May 20, 2017
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Beauty7 😍😍💚💚😂
Juniperus rigida
Needle Juniper
Juniperus rigida
Family: Cupressaceae Native Range: Japan, Korea, northern China Zone: 6 to 7 Height: 15-25 feet Spread: 10-20 feet Bloom Time: Non-flowering Bloom Description: Non-flowering Sun: Full sun Water: Dry to medium Maintenance: Low
BUILD/BEAUTY
This tree is located in the Arnold Arboretum in the evergreen section. One thing I found online is that this exact tree has a bonsai version, which is the same tree except scaled down to merely a foot tall in some cases. I enjoy the form of this tree, and its needles as well. The needles are spaced far apart, giving the fronds a unique airy look. The needles are arranges in 360 degrees around the twig, and continue all the way up and down the frond. This tree is exceptionally old, being planted in 1892, and still cooking. I will award this tree a 3 out of 4 for its needles, and a 2 out of 3 for its landscape uniqueness. The bark like many other junipers is a smooth and veined, similar to a bald cypress of metasequoia. I will award a 2 out of 3 for its bark, resulting in a respectable 7 out of 10 for its beauty score.
Bark: (1-3) 2
Leaves: (1-4) 3
Landscape uniqueness: (1-3) 2
Total: 7
This tree has great rot resistant wood, but it is a slow growing plant, and takes ages to gain a height of that seen in the example above. For the most part, people use this tree as a decorative bonsai tree, but its lumber uses include carvings, turned objects, as well as moisture resistant building items such as fence or sign posts, anything that will be in the ground, sopping up water. since there isn’t a plethora of information about this tree’s specific wood qualities, I will only award this tree a 5 out of 10 for buildability, when I know this wood is good in large sections, rather than just as small ornamental garden trees.
Source:
1. https://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/PlantFinder/PlantFinderDetails.aspx?taxonid=279596&isprofile=0&
2. https://conifersociety.org/conifers/juniperus-rigida/
3. https://pfaf.org/user/Plant.aspx?LatinName=Juniperus+rigida
Picea abies
Norway Spruce
Picea abies
Type: Needled evergreen Family: Pinaceae Native Range: Europe Zone: 2 to 7 Height: 40-60 feet Spread: 25-30 feet Bloom Time: Non-flowering Bloom Description: Non-flowering Sun: Full sun Water: Medium Maintenance: Low
BUILD/BEAUTY
This coniferous tree is located at the Arnold Arboretum, high up on the evergreen hill. The Norway pine is a great looking tree, and this specimen is no exception. The needles of this tree are arranged in a cylinder type formation, encompassing the entire twig 360 degrees around. It very well may have been just the lighting but these needles appeared waxy and blue green under the overcast skies. The needles look great and earn a 3 out of 4 for its category. The bark, similar to that of many other pines, is reddish hued, and plated. Also to note, this tree gives off plenty of resin, which can be seen on the placard. I will award a 2 out of 3 for the bark. For landscape uniqueness, this tree gets a 2 out of 3, as the tall airy form works well in this landscape among other conifers, but would also look real cool by its self in a field. The combined score the Norway Spruce gets is a 7 out of 10 for beauty.
Bark: (1-3) 2
Leaves: (1-4) 3
Landscape uniqueness: (1-3) 2
Total: 7
The Norway Spruce’s wood is relatively soft, at only 380lbs on the Janka hardness scale. The wood is easily workable but you need straight lumber and grains to avoid a tear out. The wood doesn’t stain well due to the closed pore structure. The main uses of this tree include paper, construction lumber, Christmas trees, and musical instruments. The wood is used in framing construction, in that it has good compressible strength, and hard wood isn’t essential for that. This tree does have some construction benefits, so It will be receiving a rating of 8 out of 10 for buildability.
