Trees of Pittsburgh Notice some of these trees aren’t there anymore.

Trees of Pittsburgh

Notice some of these trees aren’t there anymore.

Blue Spruce

• Sharp needles

• Xmas tree

• Is the national Christmas tree in D.C.

Arborvitae

• Thuja occidentalis, De’Groot’s Spiral

• Can be trimmed into a hedge• Probably 1st tree taken back to

europe by U.S. explorers• Made into a tea that saved a

French crew from scurvy because of its high vit. C.

• Oil can treat HPV or warts• Popular with homeopathic

crowd

Beech

• Wildlife like it• Beech = A. Saxon derivation,

synonomous with book. – Early tablets and carvings made

from beech

More on Beech

• Beech bark disease is a major killer

• Important to Timber industry. heavy, hard, tough and strong wood difficult to cut without a chainsaw

• Chips of beech used in making Budweiser to recreate wood barrel aging taste

• The tree where “Daniel Boon kilt a bar” was carved with a late 1700’s date

Dwarf American

Beech

American chestnut

• Indians ate the nuts– Ground into flour– Pressed oils – Shingles & poles– Treated whooping cough– Boiled bark to tan leather

• Once King of the forest– ¼ of the trees in the east

American Chestnut

• Chinese Chestnut brought Chestnut blight that’s made American variety nearly extinct.– A bark fungus

• European, Chinese, and Japanese varieties now dominate

Chinese Chestnut

• Organizations are trying to cross breed this inferior species with the American Chestnut to make a line of trees resistant to the chestnut blight

• Blight pictured

‘Merican vs. Chinese Chestnut

American Elm• Ulmus Americana

• AKA white elm

• Resists splitting so use it in wheels, seats, coffins

Dutch elm Disease

• 1 in 100,000 might be resistant• Efficient killer• Taken out most American

elms• Started in Europe after WW I,

Dutch scientists I.D.ed it.• Strands of trees survive in

places like central park, independence square, or Phipp’s Conservatory because there’s no other elms around.

Zelkova

• Used as a sub. For elm

• Popular downtown

Hophornbeam

• An “iron wood”– Any really hard wood

• Genus Ostrya (bone like)

• Like hornbeam– Good for mallet handles

• Smaller tree– Wildlife value– Songbirds, W.T. deer, grouse

Hornbeam

• AKA Musclewood• Relatively short so

good for making small hard tools

Sweetgum

• AKA redgum, alligator wood, blistered alligator wood, liquidambar

• It does make a sweet smelling resin used in gum – Also medicines

• Since the dinosaurs went extinct until about 2 m.y.a. this was all over the place, but the world’s too cold now. And lots of species are extinct

Black gum

• AKA black tupelo, pepperidge, sourgum, and on Martha’s Vineyard, beetlebung

• Tupelo is from two cree words meaning tree of the swamp– Other tree’s called this too.

• A honey plant• Pretty tree• Rare in Pittsburgh, Found

in Allegheny commons near Aviary

Not related, but the Japanese have a minty high caf. Gum called black black

Sycamore

• AKA Planetree, buttonwood

• Largest of N. American hardwoods

• Some were big enough to keep a cow inside the tree trunk

• Mottled exfoliating trunk

Sycamores

• Ones we see are genus plantanus

• They are very tall• buttonwood

agreement was the formation of the NY stock exchange, signed under a sycamore.

• In the bible they talk about sycamore’s that are a species of fig tree.

American Yellowwood

• Cladrastis kentukea or Kentucky yellowwood

• Inner wood is yellow hence name

• Sophie Masloff planted a small yellowwood in Mellon Park.

• also found in Point State Park.

Amur Corktree

• Ornamental & Oriental• Invasive, but not a problem

here. Yet.• Not thick enough for

commercial cork development

• In Highland Park you can find these just off Reservoir Drive between the Super Playground and the reservoirs.

• One of 50 herbs used in traditional chinese medicine

–Medicinal applications of the oil include treatment of pancreatitis, reduction of cholesterol and sugar in blood and the treatment of various skin diseases.

Maple• Group of ~ 125 species

– Most from asia– Genus Acer = sharp (like leaves)

• Popular for landscaping– Bonsai too

• Look good in the fall• Syrup

– Canada made 7 million gallons in 2005– Vermon made 410,000 gallons in 2005 – ~ 10 gal per tree– Important sugar source during civil war

when south cut off sugar cane supplies

Example of leaf variation among various cultivars of Japanese Maple

• A cultivar is a cultivated plant that has been selected and given a unique name because it has desirable characteristics (decorative or useful) that distinguish it from otherwise similar plants of the same species.

