Index to all trees vines and groundcovers in this blog.

As the blog has grown, it is obvious that some may want to jump to a particular tree or plant I have in the blog.  The way to do this is to index the entries by hyperlinks.  This will not take you to the exact entry, but it will take you to the right page and you can scroll down to the entry.  They are all numbered, so this should be easy to do.

Tree #1 Japanese maple
Tree #2 Red maple 1
Tree #3 Red maple 2
Tree #4 Ginkgo
Tree #5 Ginkgo leaves fallen green
Tree #6 Southern magnolia
Magnolia moon
Tree #7 & 8 Japanese maples
Tree #9 American hornbeams
Tree #10 Cluster of four red maples
Tree #11 Bald cypress
Tree #12 Eastern red cedar
Tree #13 Yoshino cherry
Tree #14 Torulosa juniper
Tree #15 Bamboo
Tree #16 Eastern red cedar growing through fence
Tree #17 Regal privet
The murder of the regal privet
Tree #18 Loblolly pine
Tree #18 Loblolly pine (larger specimen)
The murder of the loblolly pines 
Tree #19 Goldenrain tree
Tree #20 Chinaberry
Tree #20 Chinaberry (updated for spring)
Tree #21 Crepe myrtle (winter)
Tree #22 Sycamore
The murder of the sycamores
Tree #23 American holly 
Tree #23 American holly revisited
Tree #24 Possumhaw or winterberry
Tree #25 East Palatka holly
Tree #26 Oakleaf hydrangea
Tree #26b Japanese black pine 
Tree #27 Cedar of Lebanon
Tree #28 Chinafir
Tree #29 Chinese juniper
Tree #30 Japanese red pine
Tree #31 Dwarf Alberta spruce
Tree #32 Hinoki falsecypress
Tree #33 White pine
Tree #34 Higan cherry (see Tree #44)
Tree #35 Snow Flurry camelia
Tree #36 Coffin tree
Tree #37 Japanese cedar
Tree #38 Weeping Alaskan cedar
Tree #39 Weeping blue Atlas cedar
Tree #40 Blue Atlas cedar (see Trees #49, 81)
Tree #41 Globe arborvitae
Tree #42 Weeping spruce
Tree #43 Winged burning bush
Tree #44 Weeping Higan cherry (see Tree #34)
Tree #45 Yoshino cherry (see Tree #13)
Tree #46 Redbud
Tree #47 Kwanzan cherry
Tree #48 Dogwood
Tree #49 Blue Atlas cedar (see Trees #40,81)
Tree #50 Black oak?
Tree #51a Japanese maple (see Trees #1,7,8)
Tree #51b Japanese maple (green)
Tree #51c Japanese laceleaf maple
Tree #52 Azaleas
Tree #53 Yoshino cherry trunk (with lenticels) (see Trees #13,45) 
Tree #54 Tulip poplar
Tree #55 Sweetgum
Tree #56 Sycamore bole (see Tree #22)
Tree #57 Red buckeye
Tree #57b Red maple spring foliage (see Trees #2,3)
Tree #58 Willow oak
Tree #59 American elm
Tree #60 Unidentified hickory
Tree #61 Oregon grape
Tree #62 Boxelder
Tree #63 Red tip
Tree #64 Ginkgo (see Trees #4,5)
Tree #65 Drake elm
Tree #66 Paulownia
Tree #66b a second Paulownia tree 
Tree #67 Chinese privet
Tree #68 Cottonwood
Tree #69 Black locust
Tree #70 "Tortuosa" corkscrew willow
Tree #71 Catalpa
Tree #72 Allegheny chinkapin
Tree #73 Kousa dogwood
Tree #74 Oak with pipe
Tree #75 Hackberry tree
Tree #76 Black walnut
Tree #76 Black walnut (continued)
Tree #77 pecan
Tree #78 American chestnut or chestnut oak?
Tree #79 Mimosa
Tree #80 American persimmon
Tree #81 Atlas cedar (champion tree) (see Tree #40)
Tree #82 Vitex agnus-castus (The chaste tree)
Tree #83 Weeping willow
Tree #84 Fig
Tree #85 Sassafras
Tree #86 Weeping Mulberry
Tree #87 Bottlebrush buckeye
Tree #87b Bottlebrush buckeye 
Tree #88 White pine
Tree #89 Blackjack oak
Tree #90 Water oak
Tree #91 Southern red oak (The Semmes Oak) 
Tree #92 Red maple  RIP
Tree #93 Bradford pear
Tree #94 Bigleaf magnolia
Tree #95 Witch hazel (Hamamelis species) 
Tree #96 Hardy orange or Trifoliate orange (Poncirus trifoliata) 
Tree #97 Corneliancherry dogwood (Cornus mas) 
Tree #98 Corkscrew willow 
Tree #99 Sugar Maple in fall color 
Tree #100 American beech 
Tree #101 American smoketree
Tree #102 Candle bush
Tree #103 Mugo pine
Tree #104 Chinese pistache  
Tree # 105 Mockernut hickory (Carya tomentosa)
Tree # 106 White fringe tree (Chionanthus virginicus)
Tree # 107 White ash (Fraxinus americana) 
Tree # 108 Green ash (Fraxinus pennsylvanica)
Tree # 109 Silver maple (acer saccharinum)
Tree # 110 Mock Orange (Philadelphus x virginalis)
Tree # 111 Pawpaw 
Tree # 112 Osage orange