Source:
1. https://www.arborday.org/Trees/TreeGuide/treedetail.cfm?itemID=924
2. https://www.mortonarb.org/trees-plants/tree-plant-descriptions/norway-spruce
3. http://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/PlantFinder/PlantFinderDetails.aspx?kempercode=e620
4. https://www.wood-database.com/norway-spruce/
Liquidambar styraciflua
Sweet Gum
Liquidambar styraciflua
Family (Botanic): Hamamelidaceae Planting Site: Residential and parks Tree or Plant Type: Tree Foliage: Deciduous Native Locale: Illinois, North America Landscape Uses: Shade tree, Specimen Size Range: Large tree Mature Height: 60-75 feet Mature Width: 40-75 feet Light Exposure: Full sun Hardiness Zones: Zone 5-9 Soil Preference: Acid soil, Moist, well-drained soil, Wet soil
BEAUTY/BUILD
This sweet gum tree is located in the Arnold Arboretum, and its a beautiful, albeit late season example, of a sweet gum tree. There are a few unique characteristics of this tree, firstly being its spiked fruiting bodies. These resemble cherries from hell, but its how this tree lets out its seed, they act as the seed pod. I would avoid planting this anywhere there is heavy foot traffic as these fruiting bodies are everywhere. Although this particular example is out of leaves, they have a lovely star shaped leaf, that changes great colors in the fall. Clearly I had just missed it. There is nothing striking about the bark, as it gets a 1 out of 3, but it seemed to be a good home for moss. The leaves (and fruiting bodies) get a 4 out of 4, due to their uniqueness. For landscape placement, I will award a 2 out of 3, due to its uncommon nature, and uniqueness. The total score is a 7 out of 10 for beauty.
Bark: (1-3) 1
Leaves: (1-4) 4
Landscape uniqueness: (1-3) 2
Total: 7
Sweet gum is a relatively hard wood, scoring an 850lb janka hardness. The wood is easily workable when fresh, but can warp pretty good when drying out. The heartwood is more good looking than the sapwood, so its more expensive, as the sapwood is much larger in this type of tree. This means that the tree has to be much older in order to get a good yield on the inner pretty sapwood. The MOE of this trees wood is 1,640,000 lbf/in2, which is an OK score, not the best not the worst. The uses of this tree include veneer, plywood, furniture (speaker/acoustic cabinets), interior trim, boxes and turned objects. The sweet gum tree scores a 5 out of 10 for buildability, because it is not used in commercial applications for building.
Source:
1. https://www.arborday.org/trees/treeguide/TreeDetail.cfm?ItemID=928
2. https://www.mortonarb.org/trees-plants/tree-plant-descriptions/sweet-gum
3. https://www.wood-database.com/sweetgum/
Picea Asperata var. Ponderosa
Big Cone Dragon Spruce
Picea Asperata var. Ponderosa
Type: Needled evergreen Native Range: Western Sichuan Province Zone: 6 to 9 Height: 50.00 to 150.00 feet Spread: 25.00 to 40.00 feet Bloom Time: Non-flowering Bloom Description: Non-flowering Sun: Full sun Water: Medium Maintenance: Low Leaf: Evergreen
This tree appeared ragged and sparse from far away, but as you got closer you could easily see that it was thriving just fine, from the density of its twigs. Although this tree’s name states its the big cone version, I didn’t see any of these so called ‘big cones’ anywhere on the ground or above. The bark on the main tree reminded me of that of red pine, in that it dripped of resin and had a defined scale appearance. This bark scored a 2 out of 3 for its score. The Needles were a bluish green as you got closer, closer to that of a blue spruce. Although soft looking, they were rather hard and spiky, resulting in a danger to touch. check out how spiky the twigs are, rather scary. They get a 2 out of 4 for leaves. For landscape uniqueness, this tree surely gets a high score, for it is native to Chinese river valley mountains, surely a sight to see on the outskirts of Boston. This one seemed perfectly content growing here, so we will award it a 3 out of 4 for uniqueness.
Bark: (1-3) 2
Leaves: (1-4) 2
Landscape uniqueness: (1-3) 3
Total: 7
Like many other larger evergreens researched so far, this tree has tremendous structural abilities, while retaining some lightweight qualities as well. Some sites even say that this wood has been used in early aircraft due to its strength and levity. Another use for this tree is it has been made into railway sleepers as well as furniture. This wood has been grown an cultivated for usage in construction, so it scores very highly at 9 out of 10.
