We climb them, jump from them and sometimes get married by them. They come in all kinds of colors, heights, widths and textures and we drive by them everyday not knowing their names. It’s trees. Wonderful shade giving, wind blocking beautiful trees. Now I’ll tell you some of their names and a few interesting things about them.

 

Sabal palms also known as sabal palmetto, cabbage palm and swamp cabbage grow all along the Southeastern coastline of the United States. They are even found along Virginia and stretch southward along the coastal States all through Florida and hug the Gulf coastal plains into Texas. Salt resistant they can even grow when the lower portion is submerged at high tide. Also they’ve been observed withstanding temperatures as low as 8.6 degrees fahrenheit.

The tallest can reach ninety feet and are sometimes called Century palms because it’s thought they can live up to two to three hundred years. They begin forming the round palm leaf top at about 25 feet as the dead palm fronds fall off

leaving the “basketweave” caused by the flat, jutting “Y” shaped leaf bases that go up the tree. It loses all the leaf bases as it reaches maturity leaving a rough, fibrous trunk surface.

The top of the tree or heart where the young green palm fronds begin developing is called the terminal bud. As the fronds grow outward the bud or heart gets larger and can be eaten like the center of an artichoke of cabbage. However, cutting out the heart kills the tree. 

The straight round trunks have been used as pilings for docks and for building forts and in the past brooms and scrubbing brushes were made from the palm fronds. Sabal palms are also the state tree of Florida and South Carolina and are on both State flags. On rare occasions the trunk will fork and have two round tops which looks kind of strange.

People sometimes wonder why palm trees bend. It is thought that sand erosion and wind may be the cause but there is another interesting possibility I’ll cover later in this article. Before moving on to other trees I’d just like to say Sabal palms are one of my favorite trees. The graceful way they sway silhouetted against the flat Gulf with an orange sun dipping in the water brings back gentle memories of Fall. 

 The next tree is the Wild Date Palm known by botanists as phoenix sylvestris. Native to India and Pakistan it is found in flat lands subject to monsoons and in the United States it grows in areas where the temperature doesn’t fall below 15 degrees.

Slow growing they can reach heights of 50 feet with the top leafy part reaching diameters of 25 feet. The trunk is generally thicker than a Sabal palm with widths reaching up to one and a half feet and possible two feet. The branch or petiole that grows from the trunk is approximately 3 feet long and pointed. This grows into the leaflets or palms that grow on opposite sides of the branch.

The entire length of the branch from the trunk to the tip can reach 10 feet and the blue green palms or leaflets can reach up to 18 inches and are long and wispy. Along the thick trunk are flattened oblong bumps that curve out then down slightly. An elephant’s toenails come to mind and the grey texture of the trunk looks like the foot and leg.

A twisting mat of yellowish roots reach out of the top where the branches grow out of the trunk. These are called inflorescences and at the top of them small white blossoms grow. There ovated fruit about an inch long grow in orange clusters and turn dark red to purple when ripe. In India sugar as well as alcohol is made from the flowers and the fruit is made into jelly or preserves.

Whenever I see a Wild Date Palm I imagine a man in white turban and baggy white clothes riding by on a huge grey elephant.

 

 

Southern Live Oak

 

This tree grows from southeastern Virginia then down along the North Carolina coastal area. They spread out more inland in South Carolina, grow across Southern Georgia and all of Florida. From Florida they grow along the Gulf Coast and spread out in the interior of Texas.

It’s also called the Virginia live oak, Plateau oak and Escarpment live oak. They are classified as nearly evergreen even though they replace their small dark green leaves over a period of a few weeks in Spring. Their narrow pointed acorns provide food for a wide variety of wildlife including birds, squirrels and black bears. The grey moss that hangs down from their limbs is used for bird nests.

Southern Live Oaks are fast growing but slow down with age and their trunks may reach close to full diameter within 70 years. When live oaks have enough room to grow their massive anaconda like limbs can create tree canopies or crowns 150 feet in diameter. That is close to fifty yards or half the length of a football field. Even larger canopies are possible since they never stop growing and some trees in the U.S. are estimated between several hundred to over a thousand years old.