Vine #1 Wistaria (see Tree #48 last picture for more wistaria)
Vine #2 Lady Banks rose
Vine #2 Lady Banks rose (updated, flowering)
Vine #3 Poison ivy 
Vine #4 Carolina jessamine
Vine #5 Wild grapevine (mixed with mimosa)
Vine #6 Crossvine

Some non-woody plants
May apple (wild Mandrake)
Grandma's lace

Groundcover #1 English ivy
Groundcover #2 Pachysandra

St. Mary's botany in the parking lot

St. Mary's has been on the same site (on the point between Poplar and Alabama) for more than 150 years. That means there are trees in the local area that may date back over 100 years. Here is one example:

Tree #76 Black walnut continued

We already saw a black walnut in "A trip to the farm". Here is another black walnut in the parking lot at St. Mary's Episcopal Cathedral. 

The fruit is now growing on this tree.

Walnuts on the tree June 29, 2014

It is not known how old this tree is, but the trunk is quite large and it could be over 100 years.

Tree #82 Vitex agnus-castus the chaste tree

On the north side of the parking lot there are four vitex shrubs. These produce an attractive purple flower spike that attracts butterflies.

A closeup of the vitex leaves, June 29, 2014

The chaste tree (both agnus and castus mean chaste) was considered to be the opposite of an aphrodisiac, a suppressor of libido. Today it is sold as a alternative medicine supplement for relief of symptoms of premenstrual syndrome (PMS) and menstrual cycle irregularities. Jump ahead to the Vitex saga

Elmwood Cemetery Martyr's tree

Tree #80 American persimmon

In fall of 1878 yellow fever struck down the sisters of St. Mary's as they stayed in Memphis to care for orphaned children. They are buried at Elmwood Cemetery in the form of a cross with four graves radiating from a central stone. Next to this site there is this persimmon tree.

The flowers on this tree are still green with the central button leading the formation of the persimmon fruit.

Persimmon flower May 25, 2014

A small crew of 5-6 cleaned the graves and planted flowers for a photo shoot, May 25, 2014

The Martyr's of Memphis graves are to the left and behind the tree. We pulled grass out of the mulch, raked and planted impatiens. The ladder was for the photographer.

 You may notice the tree trunk is wet. Yes it rained on us as we finished our work on the graves. We had to wait out a downpour in our cars for about 30 minutes.

Tree # 81 Atlas cedar

To the west across one of the many roads in the cemetery there is an Atlas cedar (Cedrus atlantica). This tree is at the site of Marcia Wunderlich's family plot. Marcia was one of the cleaning crew who picked out the impatiens on this trip and helped plant them. 

