Arbutus to young maple

Things seen while I was searching for spiders and finding mushrooms, in no particular order. (Well, it appears that Blogger decided to load them in alphabetical order by the file name. I won't argue.)

A look at the trunk of an arbutus. Inner bark, brick-red peeling bark, older bark.

This inner layer of the bark of the arbutus is photosynthetic, like the leaves.

Dangling cat-tail moss in a dark forest setting.

Tiny lichens on a pear tree. Inset; showing brown spikes (rhizines) on the underside.

More lichens on the same branch.

Aging hydrangea.

A young maple shows off its crop of orange leaves.

And there were a few pink flowers. I'll leave those for tomorrow.

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Y aquí hay algunas cosas vistas mientras yo buscaba arañas y encontraba hongos. Blogger decidió organizar las fotos en orden alfabético; no tengo problema.

1. Las tres cortezas de un madroño del Pacífico, Arbutus menziesii. La corteza nueva, la capa interior, es capaz de fotosíntesis, igual que las hojas.
2. El musgo común, "musgo cola de gato", colgado de una rama en un bosque oscuro.
3. Líquenes en una rama de un peral. El rectángulo muestra las protuberancias en la parte inferior de las hojas, llamadas rizinas.
4. Otros líquenes en la misma rama.
5. Flores de hortensia ya bien pasadas mostrando todavía algunos tintes tenues.
6. Un arce de hoja grande juvenil luciendo sus hojas anaranjadas.

Había, además algunas flores color de rosa. Esas las dejaré para mañana.

At nose height

There are many ways to look at trees. Notice their height, the shade they cast, watch how they move in the wind and change colour as the year progresses. Identify leaf and needle shapes, collect cones and nuts and fruit in season. See how they fuzzify distant mountain sides or dress a river bank. Watch the birds and the squirrels and look for bear hideouts. Find an eagle's nest. So much to do!

Maybe that's why it took me so long to look at what was right in front of my nose. Literally. The trunks. Not just supports for the important stuff 'way overhead, but really what makes a tree a tree.

I started taking photos of just plain tree trunks at nose height. (That's 1.45 m. for me.) Stashed them in a file; who wants to look at brown photos, anyhow? Well, actually, I do. So now I'm burdening you with them, too.

First batch:

The thick, crevassed bark of a Douglas-fir.

Rectangular scales on a maple.

Maple? I can't remember now. On the museum lawn.

Evergreen. I started including an inset with the needles. It helps me remember.

Maple? Hemlock? Here's why I need those insets.

Tomorrow's batch comes adorned with lichens.

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¡Hay tantas maneras de mirar a un árbol! Fíjate en su altura, en la sombra que nos otorgan, mira como se mueven con la brisa, como cambian de colores mientras avanza el año. Identifica las formas de hojas y agujas, junta nueces y piñas y frutas. Observa como suavizan las laderas de montañas distantes, como decoran las orillas de los rios. Mira los pájaros y las ardillas y busca dormitorios de osos. Encuentra un nido de águilas. ¡Y más; siempre hay más!

Tal vez sea por eso que me tomó tanto tiempo llegar a ver lo que literalmente estaba en frente de mi nariz. Los troncos. No solo son sostenes para lo importante allá arriba, pero en verdad lo que define un árbol.

Empecé a sacar fotos de troncos de árboles a la altura de mis ojos. (1,45 cm para mi.) Las archivé; ¿quién querrá mirar fotos de madera color café? Bueno, yo, por una. Tal vez alguién más. Así que aquí están.

Fotos:

1. La corteza gruesa, agrietada de un abeto de Douglas.
2. Escamas rectangulares en un arce.
3. ¿Arce? Ya no me acuerdo. Está en el jardín del museo. Tendré que ir a verlo de nuevo.
4. Un árbol de hoja perenne. Empecé a incluir un recuadro con las hojas. Me ayuda con la memoria.
5. ¿Arce? ¿Hemlock? Mostrando porque debo sacar la foto de las hojas.

El conjunto de mañana vendrá decorado con líquenes.

Sweet tree

 Big-leaf maple flower buds, half open:

Acer macrophyllum. Big-leaf maple.

The flowers open before the leaves appear. Fully open, they dangle in long clusters. 

"They" say the flowers are edible and sweet, a nice addition to spring salads. Stands to reason; it is possible to make maple syrup from the sap, although it is not as sugar-heavy as the sap from the eastern sugar maple.

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Estas son las flores del arce de hoja grande, apenas empezando a abrirse. Las flores aparecen un poco antes de las primeras hojas. Una vez completamente abiertas, cuelgan en ramos largos.

Se dice que las flores son comestibles, y dulces, un buen componente de ensaladas primaverales. Es lógico; hasta se puede hacer jarabe de maple con la savia, aunque no sea tan dulce como la savia del acer azucarero de la costa del Atlántico.

Foto: Acer macrophyllum

Spring green

Big leaf maple, putting on a show ...

Beautiful yellow-green of the new leaves. And dangling flower streamers.

Tiny greenish flowers, with white threads in the centre. And a beetle.

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Los maples de grande hoja (arce, Acer macrophyllum) estrenando flores y hojas. Y un escarabajo chiquitito.

South Slope flowers, Part 3

I once lived in a cabin on a cliff overlooking a lake. Beside my stairway up to the road, a pair of giant Big Leaf maples grew, towering far above my roof, providing shade in the hot summer, creek-clogging leaves in the fall. The trunks were deeply grooved, several feet across; moss and ferns grew in the upper branches. And on warm summer days, happy voices filtered down to me from above; small boys as much at home up there as on the ground. I was tempted to climb the tree myself, but left them to their adult-free paradise.

Even a young Big Leaf can be glorious, especially in spring;

Acer macrophyllum. Flowers, and the unfolding new leaves.

The dangling racemes of flowers can be up to 6 inches long. The leaves may grow well over a foot across, big enough to serve as a sunshade, or even a makeshift umbrella in a sudden summer squall.

I didn't know this: the sap can be used to make maple syrup. It takes about 34 litres of sap to produce 1 litre of syrup.

The flowers can also be eaten in salads, in soups, or in pancakes or fritters. Dad used to make fritters with elderberry flowers every spring; now I must try them with Big Leaf maple flowers.

Wild Foods and Medicines has a good recipe.

1/2 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
Pinch of salt and herbs or spices of choice
2 eggs beaten
¼ cup milk (cow, rice, almond, or even water if you do not have milk)
¼ cup oil for frying (sunflower, sesame, safflower, and coconut are favorites) 

In a bowl, mix flour with salt and herbs or spices.  In another bowl, whisk eggs with milk.  Turn a medium sized sauté pan on medium-high heat and add oil.  Once the oil is heated, dip maple flower clusters in the egg mixture first, then dust them with the flour mixture, and place them in the pan.  Place 4-5 in the pan at a time.  When the fritters are golden brown, flip them and let them brown on the other side.  Let them drain on paper towels.  Serve hot.

Go to the big leaf page for variations and more ideas.

A Skywatch post.