• Cultivated + Variety

Box elder• Acer negundo or maple ash• Classifed with maples.• Lives short and fast• Along rivers• All kinds of other names

– Manitoba Maple, Ash Maple, Ash-leaf Maple, Black Ash, Boxelder Maple, California Boxelder, Cutleaf Maple, Cut-leaved Maple, Inland Boxelder, Negundo Maple, Red River Maple, Stinking Ash, Sugar Ash, Three-leaved Maple, and Western Boxelder.

Pine

• ~115 species• Fast growing

softwoods• spiral growth of

branches, needles and cone scales are arranged in Fibonacci number ratios

• U.N. HQ fits this

Another way of visualizing the fibonacci sequence

• Fibonacci numbers also appear in the description of the reproduction of a population of imaginary bees,

• The rules:• If an egg is laid by an unmated female, it

hatches a male. • If, however, an egg was fertilized by a male, it

hatches a female. • Thus, a male bee will always have one parent,

and a female bee will have two.• If one traces the ancestry of this male bee (1

bee), he has 1 female parent (1 bee). This female had 2 parents, a male and a female (2 bees). The female had two parents, a male and a female, and the male had one female (3 bees). Those two females each had two parents, and the male had one (5 bees). This sequence of numbers of parents is the Fibonacci sequence.

• Shown on next slide

• Douglas fir, Jack Pine, Lodgepole Pine, and Pacific Silver Fir. Western Red Cedar make telephone poles.

• Coated with creosote to keep ivy off

• Pine resin is made into turpentine– Organic solvent– Mixing paints and

making varnishes

• Turpentine gets us Rosin– Increases friction– Bows, pitcher’s hands,

bull rider rope, rock climbing

– Ingredient in soldering

Survival

• Cambium high in vit. A & C

• Young green cones: edible

• “Strunt” Swedish name for pine needle tea

Austrian Pine

• AKA Black Pine

• Fast growing

• Good for blocking wind

• Infected with a tip blight disease in the burgh

• Can be 500 y.o.

• Another good street tree,– it’s salt & pollution resistant.

White pine

• Used for ship masts

• Iroquois called it the great tree of peace

• Needle have 5x’s vit. C as lemons

Bald Cypress

• Rot resistant• “wood eternal”• Good for making

docks, warehouses, boats, or bridges

• Usually found farther south, likes wet areas.

• State tree of LA symbol of swamps

Basswood

• “Linden” or “beetree”– Name derived from “bast”

inner wood– “Lime” in U.K.

• Bee’s love em– Get good honey from flowers– Famous Sicilian honey of

Hybla from this• Light soft wood: good for

yardsticks, models, furniture

More Basswood

• Teas& perfumes, from flowers, popular with herbalists, – Relieves restlessness

• Soft wood used for making low-end electric guitar bodies– Agathis is another tree

for this • Ainu people of

Hokkaido make traditional garb from it

• Can live ~ 900 years

Basswood

• Carolus Linneaus, great scientist named for Linden

• Important culturally around eastern Europe– Lipa in slovak & polish– Croatian currency named for it– Andrei Rublev, Russian

Iconographer worked on Limewood

– Most famous street in Berlin is called Unter den Linden

Rublev’s Trinity in Moscow

Unter den Linden Festival of Lights

Basswood and Germany

• Most famous street in Berlin is called Unter den Linden

• Sacred to Frejya, wife of Odin, goddes of love•Hence legend Basswood can’t be struck by lightning•Tree of peace planted in town squares. -Place of justice •With christians Frejya became “Mother of God” so it’s also associated with St. Mary - Protects against Witchcraft/Satan

Frej was the 5th most popular name for Danish Girls

Bitternut Hickory

• Most common hickory• Settlers used oil from

inedible nuts to fuel lamps, treat rheumatism

• Related to Pecan• Wood for smoking

meat• Indians made bows

Smoking food

• In Europe– Alderwood is traditional– Oak dominates now– Beech to a lesser extent

• U.S.– Hickory, Mesquite, oak, pecan, alder, maple,

and fruit trees, – Some ham’s are smoked over corn cobs

• Barley Malt smoked with Peat moss makes Scotch Whiskey and some beers

Black Birch

• Bitula Lenta• AKA Sweetbirch,

Cherry Birch, Mahogany birch, River birch, Spice Birch, birch birch– Could get wintergreen

flavor from young trees• Ferment sap into birch

beer• Found near Schenley

golf course

Black Cherry

• AKA Choke, Cabinet, Whiskey, Wild Black or, Wild Cherry

• Products: Cabinets & Furniture, Cough syrup, wine, jellys, and pies.