Atlas cedar May, 25, 2014

One day Marcia may be resting under that cedar, not far from the Martyr's graves she helped to beautify. This tree is one of two championship trees at Elmwood. According to the TN Dept. of Agriculture "A tree earns points based on its circumference, height and crown spread." The other champion is a fringe tree. I will try to add that later. There are 263 native or common trees in TN that are champion trees. Looking at this list I see the champion Atlas cedar is listed in Knox county at the Baptist Student Center. Maybe Elmwood lost that honor to the other side of the state, but the published list is from 2003. I was not able to find a newer list.

"I'm gonna rent myself a house in the shade of the freeway."

Tree #79 Mimosa

Jackson Browne caught our apprehension about a meaningless future in "The Pretender". The image of living by the freeway conjured a certain fatality about life, a giving in, a surrender. Trees do not get to choose where they grow, at least the wild ones. These shots depict life by the freeway and next to an industrial storage and repair site for garbage trucks. The mimosa tree (Albizia julibrissin) with its bipinately compound leaves landed here as a seed and grew, in the shade of St. Jude, just off I-40 at exit 1C. 

This tree was one of the harder ones to photograph. It was not near any parking place being at the exit from a freeway onto Danny Thomas. To get here I had to cross the bridge you can see in the top left of this picture and park in an industrial warehouse access road, hoping I would not get ticketed or towed before I could get back. I had to walk about a quarter mile along Danny Thomas with no sidewalks in mud at times. 

A volunteer tree by the freeway

 The day was overcast, so the pink flowers did not show up that well. These are quite attractive trees even inside a junk-yard.

Beautiful tree, ugly dump truck

To see some mimosa leaves up close in a lush green environment see the wild grapevine shot near Holmes Park. (vine #5)

Here I continue the mimosa story with an easier tree to photograph. This tree is at Good Winds Landscape and Garden Center at the corner of Sunset Road and Eastern Ave. in Germantown. 

Mimosa in flower July 5, 2014

The flowers are like pink fluff all over the tree

 

A scientist is a mimosa when he himself has made a mistake, and a roaring lion when he discovers a mistake of others. Albert Einstein

Mimosa is one of the trees listed without a champion in TN. The problem is they are meduim sized trees and fairly abundant. Farther south they sometimes line the freeways, so how can you choose a champion tree?

 

A trip to the farm

Tree #75 Southern hackberry tree (Celtis laevigata)

On June 14 Susan, Sienna (my daughter) and I visited our friends Dennis and Mark at their working farm in Somerville, about 40 miles from Memphis.  It is officially called the Oaks at Winfrey Farm, 10 miles south of I40. In addition to being a very cool place, with solar powered chicken coop etc., it is covered in trees, some of which I am still working to identify. One that caught my eye right away was this one, a hackberry tree. It has these peculiar ridges of bark that are in layers that look like a topographical map.

If you blew these ridges up they might be like the ice wall in Game of Thrones.

A broader view of the hackberry trunk June 14, 2014

The leaves of this hackberry

My daughter bought me a book for my birthday called "Guide to the Trees, Shrubs and Woody Vines of Tennessee" by B. Eugene Wofford and Edward W. Chester.  The book is very useful for identification of trees in and around Memphis. Three hackberries are described: Southern, Northern and dwarf. This one was clearly not dwarf. The bases of the leaves are lanceolate on the Southern hackberry and more heart shaped on the Northern hackberry. Also the location fits the known habitat for a Southern hackberry.

Tree #76 Black walnut

Harvesting and dehusking the black walnuts from this tree can leave your hands black. Dennis said he planned to use the black dye from the walnut husks to stain concrete.

Juglans nigra June 14, 2014

Closer view of the trunk

The leaves are pinnate also seen in hickories and pecans (see next picture).

Dennis in his formal overalls and boots. Leaves of the black walnut with some rusty bells.

Tree #77 pecan

Pecan from a distance. Another visit will be needed to get closeups.

