A matter of size

"The largest surviving (Douglas-) Fir in the Comox Valley." So reads the sign I found at the base of a tree in Kitty Coleman Park.

The lower end of the trunk.

Well. I had to check the numbers. This one measures 58 metres tall (but the top has been lopped off, so it would have been taller) and has a diameter at the base of 2.7 metres. Big, but not exceptionally so.

The largest Douglas-fir in Cathedral Grove, 60 km. to the southwest, is slightly larger, measuring 76 metres tall, and with a diameter of 2.9 metres.

Sorting through my Dad's old photo albums yesterday for a family project, I found one of him in Cathedral Grove, with one of these big trees.

Big Douglas-Fir, Dad, 1991.

Dad was 1.76 metres tall. (They made people shorter back in his day.) Comparing him to the tree behind him, it looks like they measured the diameter right down at soil level.

The largest Douglas-fir in Canada, and some say in the world, by volume, is the Red Creek Fir here on Vancouver Island, in Port Renfrew, on the southwest coast. It measures 74 metres tall and has a diameter of 4.2 metres at a height of 1.37 metres above ground.

All these trees are between 600 to 1000 years old, and have survived our periodic forest fires; Douglas-fir is good at that, the older trees having an extra-thick bark that can tolerate a medium-intensity fire.

Back to this particular tree's history:

The sign.

Legend: 

Douglas Fir.

Kitty Coleman Beach Class "C"  Provincial Park has may (sic) large Douglas Fir growing in the Park. This Douglas Fir is the largest in the Park to have survived early logging on the British Columbia Coast. This tree was to be cut down, but was saved as the under cut was put in the base of the tree, the marks are still visible.

It was noticed around 1970 that the top part of the tree was dead. The die back continued, and in 1992 an arborist climbed the giant Fir, swinging over from a balsam tree near by. He then trimmed the top below the center rot, this procedure saved the tree from more die back, giving the tree more years of growth.

The age of the tree can be determined by it's (sic) growth rings.

The giant Fir has been, and is at this time, supporting a large eagle nest near the top.

This Douglas Fir is considered to be the largest surviving Fir in the Comox Valley. It is estimated to be 600 to 800 years old. It has a circumference of 28 feet and a height of 190 feet.

Kitty Coleman Beach Class "C" Provincial Park Board.

It was raining too hard and it was too foggy up top to see the eagle's nest. But I stopped to look at the depth of those creases and holes in the bark. The bark may be 30 or more centimetres thick on a mature tree, and the fissures may go right down to the inner layer. These were not quite that.

Deeply fissured bark.

While I was there, I stopped to look at another Douglas-fir, this one growing a good collection of conks.

The whole interior of the tree must be full of fungal mycelium.

Probably Red-belted Polypore, Fmetromitopsis mounceae. The broken one exposes the struture of the pores.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"El Abeto de Douglas sobreviviente más grande en el valle Comox." Así dice el letrero que vi junto a un árbol en el Parque Provincial Kitty Coleman.

    1. Foto de la parte inferior de este árbol.

Bueno, tuve que comparar esos números. Este árbol alcanza 58 metros de altura (pero le han cortado, o estaría más alto) y tiene un diámetro de 2.7 metros. Es grande, pero nada excepcional.

El abeto de Douglas más grande en Cathedral Grove, a 60 km. hacia el sudoeste, en un poco más grande, midiendo 76 metros de altura, y con un diámetro de 2.9 metros.

Ayer estaba examinando unos álbumes viejos de mi Papá, planeando un proyecto familiar, y encontré una foto suya, tomada en Cathedral Grove, con uno de estos árboles grandes.

    2. Cathedral Grove, 1991.

Papá medía 1.76 metros. (En esos dias, todos eran un poco más chaparros.) Comparándole con el árbol, parece que midieron el diámetro a nivel del suelo.

El abeto de Douglas más grande en Canadá, y dicen algunos, en el mundo, por su volumen, es el Abeto de Red Creek aquí en la isla, en Port Renfrew, en la costa sudoeste, Mide 74 metros de altura y tiene un diámetro de 4.2 metros a una altura de 1.37 metros sobre el nivel del suelo.

Todos estos árboles tienen de 600 a 1.000 años, y han sobrevivido nuestros repetidos incendios forestales : los abetos de Douglas maduros tienen la corteza muy gruesa, y pueden tolerar un incendio mediano.

Regresando a la historia de este árbol, el del parque KC:

    3. El letrero.

Texto del letrero:

Legend: 

Abeto de Dougla

Muchos abetos de Douglas grandes crecen en el Parque Provincial Clase "C" Kitty Coleman. Este abeto de Douglas es el más grande que ha sobrevivido la tala de madera en la costa de Columbia Británica. Este árbol fue designado para la tala, pero lo salvaron cuando ya se había hecho la primera corte en la base; todavía se ven las huellas.

