Flora Wonder Blog: IDS Tour – California 2019 Part 2

The International Dendrology Society (IDS)-sponsored tour to California was the subject of last week's blog, and even though I wasn't on the trip the 2019 yearbook's account prompted memories of my occasional visits to the Golden state. I have and will take the liberty to jump around chronologically and to bounce from north to south to mid-California locations at will because my recollections need not adhere to the logistics of the real itinerary. The IDS Yearbook rendition was presented by Professor Dr. M.A. Robischon of Humboldt Universitat zu Berlin, and most participants on the tour were from Europe. Perhaps the Euros have mixed feelings about the unique arrogance of America, but I'm sure that all were in awe with the floral wealth evident from California.

Arbutus menziesii

Quercus agrifolia

In midwest California one crosses the Golden Gate Bridge to head to Sonoma Valley and the very interesting Quarryhill Botanical Garden, and yes the grounds were once a quarry. The native flora of Arbutus menziesii and Quercus agrifolia is blended with an Asian collection, some of which would not survive in my Oregon winter.

Acer pentaphyllum

As an example of non-hardy (for me) taxa, Robischon writes: "There are still some of the Acer pentaphyllum that the IDS planted on the 2010 tour as an ex-situ conservation project, though half were lost in the October 2017 forest fire." Hopefully the rattlesnakes were able to slither to safety. A. pentaphyllum is an endangered species endemic to southwestern Sichuan, and the University of British Columbia Botanic Garden also has an ex-situ program to ensure survival of the species. Despite the non-hardiness, I still like to keep a few specimens in the collection, and we have propagated by seed, rooted cuttings under mist in summer, and also by grafting onto Acer rubrum rootstock. Early in my career I tried to over winter outdoors an A. pentaphyllum on A. rubrum rootstock -- and it was a sturdy 2" caliper specimen. By July I concluded that the top was definitely dead while A. rubrum suckers popped out below the graft union, and our low that winter was 7F. The largest, oldest A. pentaphyllum that I'm aware of is from the original Joseph Rock seed collection, and one was planted at the Western Hills Garden in Occidental near Bodega Bay, or at least I hope it is still there. A sister seedling was contained at the Strybing Arboretum in San Francisco, and since I couldn't find it on my last visit (8 years ago), I queried the staff, but the two workers looked confused and uncertain, suggesting that the tree had probably died. If so, then plant another for Heaven's sake!

Acer morrisonense

The IDS yearbook mentions that they saw the relatively tender Acer morrisonense at Quarryhill. The RHS's The Hiller Manual of Trees and Shrubs (2019) claims A. morrisonense is a synonym for the more correct classification of A. rubescens and describes it as "A small, spreading snake-bark maple, the bark green striped on both sides, usually with 5 sharply toothed lobes, the terminal lobe tapered to a fine point." De Beaulieu in An Illustrated Guide to Maples (2003) doesn't list A. morrisonense or rubescens, but rather goes with A. caudatifolium Hyata (1911) which "grows in mountain forests on the island of Taiwan." So: three different specific epithets from three experts; oh well, I don't grow it anymore due to hardiness limitation, and every winter my A. morrisonense [sic] would barely survive but the bark would always split along the trunk.

Persea thunbergii

Robischon recounts Persea thunbergii in the Lauraceae family at Quarryhill, that it is "often used as a rootstock for grafting avocado selections, but also has a traditional use to stupefy fish for catching." I often wondered if my ex employees essenced their caffeine-sugary energy drinks with P. thunbergii. P. americana from Central America is the scion species used to produce avocado for food, while P. thunbergii is a large tree in the wild to 30m (almost 100' tall). I have seen the Asian species (Taiwan, Japan, China and South Korea) at the Rhododendron Species Botanic Garden in Washington state and I would love to have it in my arboretum. It is unremarkable for most of the year, but I greatly admired the rich mahogany-red new growth which appears in May. And, if I could acquire P. thunbergii I would probably throw a few logs into my Tualatin River fishing hole to see if it actually stupefies anything. That's the little boy that's always in me.