Pecan is in the same genus Carya as hickory. When I was a graduate student in San Antionio we had a pecan in the backyard of our rental house.  The landlord reserved the right to harvest the pecans.

Tree #78 Sawtooth oak (Quercus acutissima ) leaves are similar to American chestnut (Castanea dentata) also similar to to Allegheny chinkapin (Castanea pumila) and chestnut oak (Quercus prinus).

Straight out the backdoor one runs into this tree

The leaves are quite distinct on his tree (see below) and it should not be too hard to identify (little did I know).

Saw-toothed leaves with strong ribs

The leaves are similar to Allegheny chinkapin (tree #72), but it is not exactly the same. consulting Wofford, this looks like American chestnut and this is supported by looking online at images of American chestnut. Once common, the American chestnut has been devastated by chestnut blight. It is often only seen as young shoots growing from stumps, as the older trees die off from the blight. 

Breaking news: Dennis says this is a chestnut oak that has similar looking leaves. The proof is in the nut. I have not seen these. I will update here as I get info.

Dennis sent these pictures he took of the growing acorns and a mature acorn. This proves it is an oak and not a chestnut. A comment from a viewer identified this as a sawtooth oak and not a chestnut oak. The sawtooth oak is an Asian tree and so not in the tree guides I have been using for North American or Tennessee trees. I do thank the viewer for this helpful identification of this tree.

Growing acorn

Another tree like this was seen at Elmwood Cemetery on Aug. 12, 2014 with similar mossy fingers around the growing acorn (unlabeled tree).

Small branch with growing acorns

The final product is an acorn, not a chestnut

Dennis conveyed the information that a property called Chestnut Hill about 2 miles up the road from his farm does have American Chestnuts lining the driveway. I would like to see those sometime.

What time can accomplish

Tree #74 oak with pipe

While walking through Health Sciences Park (nee Forrest Park) at Union and Dunlap, my son Stephen and I saw this pipe swallowed by a tree. If you recognize what this unusual structure is please email me at drnelson1@gmail.com. This site dates back to a civil war hospital, so this could be a very old pipe.

Capped pipe wrapped around and absorbed by this tree's roots June 27, 2014

I will post similar tree encounters with fences, Radio Flyer wagons, and other items on this page.

The murder of the sycamores and the loblolly pines

Tree #22 continued Sycamore

This is the sequel to the murder of the regal privet. Sycamore trees were the subject of another post. (Tree #22)

This story was brought to my attention by my wife. She works on Mud Island and sees the Harbor Bend Rd where Miss Cordelia's is located Monday through Friday. The street was planted for several city blocks with sycamores. Then all of a sudden they were cut down. There are some that escaped the chain saw in the parking lot of Miss Cordelia's. One is shown here. 

Sycamore in Miss Cordelia's parking lot June 5, 2014

Now I ask you, can you see anything wrong with this tree? In March Susan and I went to Paris to visit our daughter doing a semester abroad. If there is a Parisian tree it is the sycamore. They are planted along many of the city streets. Some are quite large. One reason suggested for cutting the sycamores in Harbor Town is that they would damage the sidewalks. They do not damage the sidewalks in Paris, even very old trees. I drove around Harbor Town to look for larger older sycamore trees to show the trunks and the sidewalks. Here is one from an old section of the town. 

Sycamore trunk between sidewalk and curb June 5, 2014.

The sidewalk is flat, but two squares are whiter suggesting they may have bee replaced. This tree is probably about 20 years old, planted near the founding of Harbor town in the mid 90s. 

It does not matter now why the trees were cut. They are gone. The shade they provided is gone and the verdure they provided is also gone. They were replaced by 15 new (about 2 inch in diameter) trees. These are trident maples and they should be very pretty in the fall.

Trident maple on Harbor Bend

Samaras on a trident maple

 

Closeup of the trident maple leaves. They are quite small and distinctly shaped.

It seem unjustified to cut down beautiful trees on a whim.

