MaRose Dendrology Walk

MaRose Dendro Tour Test

MaRose Dendrology Walk

Unity, Maine 04988, United States

Created By: Sophie MaRose

Tour Information

Dendrology Tour of 139 Clark Road.

Tour Overview:
This tour will bring you on a short, easy walk around the more accessible parts of this property. This property is located at 139 Clark Road in Unity, Maine and public access is not frowned on as long as you let someone know you're coming ahead of time. This location is in central Maine, where the northern Spruce-Fir forest and the more southerly deciduous forests meet in what is known as the transitional zone. Both forest types can be seen on the property deeper into the woods.

However, this tour takes you from the top of the driveway where it meets Clark Road down through the front yard, around the house to the backyard, and then back up front to the driveway again.

For a bit more information on the forest surrounding the house:

The physiography is characterized by formations caused by glacial advance and retreat. This makes the landscape more jagged, with hills and valleys abundant. The forest around my house is a mixed forest in the transitional zone between the spruce-fir forests of northern Maine and the more southerly deciduous forests. It is characterized by two distinct stands, one a mix of northern white cedar, spruce, fir, and occasional deciduous trees, and the other a deciduous stand with the occasional eastern white pine.

The coniferous stand is a wet area, possibly a coniferous seepage forest. There is a lot of runoff to the area and an underground aquifer that keeps the ground wet year-round. Species in stand 1 consist mainly of white spruce, red spruce, balsam fir, and northern white cedar, with the occasional yellow birch, and with larch (Larix laricina) and some white ash and eastern white pine scattered near the edge before it turns to a small hedge of speckled alders and then into the backyard. This stand has an understory of blackberries, seedling balsam fir, white ash, and other trees, some scattered maple-leaf viburnum, and a mix of non-woody species.

The second stand is on the ridge above the house sloping downwards towards the coniferous stand, and this is mainly a mix of sugar maple, red maple, northern red oak, quaking aspen, and american beech with some other species mixed in. Other species include edge species such as Bebb's willow, black locust, and gray birch, as well as some paper birch and wild apples mixed in deeper into the forest. The understory of this stand is mainly seedlings of the aforementioned trees as well as some smaller shrubs, blackberries, invasive morrow's honeysuckle, and non-woody species.

If you decide to venture into the forest keep this in mind and see if you can note the area where one stand transitions to the other!

What to Bring:

Whatever you want! This is a simple walk around the accessible areas of the property. However, if you take some of the suggestions within the tour and venture into the woods long pants for tick protection and protection from thorny plants may be useful. Boots are also useful if you want a closer look at the Larix laricina you'll see from Point of Interest 27. That area in the forest can be a bit wet, and you'll definitely encounter thorns on the way in.

I always recommend bringing some water, although water is easily accessible at this location.

Also, bring a field guide to identify species not explicitly shown in the tour! I recommend The Forest Trees of Maine.

You're welcome to bring snacks, too, although if you're here during the summer or fall there will be wild fruits to snack on including blackberries and raspberries, wild strawberries (look down!), and apples.