Robert Fortune

Pseudolarix amabilis

Pseudolarix amabilis

A nice photo of Quarryhill's Pseudolarix amabilis cones is presented in the yearbook, and I'm always interested to learn more about the "Chinese golden larch," since I have grown it in the past, and one older specimen remains in the Upper Gardens at Flora Farm. Alas, nothing was written, and I already know that Pseudolarix amabilis (meaning "beautiful") is a slow-growing, deciduous, medium-sized tree with a broad canopy. Cones develop and then disintegrate in one season, and according to Hillier, "On a large tree they stud the long, slender branches, resembling small, pale green artichokes, bloomy when young, reddish brown when ripe. E. China." Pseudolarix is a monotypic genus and it was introduced by the Scottish botanist, plant hunter and thief Robert Fortune in 1852, when his main purpose in China was to acquire tea plants (Camellia sinensis) and tea processing information on behalf of the British East India Company. Fortune was successful, though he would probably have been executed if caught, and so he helped found the tea-growing enterprise in India to the delight of most British citizens.

Pinus longaeva in the White Mountains

The California tour must have given the participants lasting memories of the other-worldly bristle cone (Pinus longaeva) pines near the top of the White Mountain Range on the eastern border near Nevada. Though covered in snow and inaccessible in winter, the air is dry most of the time, and many of the old specimens persist for hundreds of years as dead sculptures, every bit as interesting in death as when alive. Members visited the Schulman Grove at 10,000' where the "Methuselah tree" lives -- unsigned for its protection -- and at 4,852 years of age is known as the oldest non-clonal tree in the world. The old guy was examined by Edmund Schulman in 1957 by counting tree rings to determine that its germination date was 2,833 BC, and one can research precipitation patterns for over 4,000 years. The seeds are dispersed by "Clark's nutcracker" (Nucifraga columbiana), but one doesn't encounter too many young seedlings. Further up the road from Schulman is the Patriarch Grove which is at 11,000' in elevation. The road ends and tree-lovers stumble about in the surreal, bright, thin-air environment. There are a few Pinus flexilis -- the 'Rocky Mountain Limber pine" -- at the Patriarch grove, but most grow at a lower elevation. I suppose they could hybridize since I grow a P. flexilis - P. aristata cross.

Half Dome at Yosemite National Park

Pinus jeffreyi at Yosemite National Park

I have described Yosemite National Park in the past as the Disneyland of Nature, and even this grizzly-old Oregonian takes his hat off to the state we love to hate. A favorite place is Olmsted Point where one is treated with spectacular views south into the Tenaya Canyon, with the northside of Half Dome in the distance. From the parking lot you can see numerous glacial erratics and indeed Half Dome was carved by ice thousands of years ago. My favorite tree in all of Yosemite is a lone Pinus jeffreyi, growing out of a crack in the granite. To my amazement, considering the numerous tourists, the trunk was spared from vandalism for maybe hundreds of years. Then on my last visit ten years ago, a knuckle-dragging city dick had defaced it with his initials. I know he was male because certainly no woman would ever do such a thing. I suppose I would have murdered him if I caught him in the act, and thrown his body into the canyon; or maybe allow him to live, with dumb ass carved onto his forehead.

Juniperus occidentalis at Yosemite

Quercus vacciniifolia

One can easily and safely scramble up and down Yosemite's granite slopes, marvelling how trees can gain purchase and survive where you see almost no soil. Juniperus occidentalis subsp. australis (the "Sierra juniper"), with their warm reddish-tan trunks look like giant bonsai specimens. Where more soil is present the brushy "Huckleberry oak," Quercus vacciniifolia, can be seen. When single I once spent most of a day roaming the area around Olmsted Point, as happy as I've ever been...far away from the tourists, but relieved that I didn't get lost. Why does the name "Olmsted" ring a bell for a Yosemite "Point?" The site was named for landscape architects Frederick Law Olmsted and Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr., the foremost landscape designers of their time, including New York City's Central Park, and who championed the concept of National Parks for the bettermen of the American people. After their brief Yosemite adventure the IDS group descended from 8000' altitude into the Valley with its crowds, but were pampered for three nights at the historic Ahwahnee Hotel, a luxury I never felt I could afford.

Pinus balfouriana 'Horseshoe Pillar'

Pinus balfouriana 'Horseshoe Needle'

