Never before in the past 38 years while living in Door County
have I seen the tree flowers, followed by the emergence of
leaves, "on hold" for so many days due to the cold
weather. Finally today, May 25, we look into the woods and the
small leaves of the ironwoods, sugar maples, paper birches and
others are starting to appear. Not so the ashes, however, for
they will be one of the last trees to leaf out – and the first to
lose their leaves this fall.
It was while hiking with friends in a Southern Door woods a
year ago this May that we admired a huge towering sugar maple
from a distance, growing in a small open field bordering a swamp,
and decided to examine it more closely. Much to our surprise it
measured slightly more than 10 feet in circumference. We didn’t
take the time to calculate its average crown spread and its
height but both were approaching record status for our county.
This is an ideal time to go in search of large record-size
trees. The foliage hasn’t been fully formed yet and the big
trees aren’t so hidden from view by surrounding trees. What
never ceases to amaze me is how much larger a tree really is when
you are right up against its trunk.
I’ve always considered a sugar maple that is at least 10 feet
in circumference (measured at four and a half feet above the
ground) a big specimen. The first one I measured in the county
that was over 10 feet was in Frank Butts’ woods bordering Clark
Lake. Starting in the mid-1960’s Frank and I enjoyed many hikes
there together and also with special groups and we always made a
point of visiting that tree, also a great favorite of his.
Several other 10-foot specimens are growing in private woods,
a few on Harvey and Rita Stahl’s property north of Ellison Bay, a
beauty in the Schoenbrunn Woods near the Mink River Estuary, and
the largest maple, around 11 feet 5 inches in circumference, at
Whitefish Dunes State Park.
I’m sorry to have to admit that none of these awesome trees
would qualify to be in the state’s top ten sugar maples in size.
The record, growing in Portage County, measures 16 feet 9 inches
around and is 80 feet tall while the number 10 tree is 12 feet in
circumference, 85 feet tall and has an average crown spread of 76
feet.
The tallest of the top ten sugar maples is the number-three
tree that grows in Green County. It towers up to 126 feet and
measures 11 feet 7 inches in circumference. What an enormous
green "fountain!"
Three numbers are combined in the total points for a tree: its
circumference in inches, plus height in feet, plus one-fourth of
the average crown spread. In other words it is not always the
tree having the greatest circumference that is the state’s
record.
A towering sugar maple tree viewed against the blue sky on a
sunny day in mid May presents a lovely picture. The tree’s dark
branches and trunk are still clearly visible revealing its
handsome silhouette. Adding great sparkle to this fountain of
life are the thousands of inconspicuous, light green,
long-stemmed floral clusters appearing for all the world like
foliage. The leaves are beginning to form above the dangling
flowers but are still very small while the miniature blossoms
dance in the gentle spring winds, releasing their pollen into
the air.
In fact the flowers of many trees do not attract insects and
depend entirely upon the wind to scatter the pollen from the male
(staminate) flowers to the female (pistillate) flowers. The more
conspicuous tree flowers, such as apple and cherry, are so-called
"perfect" flowers containing both female and male
structures. They require insects for pollination.
Surprisingly a lot of people don’t think of woodland trees as
being flowering plants. Mention the rose family and some of its
members, such as the apple, cherry, serviceberry, American plum,
hawthorn (thornapple), and mountain ash, and immediately they
realize the obvious fact.
Fruits, including acorns and beechnuts, are the end-products
of flowers. Drive through practically any part of Door County
this weekend and you will be thrilled at the thousands of
spectacular apple and cherry trees along with the native species
of those trees belonging to the incredible rose family.
As I have told many of my students during spring hikes in past
years, "Don’t always look downward to see flowers. Glance
toward the sky as well." Tree flowers are fascinating to
study and deserve our greatest respect. They add elegance and
character to the landscape and eventually will help feed
countless numbers of animals – including people!
The enormous size and towering crown of this
sugar maple
tree whose trunk is over 10 feet in circumference is clearly visible
when the tree is in flower.
This column appeared in the Door County Advocate
on 05/31/2002.
© Copyright 2002 Roy Lukes. All rights reserved.