Se observó cerca de 1970 que la copa del árbol estaba muerta. La parte muerta siguió aumentando, y en 1992, un arborista se trepó al abeto gigante, llegando por medio de un álamo cercano. Cortó la copa debajo de la zona podrida; este procedimiento previno mortalidad subsiguiente, dando al árbol más años de crecimiento.

La edad de un árbol se puede determinar por medio de sus anillos de crecimiento.

El abeto gigante ha sostenido, y todavía sostiene un gran nido de águilas cerca de la copa.

Este abeto de Dougas se considera que es el abeto más grande que todavía existe en el valle Comox. Se estima que tiene de 600 a 800 años de vida. Tiene una circunferencia de 28 pies y una altura de 190 pies.

Kitty Coleman Beach Class "C" Provincial Park Board.

La lluvia y la neblina me hicieron imposible ver el nido de los águilas. Pero examiné lo hondo de esas grietas y agujeros en la corteza. Esta corteza puede llegar a más de 30 cm. de espesor en un árbol maduro, y las fisuras pueden alcanzar hasta la capa interior de la corteza. Estos no llegaban a tanto.

    4. Corteza hondamente agrietada.

Camino de regreso, me detuve para mirar otro abeto de Douglas; este está completamente invadido por hongos políporos.

    5. La madera de este árbol estará totalmente infiltrado por el micelio del hongo.

    6. Probablemente son Fomitopsis mounceae. El hongo roto expone a la vista la estructura de los poros.

A multitude of one

Mushrooms grow on soil, on mossy rocks, on fir cones, on old logs. In Cathedral Grove, we passed many growing on tree trunks.

The stalk grows out horizontally, then curves upwards.

All of these (all of the photos) seem to be the same species; creamy gills, white rings, smooth brown, flattish cap.

They grow out of crevices in the old bark.

The stalks on these are much darker, and the caps are freckled.

More freckled caps, growing on a mossy trunk.

Showing off the gills.

In my little guide, Common Mushrooms of the Northwest, I found only one that seems to match; the Honey Mushrooms, Armillaria mellea complex. (12 related species). (Probably Armillaria ostoyae.)

These grow on standing wood, or buried wood near conifers and the mushrooms we see are a small part of the huge hidden body of the fungus; one individual may cover hundreds of acres, spreading from tree to tree. It is possible that all the ones we saw on the walk through Cathedral Grove were outcrops of the same organism.

'Shroom heaven

The sun shines through dripping curtains of hanging moss, warming layers of black bark and orange maple leaves. Slugs feast on white mushroom meat. In the dark crevices between the fallen trees, polypore fungi gleam. It's fall in the rainforest.

Sunlight and hanging moss

Blending in. Big-leaf maple leaves and five big mushrooms to match.

This creamy-capped mushroom has slightly purplish grey gills.

Red-belted polypores with a pinkish cast.

Spore-laden firs and glistening mushrooms

These gilled mushrooms are common in the Grove. They all have freckles in the centre of a slightly pinkish cap.

Down in the mud under a log, we found these large, muddy boletes, identifiable as boletes by the dense pores instead of gills. I had to "see" them with my fingertips, as there was no way I was going to put my cheek in that cold mud.

More to come, tomorrow. This was a mushroom-rich forest!

Mushroom country

And more mushrooms from Cathedral Grove. The forest was dotted with them everywhere; every few steps we saw another clump.

A rotting, moss-covered stump, with its sprinkling of mushrooms.

Most of the trees on this side of the highway are Douglas firs. About 300 years ago, a forest fire downed many of them, and their enormous trunks lie on the ground, covered in a thick mossy blanket. In the space the fire opened up, big-leaf maples reach for the sunlight.

Ideal mushroom habitat; green, dim, and wet.

Mushrooms, burnt bark, and a mulch of big-leaf maple leaves.

Weeping shelf fungus, looking like a sticky bun, on the cut end of a log.

Gilled brown and beige mushroom. There's a scrap of hairy lichen here; these elastic threads hang from all the upper branches.

A similar mushroom, with a paler stalk.

More mushrooms tomorrow.

Under the firs

We went to Cathedral Grove on the Port Alberni highhway to look at the big trees and found mushrooms, small and large. It had been raining; the paths were muddy and puddly, the fallen leaves quickly turning to mush. Perfect mushroom conditions.

Mushroom and wet moss. And a strand of spider web.

The rest of the photos are still waiting to be processed. More tomorrow.