[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
TT: Tree-top shrubs - an epiphyte?
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
To TreeTown -
Last week I enjoyed a long overdue road-trip down the US east coast
to visit my beloved Live Oaks in picturesque Charleston SC. Along
the way my traveling buddy, Lizard (that's his Ham radio handle, OK)
noticed leafy growth high up in the bare trees that I had missed and
couldn't explain. It was as if there were round shrubs living in
the upper reaches of the trees, perhaps 2-feet in diameter (<1m). We
did not have the chance to investigate, and it seemed that these plants
were so far up that they could not have been rooted to the ground,
like an ivy might be. These were in Virginia and the Carolinas.
They must be awfully common but I've never encountered them before.
And while on the subject of suspected epiphytes, the classic splendor
of the SE US is in large part defined by their Live Oaks draped in
Spanish Moss. The popular literature down there asserts that both
are native to the region. Another way of stating this is that these
2 species have been co-evolving there for thousands of years or longer.
In terms of 'Western History,' our tempestuous times back to the Civil
War and further can't even span the life of a single Live Oak tree ...
Richard@Flora.Com
TreeTown ListOp
Baltimore USDA Zone 7
==============================(TreeTown)===============================
Follow-Ups: