Jaberwky17
Shohin
I collected what I thought was an oak in NW Minnesota late last fall. Without leaves I was not sure of species. While on a road trip today in NE North Dakota I spotted a whole bunch of the same tree – chock full of leaves this time. Clearly NOT oak, but in fact what appears to clearly be elm. Which makes sense now that I think about the branch structure on my “oak”. Research tells me the only elms prevalent in North Dakota (and I assume right across the river in Minnesota) are the American Elm and Siberian Elm. These are far too small, scrubby, and gnarled to be americana.
Sorry for the green explosion in the pics but it’s pretty heavy growing season! These specimens are about 18”-24” tall. Leaves are naturally tiny, bark is mottled with lichen and deadwood galore. Not a lot of nebari, and lower trunks are all pretty straight, but there are lots of specimens with branching down below the grassline. From what I can understand, this particular area is public land, but not protected. I plan to carefully and inconspicuously mark a few while they have leaves and then come back in the spring. I can collect anything from a small finger sized trunk with a ton of broom branching to a larger wrist-sized trunk and choices of deadwood spires and shari.
I love the tiny elm leaves and lichen – I will probably gather a bigger one with deadwood, a medium one that is size appropriate for the leaves, and a couple of small ones to try to keep tiny. Fun stuff.
Sorry for the green explosion in the pics but it’s pretty heavy growing season! These specimens are about 18”-24” tall. Leaves are naturally tiny, bark is mottled with lichen and deadwood galore. Not a lot of nebari, and lower trunks are all pretty straight, but there are lots of specimens with branching down below the grassline. From what I can understand, this particular area is public land, but not protected. I plan to carefully and inconspicuously mark a few while they have leaves and then come back in the spring. I can collect anything from a small finger sized trunk with a ton of broom branching to a larger wrist-sized trunk and choices of deadwood spires and shari.
I love the tiny elm leaves and lichen – I will probably gather a bigger one with deadwood, a medium one that is size appropriate for the leaves, and a couple of small ones to try to keep tiny. Fun stuff.
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