Tour Map

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What You'll See on the Tour

Across the driveway from the lilac, near the roadside, are a cluster of wild apple trees, Malus domestica. These seedling grown apples are distinct varieties found nowhere else, since apples are extreme heterozygotes. If you're here in the ... Read more
Directly adjacent to the apple trees are Eastern White Pines - Pinus strobus - these are the state tree of Maine and were and are an important tree in the ecosystems of the state. They colonize old fields and open areas, grow large, and o... Read more
This is just one of the Black Cherries - Prunus serotina - you will find as you take this walk. This one, in the ditch adjacent to the driveway, is fairly large. In winter you can identify it by its distinctive bark and the black knot fung... Read more
This is a quaking aspen - Populus tremuloides - the most widespread tree in the United States. This one is quite large and has lost some limbs in previous winter storms. They are an important browse for deer when young, and are early colo... Read more
Near the edge of the driveway as you start the tour you will find a young Syringa vulgaris. This has been included because they are an interesting and common ornamental plant with particularly showy blooms. Over time if you take this tour i... Read more
The Red Buckeye - Aesculus pavia - is not native to Maine but survives well in the climate here. This one was planted by the previous owners of the house, one of whom works for Fedco Trees. It is small, multistemmed, and half-hidden by ta... Read more
Northern Red Oak - Quercus rubra - is a large native oak species here in Central Maine. They are important sources of wildlife food and their acorns can be used by humans as well. This one has two stems, one of which juts out over the ar... Read more
This young chestnut oak - Quercus prinus - is already losing its leaves for the season. Planted here, but native to Southern Maine and further south, this is another species that can be beneficial for wildlife, especially squirrels and de... Read more
The White Spruce - Picea glauca - is an important species in Maine and is common statewide. It forms an important canopy species in the Spruce-Fir forests of Northern Maine and Canada. 
There are lots of Black Locusts - Robinia pseudoacacia - here on the property along the driveway. This is just one to keep an eye out for, growing closer to the driveway than the previous White Spruce. These are not native to Maine, and o... Read more
Rosa multiflora is a common sight along the edge of the driveway leading towards the house. These are native to eastern Asia and considered extremely invasive. Easily identifiable in the fall by their small, red hips (fruit), they are thor... Read more
There is a hard-to-miss, large thicket of Staghorn Sumac - Rhus typhina - along the edge of the driveway towards the house and dumpster. These are an interesting species, feel the twigs - they feel hairy and soft like newly forming deer a... Read more
Take a look inside the thicket of Rhus typhina for the vining, native wild grape Vitus spp. These, of which there are many species, are one of the common native woody vines in Maine. Leaves near the base of the vine are quite large. Thi... Read more
On the ledge above the parking area in the driveway you will find a Sugar Maple. These are important trees in Maine, although they are threatened by climate change in the region. Sugar maples are best known for their sap, which produces map... Read more
By the shed along the treeline you will find not one, not two, but half a dozen gray birch - Betula populifolia. The gray birch is a common tree in Maine, and will often grow on forest edges but never deep in the forest. They are very ben... Read more
The Maple-leaf viburnum is a popular ornamental as well as a native woodland understory species. Their fruit is a source of food for wildlife. They have soft leaves, feel one and find out! Additional, wild examples may be found in the woods... Read more
This is a really fascinating member of the Cupressaceae family. It is a low-growing, spreading groundcover often called Siberian Carpet Cypress. Microbiota decussata was discovered in the far reaches of Russian Siberia. It is native an... Read more
This is added as a point of interest. It is a cultivar of the Western Red Cedar - the standard variety of which can reach 200' tall. This cultivar, however, will not grow taller than 5'. Thuja plicata 'Whipcord' is a shrubby, slow-growin... Read more
Congratulations, you have reached the bonus Sugar Maple! Try to remember from earlier what the scientific name of this species is, and why it is so important to humans. 
Salix bebbiana is common along the forest edge on this property. Its unique diamond-patterned bark gives it away. If you were adventurous you may have already seen one behind the shed. This one, located on the side of the house on the slop... Read more
Blackberries are abundant on the property, especially in the backyard and on the forest edges. This patch, just beneath the Bebb's Willow of the previous Point of Interest, is large and plentiful if you happen to be taking the tour during f... Read more
Look down the slope and beyond the blackberries and Bebb's Willow to find the White Ash. These are an important species in Maine's forests but are currently threatened by the Emerald Ash Borer. The Ash Borer, an invasive beetle from Asia, d... Read more
Look for the plastic garden shed out back by the edge of the woods and behind it, along that whole section of woods from there to the compost bin, you will find Alnus incana - Speckled Alder. They grow in wetter areas, and this is one whe... Read more
Tucked into the thicket of Alders, just beyond the lobster buoy hanging from a Speckled Alder limb, you will find Sambucus racemosa. These have berries that can be made into jam, and which animals devour quickly - probably birds. This is a... Read more
Here, behind the compost bin made of wooden pallets, you will find a very tasty wild apple (Malus domestica). This is a bonus. Take a bite if you're here in September or October and give one a try.
While not native to Maine, Liriodendron tulipifera is native to just a bit further south and can grow here. This is a sapling that my neighbor planted and which will one day become a larger tree. They are a beautiful tree with showy leav... Read more
Larix laricina is a large, deciduous conifer. The only deciduous conifer in Maine, in fact. Their needles turn a brilliant yellow in autumn before dropping. Stand back in the yard near the Tulip Poplar, but just a bit closer to the house,... Read more
Near the raised beds take a look for the Apricot tree. Native to Central Asia, apricots were cultivated long ago by humans and are a popular and tasty fruit. This tree is young and has not yet borne fruit, but should in years to come.  ...
Come around the other side of the house from the way you originally entered the backyard and up the hill to the edge of the Staghorn Sumac thicket where you were earlier, and somewhat behind the dumpster in a mulched area is this small Japa... Read more

 

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