Pins balfouriana witch's broom

Of the three species of "Bristlecone pines," P. longaeva, P. aristata and P. balfouriana, the latter can be accessed from various eastern portals of the Sierra Nevada. I think it was on a previous IDS visit that the late JRP van Hoey Smith christened a particularly narrow tree 'Horseshoe Pillar'. That's not really a cultivar because at 9000' elevation there are a number of very narrow P. balfouriana in the same vicinity. Nevertheless the 'Horseshoe Pillar' -- named for the Horseshoe Lake trailhead -- made it into Conifers, The Illustrated Encyclopedia (on page 442) by D.M. van Gelderen and J.R.P. van Hoey Smith, a 1996 publication. No mention is made of the Horseshoe Lake range of P. balfouriana on the 2019 tour, but there is another photo of the species at Onion Valley on page 441, and the IDS did visit there in 2019. Onion Valley is in the John Muir Wilderness and other conifers include Pinus flexilis and Abies magnifica, according to Professor Robischon, and he also relates that the P. balfouriana species "can grow to an altitude of more than 3,300m (10,826') above sea level." At both of the rare P. balfouriana locations one might encounter witch's broom mutations in the canopies of the old specimens. Though it is forbidden to cut down or gather plant material from these locations, a dozen years ago a few harmless shoots found my pockets and I utilized them...for, um, research purposes. In the Conifers book, VHS says that P. balfouriana is "Unfortunately hard to propagate." He is right, and I've tried a number of rootstocks.

Keteleeria fortunei

One location that I have not been to previously is Humboldt State University, but the IDS participants were led on a tour of the campus "which holds an extensive collection of conifers." I have driven past the campus but I didn't notice unusual or exotic trees, but I'll put it on my to-do list, and hopefully a bright coed can lead me to the choice specimens. The campus features Keteleeria fortunei, a small evergreen conifer from south China with erect cones resembling the Abies genus. Hillier says "It needs a sheltered position and may be damaged by late spring frosts." One difference between Keteleeria and Abies is that the Abies (true fir) cones ripen and disintegrate in one season, but the Keteleeria cones ripen in the second year, then fall intact. The generic name honors J.B. Keteleer (1813-1903), a French-Belgic gardener-nurseryman.

Amentotaxus argotaenia

Another conifer at Humboldt -- hardy to 10 F -- is Amentotaxus formosana. I grow the genus in the greenhouse, but only the species argotaenia from China, not the Taiwan form. In any case, the "Catkin yew," in the Taxaceae family from Formosa (Taiwan) was once recognized as a variant of A. argotaenia, so there's not a lot of difference. The generic name is from ament or amentum for "catkin" and was coined by Robert Knud Friedrich Pilgher, a German conifer botanist, and the South American genus Pilgerodendron uviferum was named for him. We root Amentotaxus from hardwood cuttings in winter, and while they're not difficult to propagate we don't grow many, and I would never dare to attempt it outdoors in Oregon.

The General Sherman Sequoiadendron

Sequoia sempervirens

In various stages the participants witnessed Sequoia and Sequoiadendron, and if it was the first time for either, one stands stupefied at their enormity, with Sequoia being the tallest trees on earth and the Sequoiadendron being the most massive. The latter was onced placed in the Sequoia genus, but J.T. Buchholz of the University of Illinois segregated them in the 1950's. The similarity of the generic names still confuses many, as an author and historian from nearby Forest Grove thought -- and put in print -- that the local 150-year-old Sequoiadendron specimens were endemic to the California coast. The largest Sequoiadendron ("Giant Redwood"), the General Sherman tree, can be found growing in the Sequoia National Forest, to add to the novice's confusion. Another identity problem is that the "Coast Redwoods" (Sequoia) can produce Sequoiadendron-like foliage at the top which will litter the grounds beneath after a strong windstorm.

Metasequoia glyptostroboides

I know that most denizens of Forest Grove didn't follow the previous paragraph and really don't give a hoot about dendrological classification, but maybe simple education would help. At the Schulman Grove mentioned earlier a Pinus flexilis and a Pinus balfouriana were planted next to the visitor center entrance to help "educate" the public. Rogers Park in Forest Grove is popular with mothers and children. Across the street -- before the park even existed -- were two of the 150-year-old Giant Redwoods. One was cut down to save a beater house, while the remaining tree still stands in front of the Lutheran Church, and hopefully divine intervention will allow it to remain. Twenty years ago I donated a good sized Metasequoia glyptostroboides to the park and it is doing well. After all Metasequoia used to be native in Oregon, if you can believe that. So, the park itself and close by contain two-thirds of the Sequoia genera, and I offed a Sequoia sempervirens to complete the cast, and I even imagined that a nice interpretive sign would help educate the moms and kids, but I was told that there "wasn't enough room" by city functionaries. There is absolutely enough room, but so much for city planners.

The last page of the yearbook is an account about the IDS with its history and purpose. "The aims of the Society are to promote the study of woody plants and shrubs and to conserve and protect those that are rare and endangered." Amen.

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Thursday, November 12, 2020

IDS Tour – California 2019 Part 2

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