100 Species #49: Northern red oak

[urbpan]

This little oak (Probably Quercus rubra) is sprouting from an acorn that a squirrel most likely buried near one of the perennial beds.

Left alone for a hundred years, our yard would turn into a mixed forest of red oak and Norway maple. In fact, if human activity in eastern Massachusetts halted altogether, the whole place would be mostly mixed deciduous forest in a few decades. It wouldn't look like the forest that was present when European colonization took place: the American chestnut and American elm trees are gone, and new trees like Norway maple and Tree of heaven are practically naturalized. A larger effect might be the grazing white-tailed deer, unchecked by predators, they have helped make certain forest plants extremely rare. Eventually the wolves will spread back to New England, and without human opposition the mountain lions will too, and some equilibrium might be restored.

But I digress. The nearest oak trees are two yards away, and yet squirrels have seen fit to bury enough acorns in my yard that I've pulled six or eight of these saplings already, and discover one or two more every day. I love Northern red oak, but I don't want any in this yard. They provide great habitat for wildlife, and become very impressive trees, but I simply don't want to deal with the acorn clean-up.

Oaks can be broadly divided into the white oaks, with rounded lobes on their leaves, and the red oaks with pointed lobes. This sapling has pointed lobes, and the nearest oaks are Northern red oaks. I have pulled some that look like pin oak saplings as well. Northern red oak appears frequently on this blog, mostly accounting to the large numbers of huge specimens in The Riverway and in Franklin Park. It was 365 urban species #277

Comments

[plantmom.livejournal.com]

We have a white oak in our front yard I rescued when it was about five feet tall, maybe ten years ago. I'd say it's now about twenty feet tall. It, too, was most likely started accidentally by a squirrel. I love it, though. The first owner of our house hated trees and cut them all down except two which are so far from our house they might as well not belong to us, so I've done a lot of planting over the years.
In our neighborhood, habitat is disappearing. I remember being thrilled the first time I saw a woodpecker hunting up the oak's trunk for bugs!

[dsgood.livejournal.com]

Offhand, I think that before the wolves returned to New England their ecological niche would be filled by coyotes and feral dogs.

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

I bet you're right. I was just wondering recently what the interactions between our New England Coydogs and the incoming wolves will be.