 

 

 

      Some interesting facts:

 

• Live oaks were used to make the curved part of the hull in old sailing ships
• The USS Constitution made of tough Southern Live Oak survived numerous cannon shots in the War of 1812 and was nicknamed “Old Ironsides”.
• Indians bent young Live Oak limbs to make trail markers.
• Wind can cause young live oak trunks to twist in order to provide more strength. They continue to be twisted even as the tree grows older.
• When crowded among other trees Live Oaks will grow their limbs toward sunlight sometimes making unusual twists and bends. This is also generally true of other trees.

 

Some notable Southern Live Oaks

 

• “The Seven Sisters Oak”

 Located in Mandeville, Louisiana it’s age is estimated between 500 and 1000 years old. It was determined the largest U.S. Southern Live Oak in 2016. It’s girth at half a meter of height was 39.6 feet and it’s height was 57 feet. In 2019 it’s canopy or limb spread exceeded 153 feet.

 

      *     “Cellon Oak”

 

This is the largest recorded Live Oak in Florida and is the logo of Alachua County. It’s girth is 30 feet, height is 85 feet and the canopy or crown is 160 feet.

 

• “Angel Oak”

 

Located on Jones Island near Charleston, South Carolina it is named after the Angel family estate. It is estimated at 400 to 500 years old and is 66.5 feet tall with a girth of 28 feet. It’s branch length or crown is 187 feet making it the largest in the U.S.

 

       *    “Big Tree”

 

This is possibly the oldest Southern Live Oak or even tree in the world. The Texas Forest Service first estimated it to be over a thousand years old then it was more recently estimated as closer to 2,000 years old. Located near Lamar, Texas and close to the Gulf of Mexico it survived a brutal Union Naval bombardment in the Civil War that leveled Lamar leaving only an old Catholic chapel and the “Big Tree”.

Climatologists believe it has survived somewhere between 40 and 50 major hurricanes and numerous floods, droughts, floods, droughts and wildfires. It’s girth or circumference is over 35 feet and the height is over 45 feet. The crown is spread 90 feet. It’s girth makes it the second largest Live Oak in Texas which is unusual because the almost constant Gulf breeze limits the height of coastal Live Oaks.

One thing I really like about Live Oaks is early mornings and white shafts of light streaming through the branches. Puts me in mind of stain glass windows in churches and the great Transcendent.

 

Bald Cypress 

 

Also called Swamp Cypress, Gulf Cypress and Tidewater Red Cypress or just Red Cypress it is the State Tree of Louisiana. It is found in swampy areas along the southern coastline of the U.S. It has a dark reddish color compared to white and yellow Cypress in drier areas and can reach heights up to 145 feet with a trunk diameter of three to six feet. 

Often surrounded by Cypress knees, knobby, brown root like structures that stick out of the water, the tree’s bark is greyish to reddish brown and is thin and fibrous giving it a stringy texture. It’s lacy russet needles ,which are long, stringy like leaves, drop in the Winter and the tree grows new green needles in the Spring.

It is often used for building. The original doors of St. Peter’s Basilica were cypress and over 1,100 years old when torn down in the 1500s for reconstruction. The reason for the durability is because the tree has an oil called cypressene that preserves the wood from insects and decay. The oil is not sticky so the wood can be sanded and easily worked. 

These qualities allow it to be made into furniture such as cedar chests which can last for centuries and have a very nice smell. Just ask someone that has owned one. Sometimes the wood will have scattered darker spots caused by fungi and it is called pecky cypress. This is often used for walls and furniture because it gives a rustic, weathered look.

The general consensus is that cypress knees make the tree more stable in the often loose, muddy soil. It was long thought that the knees help bring more oxygen into the tree but laboratory tests have debunked that. Mangrove trees have a similar structure. 

So there you have it, a brief exploration of trees and maybe next time when you pass one you will know it’s name and appreciate a little more those silent sentinels that seem to watch over our daily lives.