Mike - Lignum vitae key is an awesome place to visit if you go to the Keys. You can rent kayaks from Robbies Marina in Upper or Lower Matacumbe Key (spelling may be off) and paddle around the island and through the mangroves. If you step foot on the island you have to go to the visitor center and take a guided tour. Which I recommend anyway.
As for Jens simple question: No one mentioned *Cassurina equestifolia* (an other ironwood) or Australian pine that grows in South Florida. It puts off quite a spark show when dry and cut with a chainsaw. It also sinks like a rock. Don't let pine throw you off it is actually a angiosperm or hardwood with modified leaves that look like needles. There is no simple answer for this question simple question. There are probaly ten woods in the world that people will agrue that one is the hardest. I just though I'd throw in *Cassurina equestifolia. *Also, almost where ever you go in the world you'll find ironwood, and it won't always be *Ostrya virginiana* or *Carpinus carolinana*. Good stuff for discussion. Thanks, Brew On Sat, Oct 31, 2009 at 11:53 AM, [email protected] < [email protected]> wrote: > > ENTS, > > Just a note on lignum vitae. I just finished reading "Naturalist" by > E.O. Wilson. In it he describes how he was involved in an effort in > the 1960s to save one of the Florida Keys from development, > Lignumvitae Key. You can see it on google earth and it still looks > relatively untouched. > Here's how he described it: "Huge mahogany and gumbo-limbo, including > the largest individual of the latter species in the United States, > towered over wild lime, torchwood, Jamaica dogwood, boxleaf stopper, > strangler fig, and the only large stand of holywood lignum vitae in > Florida. Sixty-five species of trees and woody shrubs, all tropical > and subtropical, composed the woody flora." > > Sounds like something I'd like to see... Anyone been there? > > Mike > > > > > > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Eastern Native Tree Society http://www.nativetreesociety.org Send email to [email protected] Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/entstrees?hl=en To unsubscribe send email to [email protected] -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
