This Week's Tour...
...met at 9:00AM Saturday on the Beltline Eastside Trail near Parish (R.I.P...reopening in January 2024 as "Painted Park"!). We walked for 1 1/2 hours, covering 1 mile of the Beltline, ending at Ponce City Market.
"The Tourists"...
A visitor from France and a future Trees Atlanta docent!
Thanks for a great tour!
"Stump" of the week...
...featuring a question raised during the tour that Jeff couldn't answer.
Q: There are 33 native species of oak that evolved in different ecosystems in Georgia (as represented here in David Landis' sculpture "33 Oaks"). Their ability to adapt to varied ecosystems makes them different, but what makes them the same? What do these oaks have in common?
A: Jeff's short, smarty-pants answer: They are all in the same genus: Quercus!
Jeff's not-so-short answer: I did a little research on this and uncover a few common characteristics among the species of the genus Quercus: Tannins help make them resistant to fungi and pests. They produce acorns - "...a nut...borne in a cup" - some of which were a food source for Native Americans. The wood of "...all oak species [is] strong, hard, heavy and dense with very close grain..." Oaks are tall, strong, longlived, supportive of many species, and as such are a keystone species: "...a species that has a disproportionately large effect on its natural environment relative to its abundance." link 1 link 2
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