Will, You had a nice trip! I too need to become familiar with the coastal southern pines. I have wanted to visit a longleaf forest for some time and those sand pines looked cool. I have confused young loblollies for slash and need a good look at one of those too.
James P. On Jan 4, 4:16 pm, "Will Blozan" <[email protected]> wrote: > ENTS, > > My recent trip to Florida allowed me to measure a few species I don't see > regularly. Some of these are likely height records for the moment. > > Loblolly-bay (Gordonia lasianthus) is quickly becoming one of my favorite > trees! The tropical foliage, gorgeous flowers and impressive thick bark add > up to a beautiful tree. I did not find any specimens larger than those > reported by Neil Pederson (63 cm) but a 17.1" (43.4 cm) dbh tree was still > impressive to me! The tallest I found was 65.6 feet tall and 14.6" dbh. > > Tallest Loblolly-bay growing under slash pine (?) at Lake Lizzie Nature > Preserve, Saint Cloud, FL > > Bark detail of Gordonia > > Live oak (Quercus virginiana) has always impressed me with their huge > spreads and girths but little is known about how tall they can get. I have > measured them to 66 feet tall on Edisto Island, SC but suspected they could > get taller. A visit to Bok Tower Gardens in Lake Wales, Fl offered a "wide > spread" of nice oaks to survey. These oaks were likely planted in the late > 1920's and have grown to fairly impressive sizes already. One tree caught my > eye and a solid laser shot yielded 35.7" dbh X 93.3 feet tall. As far as I > know this is the tallest ENTS has recorded. Larry? > > Tall live oak at Bok Tower Gardens, Lake Wales, Fl > > A side note about Bok Tower Gardens. From many, many miles the huge tower of > Bok Tower Gardens, housing an impressive carillon, could be seen totally > dominating the landscape. Helping to accent the height of the tower is the > fact that it sits atop one of the highest points in Florida at 294 feet > elevation. The brochure handed out at the admission gate gave some > information on the tower, including its weight. But to my dismay the height > of the tower was not listed anywhere! Well, of course I had to measure it! > 205 feet to the top of the sculptures on the crest. It looked taller. > > 205 foot tall Bok Tower > > Longleaf pine (Pinus palustris) is a ubiquitous southern pine and a fine > grove caught my eye in Saint Cloud, Fl. A small park contained a specimen > 21.2" dbh X 94.3 feet. I am sure they get way taller but there is a start! > > Slash pine (Pinus elliottii) is a species I am not familiar with. In > hindsight I think I did measure a few mistakenly thinking they were longleaf > pine. Ugh. Anyway, mid eighty-footers. OMG! What a beautiful species! > > Will F. Blozan > > President, Eastern Native Tree Society > > President, Appalachian Arborists, Inc. > > image008.jpg > 64KViewDownload > > image009.jpg > 85KViewDownload > > image010.jpg > 89KViewDownload > > image011.jpg > 54KViewDownload > > image012.jpg > 67KViewDownload > > image013.jpg > 75KViewDownload > > image014.jpg > 84KViewDownload --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Eastern Native Tree Society http://www.nativetreesociety.org You are subscribed to the Google Groups "ENTSTrees" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/entstrees?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
