Moss, dove, Brookline

( click for dove )

Market for velvet

I knew that there were deer farms around the world (New Zealand's are semi-famous) and it doesn't surprise me to learn that there are "elk" (American elk, or wapiti Cervus elaphus) farms in the United states. [http://www.elkusa.com/Elk_Farming.htm] What surprised me is that there is a market for antler velvet--the Asian medicine market-- and that the elk farmers surgically remove it, so that their bucks will grow a fresh crop every year. Is this a good time to ranch rhinos and harvest their horns?

(I'm mostly kidding. My attitude about such things is expressed here.)

365 Urban Species. #338: Dawn Redwood

Photos by cottonmanifesto. Location: Arnold Arboretum, Boston.

Urban species #338: Dawn redwood Metasequoia glyptostroboides

This exotic looking tree came to be an urban species along a very similar pathway to that of Gingko biloba. It was discovered as a fossil in 1941, and then as a live specimen a few years later, in what was then a remote part of China. "Discovered," that is, by western scientists. It was already in common use by local people as an ornamental tree. Thanks to the efforts of the Arnold Arboretum in Boston, it was brought around the world for study and cultivation. It has become a fairly popular ornamental tree in many countries, valued for its rapid growth, resistance to disease and pests, and its striking pyramidal appearance. Dawn redwood is unusual among conifers, dropping all of its short soft needles every fall. It is the only living species in its genus Metasequoia, and is often referred to by that name rather than the common name. The baldcypress (Taxodium distichum) is a similar-looking relative, native to the swamps of southern North America, and is sometimes used in urban settings as well. The oldest metasequoias outside of China are those trees in the Arnold Arboretum, and the Mount Auburn Cemetery, planted in the forties when the tree was first discovered. No one knows for sure, but they are suspected to live 100 years or so, and may grow to 150 feet tall.


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Castle Island and the Arboretum, Boston

cottonmanifesto and I went to Castle Island, South Boston yesterday. She took all the good pictures, but I got a couple shots here and there.



Here she is photographing a group of brants. (wild geese)

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