Tree #18 meets its end. RIP loblolly pines
 
The murder of the loblolly pines (see tree #18 and tree #18 continued)

Near the end of Satinwood Dr. as it meets Hickory Crest there is a house that had nine large loblolly Pines. These were probably planted at the time the neighborhood was built in the mid 70s, so they were about 40 years old. About a month or two ago one tree next to the driveway was cut down. It oozed sap from the trunk for weeks. This past week five more of the trees were cut. The stump of one is shown below.

Loblolly pine stump June 28, 2014

The trunks and branches from these trees were stacked along the curb from driveway to driveway piled six feet high. The pine resin fragrance filled the air. This particular tree was about three feet across at the cut. The other stumps have already been ground down below the lawn surface. This one will soon follow, leaving a mess in a impoverished yard. History is erased. The next door neighbors related a story about this tree. A woman who had been drinking heavily rammed this tree with her car (unintentionally). Empty liquor bottles were found in her car. The bark and part of the wood on this tree were sheared off and you can see the scar (about two feet wide) in the picture above. So even though this tree could survive a 2000 pound car ramming it, it could not survive the new home owner's desire for more light in the front windows or some equally arbitrary reason. At the moment there are three pines left in the front of the house. We can only watch and see what their fate will be.

Magnolia Moon

Tree #74 Southern magnolia (also tree #6)

It is not every day a tree is stupendous enough for mere humans to notice and elevate it to a point of conversation, even less often to feature it prominently in a sermon praising its awesome spiritual character. This tree captured the eye and the heart of Andy Andrews, Dean of St. Mary's Episcopal Cathedral in Memphis.

Near dusk at E.H. Crump Park June 3, 2014. Celestial bodies are lining up.

Andy is a runner so he explores Memphis by foot. In his sermon he described the location of this tree as off of Crump Blvd. by the river. Susan and I had to go find this tree, so we drove to Crump and exited before crossing the bridge to Arkansas. That put us close to the river, but not quite there and we were not sure of the exact location. Our first guess took us down a narrow road that ran just to the edge of the bluff below the bridge. It was an entrance to a railroad yard and not intended for casual drivers exploring on their way home from work. We turned back and tried the next option that took us to an entrance to E.H. Crump Park. Two guys were working on a car near some run down apartments, not too promising a locale (close the the National Metal Museum). But the tree was there and we knew it had to be the tree by its size and dominant spot in the park.

Here is my excerpt from Andy's sermon that touched upon this tree.

"Its branches fold out so long upon the ground. It's perfect to climb, no matter how tall or short or round you are; and the leaves are waxy and they're filled with life and they shimmer almost, even when its raining. and then those big white blooms, those blossoms... such a fragrance, such a remembrance. It was setting there right by the river and I realized how much difficulty and how much tragedy and how many sunny days has this tree seen? And its still able to put out this great fragrance. Its part of that remembrance that there is always a rising a lifting!" (from Andy's June 1, 2014 sermon, for the whole podcast go here).

It is perfect for climbing.

...and its branches fold out so long upon the ground.

The branches are similar to another magnolia in my first post (tree #6).
My wife took this shot of a fading blossom.

the leaves are waxy, and then those big white blooms, those blossoms...

How much tragedy and how many sunny days has this tree seen?

The point Andy made so well is that nature and this tree as a paricular part of nature has the ability to buoy up our spirits and transfer some kind of well being and peace without even touching it. It is like a living cathedral that you can enter, your own personal Xanadu. My own experience like this is described in an earlier post (tree #5) where I stood in a rain of ginkgo leaves just absorbing some mystical transcendent peace for a few moments. 

Last fourth of July my wife and I went to Seattle for a visit. I had gone to college there and I talk about it often, about the real trees. Susan just did not get that until we went there. She was very taken by the effect the trees had on me, almost making me into another person, as if I was drawing some life force from the trees, auraucarias, European beeches, Deodar cedars. It was "Old Man Willow" acting in reverse.

I encourage you to find your tree, and then find your inner tree.