Great report. The tree that you're calling beech looks like Ironwood, Carpinus caroliniana. Definitely beech-like with the smooth grayish bark. One feature of Ironwood that stands out is what looks like muscle underneath the bark. Beech limbs appear much more relaxed.
I really like pitch pine, it's a favorite species, the "pine barrens" you found sounds like an interesting spot. -AJ Andrew Joslin Jamaica Plain, MA At 08:59 PM 2/5/2009, you wrote: >Went out again yesterday to poke around a few local areas to feel them >out, see what they had to offer in terms of possible big trees. >Started the morning off making a short loop through a local campground >at Barton Cove in Gill, MA. Its on a small "peninsula" in the >Connecticut river, forming a small cove before heading over the >Turners Falls dam. Measured a few White Pines in the parking area, >none of which came up over 95-100'~ so if the pines arent that >big....... > >Sure enough, spent about an hour and a half trudging through the shin >deep, crusty snow, just about fighting for every footstep. Most of the >hardwoods (Red and White Oaks, Pignut Hickory, Black Birch, Red and >Sugar Maples, Beech, and very few White Birch) topped out about 95', >with the vast majority being closer to 80-85'. The White Pines were >the biggest things going out there per usual, a few had some very neat >trunk shapes (bends/curves at the base, heading back to straight >growth). But the largest of them I could come up with barely tickled >105'. Most of the Hemlocks were well short of that. I did however come >across a small plot of seemingly random Red Spruce and White cedar, >I'm assuming they were planted, but could be way off. They were all >small trees, nothing over perhaps 20' for even the largest of the >Spruce, but neat to find nonetheless. I found some native Dogwoods as >well which was nice to see as its been awhile since I've come across >that as well. > >Bar none the most interesting tree I found stood no more than perhaps >12' tall and spread maybe 10' wide. I'm certain its Beech based on the >buds and the overall appearance of it, but the structure was just >wild, such a cool tree. The trunk and main limbs had almost a twisted >look to them, like a piece of wrought iron a blacksmith had heated up >and twisted. Got a few pictures of it to share. > >http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v404/jlacoy82/beech1.jpg >http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v404/jlacoy82/beech2.jpg > >Left there with nothing else remarkable in mind and headed a bit >further down Rt. 2 into Northfield where I walked down to a small >picnic area/boat launch across from the Northfield Mountain Project. >While the trunks of the trees here got much larger, the heights looked >very similar to those from a few miles down the road at Barton Cove. >Nothing even notable for pines here, all young trees, and most the >hardwoods just barely making it 100' tops, even though the trunk sizes >were significantly bigger than those down the road. This area was a >mix of Red and White Oak, Shagbark Hickory, Cottonwoods and Aspens, >Sugar, Red and Silver maples, Yellow and White Birch, Black Cherry, >White Ash, and a few rather peculiar looking varieties of Hickory or >Elm that I wasnt able to identify. They had a long almost Ash like >seed, but looked almost like just an elongated Elm seed, while the >bark also had that fine fissuring of White/Green Ash. Oh well, leaf >out is just a few months away. ;) > >Found a small grouping of Tamarack down next to a stream running out >into the river, the largest of which being 92.1' and a trunk measuring >4.8' CBH. > >http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v404/jlacoy82/tamarack.jpg >http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v404/jlacoy82/tamarack2.jpg > >I had also revisited the Howland Cemetery in Conway, MA I last posted >about with the large pines, and yet again have disproved myself and >learned a lesson in the process. DONT RUSH! It was snowing heavily, >the wind was blowing, my notebook was getting soaked, and I obviously >incorrectly entered a distance measurement or angle reading before >doing my calculations, there was no such 152' pine there, as Bob was >correct, the tallest there being just about 140'~. I did however >record one Norway Spruce to 114.2' right next to the pines. > >While again in Conway, I visited another cemetery just another mile up >the road I had previously worked in, and while none of the Pines here >were quite as impressive, I did however come across a few White Cedars >that were fairly notable, two of which I measured. The first of which >coming up to 78.1' in height and 7.1' CBH, with a thick, full crown >coming nearly to the ground, the first branch being about head height. >The second came up at 70.7' and 6.5' CBH. Both great looking, full >trees. > >I've spotted a few Pitch Pines locally as well that I've shot for >height which werent too remarkable, for but Barry's sake I think I'll >scale a few snowbanks and get some measurements, a couple of them >might make it to 7.5-8' CBH if I'm thinking correctly. Have to get >some pictures of them as well. Discovered our own little "Pine >Barrens" up here as well in an upland flat that is almost 100% Pitch >Pine, looks really great driving through and seeing nothing but those >chunky barked trunks and fluffy looking crowns. If I'm back in the >area again tomorrow and the suns out, I'll be sure to pull over and >take a few pictures. > >I'll be out hunting again tomorrow, but this was just this weeks worth >of rambling I had to share! > >Jeff > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Eastern Native Tree Society http://www.nativetreesociety.org You are subscribed to the Google Groups "ENTSTrees" group. 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