The Urban Pantheist

Forest Hills Cemetery in Boston is an active and historic burying ground, and also a sculpture park. These tiny cement houses were new to us, but I bet they've been there for a while. The sculptures used to have plaques identifying them and their artists, but they seem to be gone.

( Read more... )

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.


( one more )