan Campá, MGAP, Bugwood.org

The Surinam Cherry - Eugenia uniflora, is most easily identified by the combination of short petioles, ribbed red fruit and opposite leaves under 7 cm in length.  It is not native but introduced into the hammocks of South Florida.  This species is considered to be invasive in habit and is listed as an invasive species throughout Southern Florida.

Image Citation (Surinam Cherry):Forest and Kim Starr, Starr Environmental, Bugwood.org

Meet more trees and shrubs on our website www.ArundelTreeService.com  or follow our blog https://arundeltreeservice.meetatree.com/