Riddle #6: A distinctive feature of this native hardwood tree is “squarish stems”. Can you name the tree and perhaps two other distinctions for this tree? Answer: Blue ash, Fraxinus quadrangulata The botanical name is from Latin “four-angled ash” referring to the squarish twigs. American settlers used a bluish color extracted from the twigs as a dye. Perhaps most interesting recently is the theory that healthy blue ash trees appear to have some resistance to the deadly emerald ash borer. Learn more here: https://kimmerer.com/trees/blue-ash/ https://kimmerer.com/blue-ash-and-the-emerald-ash-borer/ and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fraxinus_quadrangulata Riddle #6: What family of trees often retain their dead leaves after others have dropped them? And what is this phenomenon called? Answer: Leaf marcescence common in the Fagaceae, the tree family that includes oaks, beeches and chestnuts, this function retains dead leaves on the tree well after other trees are completely bare. This is mentioned in our our book review of The Nature of Oaks, and on the kwoa.net website at Resources > Publications |
KWOA Wood Post: Woodland Riddle FeatureHow many times has terminology in your woodlands management plan furrowed your brow? What exactly did that service forester mean when he/she suggested releasing the canopy during an inspection of your woodlands? Is that like raising the sunroof on your convertible?? Archives
July 2022
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