March 31, 1963 - Early Spring Flowers of Native Trees and Shrubs Indigenous to the Bayard Cuttinting ArboretumSwamp Maple Black Oak Tulip
Flowering Trees
Exclusive Sunday Review sketch by Dennis Puliston
Ioe u s on Nature by Paul Stoutenburgh, Cutchogue
This week's article is written
by Henry Nye, Director of the
B a y a r d Cutting Arboretum in
Oakdale. Surely with Spring upon
us there is no better place for
us to visit in the coming weeks.
When you read this article ydu
will get a hint of what's in stdire
for you at the Arboretum. ps.
GUEST WRITER: HENRY NYE
Early Spring Flowers
of Native Trees and Shrubs
Indigenous to the Bayard Cutting
Arboretum
Spring, arrives in the northern
hemisphere on the afternoon of
March 20. In the weeks preceding
the advent of spring, there are
numerous signs of the approarh-
irug vernal season.. Willow trees
ailcng the Ccnnetquot River, the
eastern boundary of the Arbore-
tum, turn yelllow -green and their
buds burst their scales as "the
silly kittens crawl out of t h e i r
winter overcoats."
April ushers in great changes
in nature. Nature gets a head
start each sprung by buds that
have been well developed during
the previous season. The beech,
the maple and hickory are
are all ready for the first days
of mild weather to 'begin their
seasonal activity. Many of the en-
larged buds on trees are flowers
buds whirler come out before the
cleaves develop.
Spring can be fickle, however,
with some evidences of advanced
growth, but later, following sev-
eral weeks of cold weather, the
season is retarded. It r a r e l y
fa:ls, by June first, for most of
our native plants to flower "on
time." Although the actual date
when trees and shrubs f l o w e r
vary from year to year., by as
much as two weeks, their se-
quence of bloom. remains t h e
same. If one is wise a b o u t
nature's timetable, he will watch
for the first showing of maple
buds to tell if it is safe to plant
peas; and corn when the o a k
leaves are as - -large as squdgrel
panes.
At the Bayard Cutting Arbore-
tum, in Great River, along the
fresh water ponds and on the
wettest ground in e a r l y April
watch for the changing, • beauty
of the Swamp Maples. It is one
of our most abundant n a t i v e
trees and thtrugh attractive at
any season of the year with its
smooth silver -gray branches and
almost black lower :trunk, it is
the p nk or reddish flowers mir-
rored in the pond's and river that
create unusual spring. magic.
The first of our native shrubs
to bloom is the allspice or spice
bush, Lindera aestivale, that may
be found growing in wet places.
The small greenish-yellow flowers
open in early April at the Arbore-
turn. Look for them in the Wild
Flower area, growing close to the
small streamlets that empty into
the fresh water ponds.
In late April, along the river
walk that leads to Breezy Island,
the Shadblow, Amelanchier cana-
densis, is covered with white
flowers in upright clusters, either
before or after the leaves have
formed. The leaves are silver -
gray as they unfold.
In early May, the noblest of
all the native trees in the Arbore-
tum, the black oaks, Q u e r c u s
velutina, located in Oak Park,
the park like area adjoindng the
parking fields, open their stam-
inate flowers of slender pendulous
catk''ns. The oak flowers appear
when the daffodils are in flower.
You will see the "birders" train-
ing their binoculars on the oaks
where numerous. insects attract
the migrating w a r b l e r s. The
White, scarlet and post oaks are
also native American tree found
growing in Oak Park.
Around the middle of May, the
White'Fknvering Dogwood, Cornus
florida, produces masses of white
bracts (not actually flowers) two
to four itches in diameter. Al-
though a native tree along the
north shore of Long Island, it is
not indigenous to the s o u t h
shore and is actually an intro-
duced tree, in the Arboretum.
This species is easily one of the
most ornamental of all t r e e s
-native to the United States. Flow-
ering Dogwood cut for commerc-
ial purposes is used in the man-
ufacture of shuttles for textile
weaving. This wood is utilized
because it remains smooth under
the constant rubbing of t h e
threads. The least roughness of
a shuttle meant a broken thread
and stoppage of the loom. The
hardness of the wood is responsi-
ble for both its ecnimon a n d
generic names. In earlier days
the wood was used in making
skewers for roasting meat, hence
the name dlagwood (dogwood)
from the English dagge, a dagger.
The generic name was derived
from the Latin, cornu, horn, in
allusion to the hardness of the
wood.
One of the native shrubs that
may be found throughout t Ile
low- lying areas in the Wild
Flower area is the Wild Raisin,
ViIburnum cassanoides. Although
the Wild Raisin is normally a
plant found growing in wet areas,
it will adapt itself readily to drier
soils. The leaves somewhat re-
semble the Mountain L a u r e 1.
However, Viburnum cassanoides
is deoiduous and has s ma, 11,
creamy white flowers in umbrella-
like clusters in the early part of
June.
The Tulip -tree, Lirodendron tu-
lipifera, , is another, interesting
native tree of the A:rb Mj nd
many of our visitors 'have'd
us that the specimen on the main
lawn is their icholice for the .nicest
tree in the Arboretum. T h e r e
are but two species of tuliptrees
in the world, our native species
and one from, Ohina, a m u c h_
smaller tree. The flowers seen
on tuldptrees growing in the forest
are seen with difficulty, but if
you examine a flower near at
hand, ycu will understand the
reason for its common name.
The greenish- yellow and orange
flower certainly does resemble a
softly colored tulip. It was once
thought to re- sernble the L i 1 y,
hence its name Liriodendron, the
Lily -tree. The flowers cane in
early June.
Still another native tree, highly
aromatic, like its close relative
the Spice Busch, the Sassafras,
Sassafras albidum, has yellow,
rather insignificant flowers, that
c bme in early June. However, the
tree may be enjoyed more for
its fine autumn colors, varying
from br,'iglht yellow to orange and
red, and take pleasure in t he
"mitten" leaves, with one or two
thumbs, or l i k e a baby's, no
thumbs at all.
See you at the Arboretum!
FIELD OBSERVATIONS
Cecelia Beckwith reports:
Shelter Island — March 22
Osprey
Stanley KdroPeski reports:
Orient — March 25
Osprey
Dennis Puleston reports:
Brookhaven
3/10 Field Sparrow
3/14 Ipswich Sparrow
3/15 Catbird
3/14 Ruddy Duck. (25)
3/16 -19 Carolina Wren
3/19 Rough - legged Hawk
daily Pine Siskins (110)
3/25 Hooded Mergansers (3)
Yaphank
3/16 Golden-crowned Kinglets (5)
3/16 Wood Duck (2)
3/16 Woodcock (5)
3/23 Brown Creepers (2)
3/23 Woodcock (5)
Seton Hall Pond, Patchogue
daily Shoveler (2)
3/22 Rusty Blackbirds (5)
3 /Z3 Tree Swallows (12)
E Patchogue
3/22 Solitary SandRipe,r
Cutting Arboretum
3/24 Carolina Wren
3/24 Mute Swan (nesting)
Judd Bennett reports:
East MaWon — March 24
Rusty Blackbirds