• We grow some of the best Cherry in the country

Black Cherry

• Pioneer species– Likes to grow into old

fields– Problem cause leaves

release cyanide which could kill cattle

• Short lifespan, weak branches break easily in storms

Black Locust• Native• Useful in erosion control

– Helps reclaim land after strip mining

• Another honey plant• In the legume family it has nitrogen

fixing bacteria• Rot resistant, Lincoln made fence

posts from it. • Great firewood, slow burning, little

smoke, almost = anthracite• Jesuits thought this was a tree that

supported St. John in the wilderness

honey locust• Wildlife like sweet

pods– Good for goats– Not toxic like the black

locust

• Invading Australia– Mconnel’s curse

Oaks

• Couple hundred species– Deciduous and evergreen– Make acorns

• Good for cooking, flour

– Oak galls: ingredient in manuscript ink

– Japanese oak: Yamaha drums• Rough, hard surface of oak gives the

drum a brighter and louder tone compared to traditional drum materials such as maple and birch.

Culture & Oaks

• Symbol of strength, endurance• National tree of UK, Fr., Ger, &

the U.S.• 723: St. Boniface cut down

Thor’s oak to show German’s Christianities superiority.

• Joshua (Moses Apprentice) had a covenant with the lord going at a stone under an oak

Culture & Oaks

• Symbol of Zeus• In Celtic mythology it’s

the tree of doors, a gateway between worlds

• leaves symbolize rank in the forces– gold leaf = Major or Lt.

Commander– silver leaf = Lt. Colonel or

Commander

Not native but interesting

• Cork oak– Used to make wine stoppers

• Aging barrels– As liquor ages some liquid is lost to

evaporation

– O2 comes in through barrel

– Wines take on vanillin and tannins from barrels

• Factors: U.S. or European oak, age of wood, cut of wood, dryness of wood, what forest,

• Cut corners: Soak in oak chips• Barrel maker = cooper

Rock oaks vs. Swamp oaks

• Chestnut• Called Rock oak

– Lives high on ridges– High tannin bark used in tanning

• Pin oak– Called swamp oak– Popular tree, easy to transplant.

• Both look similar. Best way to tell the dif. is where they’re living.

English Oak

• Pedunculate oak– It’s stalks bear 1 flower

• Survives coppicing– Cutting young

growths, and letting a tree regrow.Pictured

• One in Lithuania is 1,500 y.o. oldest tree in Europe

Coppicing

Bur Oak

• Blue Oak, Mossycup• Biggest acorns• Trunks can get to 9

feet across• Masting

Charter oak

White oak clusters"Mighty oaks from little

acorns grow."

• Late 1600’s• James II was a jerk

and appointed Edmond Andros(pic below) to take back the charters of the colonies

• When he got to Connecticut they hid the charter in the Charter oak

Eastern Hemlock

• AKA Canadian, or hemlock spruce

• Our state tree• Needles, once an

ingredient in Root Beer

• Can grow big– In Cook forest one

named the Seneca is 145.4 ft.

Picture from Bear Run State park

Buckeyes/ Horse chestnut

• Intro’d by John Bartram 1746

• Popular to plant• Lots in Point Breeze• Not a true chestnut• Seed’s look like deer

(buck) eyes

Buckeyes• Toxic aesculin in buckeyes

destroys rbcs– Unless you grind it, and boil it

again, and again– Not tox. to deer & squirrels– Aesculin is a natural pH

indicator which, when extracted turns from colourless to fluorescent blue under UV light in an acidic pH range.

• Across the pond in UK they play a game called conkers with buckeyes

Dogwood

• State tree of virginia• Fable

– Jesus was crucified on a cross made of dogwood so he stunted and twisted the tree so it couldn’t make crosses any more.

– The flower has four petals like a cross with what looks like the rusty indent of a nail at each end. Red stamen = crown of thorns, and red pigment = blood

– Just a fable

Stupid Ginkos

• I hate them• They smell• “living fossil”• Buddhist monks

saved it from extinction

• Best tree for urban envi.

• Fruits smell but nuts inside are pop. In Asia

Ginkos are Amazing

• 4 ginkos each about 1-2 km from the site survived the Hiroshima bombing

• Temples rebuilt around them• Still have scorch marks

One way to deal with smell

– Graft male plants onto other plants– Males don’t make fruit

• Grafting– Connect vascular cambium of two

plants– Like SCUBA divers sharing

breathers– Benefits

• Don’t have to regrow a whole trunk• Inc. Temp. tol.• Fruiting faster• Stronger, healthier

Grafting

• Make one plant with potatoes below ground, and tomatoes above

• Laburnum + broom plant two kinds of blossoms

Kentucky Coffee tree

• grove of these found on edge of golf course on East Circuit Drive between Darlington Road and Serpentine Drive in Schenley Park.

• Make a seed, when roasted can be a coffee substitute.

“Every majestic oak tree was once a nut who stood his ground."

Goutweed/Ground elder

• A.K.A. Bishop’s weed,• A.K.A. Snow-in-the-

mountain• Not really an elder• Carrot family• Used for gout, arthritis• From Europe• Edible like spinach