Just 4 blocks from my home is Moravian Cemetery, a fairly large and old cemetery with quite a variety of trees. Strolling through the cemetery the largest trees are a couple chunky tulips, many red and white oaks, a ginko, a few fat european beech, and of course the ubiquitous london planetrees. None of those are exceptional for their species and open environment, except perhaps a london plane and a scarlet oak that may be of exceptional girth (due to the very cold temperatures today I kept actual girth measurement to a minimum). More interesting are the cemetery's uncommon nonnative species.
It'll be easier to parse out what's present here when the leaves start emerging, but I took the time to measure and observe a few trees on my way through the cemetery, headed to High Rock Park. One specimen new to me was a european Silver Fir (Abies alba) measuring 76.6' tall. Next to this tree were a few Western Redcedars and a Douglas Fir. The Western Redcedar measured 8.4'cbh and the Douglas Fir 6.5'cbh. I neglected to measure their height as the silver fir distracted me, but I'll certainly get those next time.
The next very interesting tree is a magnolia of some sort. I'm hoping someone here can help me with the identification. Measurements- 51.2'/7.3'cbh
- You can zoom in on this image and see the winter buds.
- A seedpod
- Bark and trunk form.
- View of the branching structure.
As I got towards the back of the cemetery at the edge of the woods, I noted many American Bladdernut husks on the ground. I have yet to learn the form of the shrub/tree they came from. There was an additional mystery tree here, about a dozen trees up to a foot thick and maybe 50 feet tall, with thickly ridged light gray bark that I would have assumed to be cottonwood- except that their bare branches bore many little clusters of dark shriveled fruits. I'm really lost with that one, for now, but I photographed an unfamiliar leaf from the ground nearby.
- The unfamiliar leaf. Or it could be beech. Just seemed a little different.
