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| Trunk of the sycamore 'on the right' |
I was hoping that if I waited, I'd have sunny pictures for this month's tree following. But it is cold. It is windy. It keeps raining. Some of my very tiniest flower seedlings have keeled over and died. I'd better just get on with it!
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Sycamore tree 'on the left'
The bark isn't as red in 'real life' as it looks in this picture. |
I'm 'following' the progress of two sycamore trees through the year. They are very different from each other and it may mean I should be calling one of them a 'maple' - but they are sycamores to me . . . and I feel I have been acting as nurse maid to them. For weeks on end they dropped blossom. It was thick under foot. Each day I swept it up. And each day more fell. Then suddenly it stopped. The amount falling didn't ease off gradually, it was abrupt. One morning, I went out with my broom - and there was nothing to sweep. There was a pause for a few days. Then a big showering down of little helicopter wings - seeds which weren't going to mature. I swept them up too. That lasted three days or so then they stopped falling. I lent on my broom and thought 'now we wait for autumn'. It's not that I am particularly house proud (though Halifax is a very litter-full place and sweeping up after the trees goes along with gathering rubbish blown here from humans) it's that my short front path is one big stone slab which gets slippery easily and once you start sweeping, you just keep going. I keep thinking how I'd like to be a street sweeper. It's hard work but you get to see where you've been. A bit like ironing. You start with something crumpled and in a little while it's all flat.
I can imagine following these trees next year too. I should have been paying more attention to what the rejected seeds looked like. Instead, I just swept them up. But I have noticed how different the trunks are. (I distinguish the trees by calling them 'the one on the left' and 'the one on the right'.)
And during this time, ripe seeds which fell as 'helicopters' or 'keys' in the autumn have been growing; some in my window boxes. They can't stay there! In pulling them out I gave us the opportunity to see what a complete tree looks like, roots and all.
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| Uprooted sycamore seedling, leaves facing upwards |
With the leaves facing upwards.
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| Sycamore seedling with underside of leaves showing. |
With the leaves facing down.
See the distinctive seed leaves sticking out at right angles from the stem? When you see these in your window boxes or coming up through the pavement, you'll know you'll need to pull them out. They are happy to grow more or less anywhere and they grow huge!
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| A tree or bush seedling - but what? (Upper side of leaves showing.) |
And there was another tree in one of the window boxes too. Idiotically, I didn't notice it was missing horizontal seed leaves and for a while thought I was seeing what the two kinds of sycamore looked like when little. No. The seed from a completely different tree had blown in and grown.
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| Unknown tree or bush seedling. Underside of leaves showing. |
Part of me would have like to grow it to see what it turned into but I really don't have room. Perhaps someone will know what it might have been? Whatever it was, here we have a complete 'tree' from its uttermost height to its longest toe of a root. Bother! I've not put a ruler there again! I'll become a better scientist one day! (The sycamore seedling was about fourteen inches long when uprooted. The other, a little shorter.)
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| Sycamore seedling integrated with its shadow. |
As ever though, there's more to see.
First the 'Peter Pan Image' - the seedling at one with its shadow. Not only is this interesting as a pattern, its outline gives hints at what else might be there. A slight protrusion . . .
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| Aphid on sycamore seedling. |
. . . the shadow of an aphid.
Of course there's an aphid. Is there anywhere where there isn't an aphid?
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Brown circle on seed leaves
of sycamore seedling. |
And here's a mystery. (Isn't there always a mystery too?) A brown circle. I don't know what this ring is. Do you? (It could, er, could it be where someone dripped a drop of coffee on it? At first I thought that was what it was but now I don't think so because the colour is not 'filled in'.)
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30 DAYS WILD
Today's Random Act of
Wildness is to
examine a tree. |
That's tree following for today. More about these sycamores to come.
13 comments:
You seem to have those sycamore trees sussed Lucy. I just know they can as you say, grow like the clappers. The tree is very attractive to aphids and in turn phylloscopus warblers - Willow, Chiff, Wood. and eastern ones like Yellow browed and Pallas'.
Great post, Lucy, very well written and informative, with lots of incentive to delve further into the biology of these trees. The Sugar Maple (Acer saccharum) in our backyard has been dropping leaves furiously of late, but I think this is in response to drought. As for being a street sweeper, you do see the results of your work, but I am not sure I would want it as a full time job!
Hi Lucy, that's a lot of interesting information on the trees. I love trees and swept up plenty of leaves in my youth. I think most people enjoy trees, I can't imagine life without them, it probably wouldn't be very good. I look forward to part 2. Have a wonderful day and stay safe.
Excellent post! I sort of like the idea of being a street sweeper too, quite meditative.
Sycamores up here are absolutely covered in aphids this year!
Hello,
Great information on your tree following.. We live next to a forest, the leaves here are always on the ground. I hope some birds come by and eat the aphids. Enjoy your day, happy weekend!
Hello Phil. There is still so much to learn about these trees. I may have got fed up with them by the end of the Tree Following year but I'm also serious that I might go round with them a second time now I know more of what I am looking for.
Unfortunately there are very few birds here, even for an urban environment. I don't know why. It may be that there are more attractive places for them to live, not too far distant.
Hello David. I'm a bit fed up with the weather being so cold for June but it's probably good that we are having non-stop (but mostly gentle) rain here at present. May was very dry.
Hello Bill. Sweeping leaves can be great fun, can't it? Though there are an awful lot of them on these two trees!
Hello Crafty Green Poet. I'm wondering if anyone has estimated how many aphids there would be on a mature sycamore. It would be a mind boggling number.
Hello Eileen in MD. It feels very strange putting so much effort into sweeping leaves. On the ground, mulching down into the soil seems the right way for them to go! But this is a very urban area and there is no earth for them to mulch into. They just go squidgy and slimy and get all muddled up with crisp wrappers and plastic drinks bottles. In the autumn I dispose of some of them myself and leave others in piles for the council to gather up with one of their little machines. It's then good to see children bouncing in the crisp piles for as long as they are there. In non-virus times I wouldn't have to put so much effort into sweeping up the blossom etc. either - but the council isn't being able to do as much street cleaning as usual (which isn't a lot in the side streets even when there isn't a virus) so I'm 'doing my bit'. (Enjoying it!)
Fascinating details as always!
The bane of our lives here is ash seedlings, but at least they are easy to pull up.
I'm so glad you are getting out and about again these days.
All the best :)
Good post and pictures. It'll be interesting to follow these trees through the year. xx
Hello Lucy, the bark on these trees has a rugged texture. I wouldn't want to be a road sweeper in wet weather, that can't be fun, I understand what you mean about getting out to see things though, I recently thought how nice it must be to be a delivery person being allowed to move around during lockdown. Frances
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