Source:
1. https://conifersociety.org/conifers/picea-asperata/
2. https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/picea-asperata/
3. http://www.mustila.fi/en/plants/picea/asperata
Picea asperata var. notabilis
Narrow Scale Dragon Spruce
Picea asperata var. notabilis
Type: Needled evergreen Family: Pinaceae Native Range: Asia Zone: 5-7 Height: 40.00 to 60.00 feet Spread: 15.00 to 25.00 feet Bloom Time: Non-flowering Bloom Description: Non-flowering Sun: Full sun Water: Medium Maintenance: Medium
This specific dragon spruce is called the narrow scaled dragon spruce, because of its pine cones, that form a delicate gorgeous form that i have not seen on any other conifer. The pine cones are bright green when young, almost looking like the inside of a sunflower, that geometric swirl of its ‘scales’. I will award this tree a 2 out of 4 for its needles are medium length, and 360 degrees around the twig. The bark gets a 2 out of 3, as the scales of the bark are overlaid beautifully in various shades of grey. As for form, this tree looks gaunt and kind of weak, but I personally like the form of this tree, I would like a forest filled with them As it turns out this tree is especially endangered, and does not occur in the wild often if at all. The total score of this tree is a 7 out of 10 for beauty.
Bark: (1-3) 2
Leaves: (1-4) 2
Landscape uniqueness: (1-3) 3
Total: 7
This tree cultivar has almost no information about it, but the main plant the dragon spruce has plenty of info about its wood. its main uses include construction wooden members, railway sleepers, furniture, and wood fiber. The trunk is used for producing resin, and the roots, branches, and leaves for producing aromatic oils, for perfumes and colognes. This tree i will award a 5 out of 10, as it is a hard wood that has some uses in native China, but not much here. I couldn’t find much info about this cultivar’s uses.
Source:
1. https://www.rhs.org.uk/Plants/12929/i-Picea-asperata-i-var-i-notabilis-i/Details
2. https://www.arboretum.harvard.edu/plants/image-search/?keyword=Narrowscale+Dragon+Spruce
3. https://books.google.com/books?id=szv6CAAAQBAJ&pg=PA254&lpg=PA254&dq=picea+asperata+var.+notabilis&source=bl&ots=ct9koNLgkE&sig=ACfU3U2ZtG5oGGiK3o-hmMImCA-eQk6rrQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiG2r2C75XmAhVsqlkKHRrxDAY4ChDoATABegQIBxAB#v=onepage&q=picea%20asperata%20var.%20notabilis&f=false
4. https://conifersociety.org/conifers/picea-asperata/
Cedrus libani
Cedar of Lebanon
Cedrus libani
Type: Needled evergreen Family: Pinaceae Native Range: Southwestern Asia, Syria Zone: 6 to 7 Height: 40.00 to 60.00 feet Spread: 40.00 to 60.00 feet Bloom Time: Non-flowering Bloom Description: Non-flowering Sun: Full sun Water: Medium Maintenance: Medium
BUILD/BEAUTY
The Cedar of Lebanon, commonly known for its position on the Lebanese flag, is a large coniferous tree that doesn’t look much like any other tree. It looks like a mix between a deciduous tree that happens to grow needles. This example in the Arnold Arboretum is a bad example of this but in other pictures it shows better. The bark like many cedars and pines has plates with pretty thick valleys between them, getting a 1 out of 3. The needles are pretty cool, being long, sharp, and a waxy off green. They gained a score of 3 out of 4 for this. The landscape uniqueness is a 3 out of 3, due to its shape, color, and form. They look great as ornamental trees.
Bark: (1-3) 1
Leaves: (1-4) 3
Landscape uniqueness: (1-3) 3
Total: 7
The wood of the Cedar of Lebanon is a middle of the road tree for hardness scoring an 820lb on the janka hardness scale. This wood is generally pretty easy to work with, and glues/finishes well. The wood is very rot resistant, and its most common uses include veneer, cabinetry, building construction, and turned objects. This tree like many other conifers, does a great job as a construction material, providing straight dimensional lumber. The MOE of this tree is 1,465,000 lbf/in2, which isn’t a bad score, its in the middle of the road. This wood is known for its usage in king solomons temple, so you have to know its good. This tree isn’t used as widely as it was in days of past, so it gets a score of 8 out of 10, still respectable.
Source:
1. https://www.wood-database.com/cedar-of-lebanon/
2. http://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/PlantFinder/PlantFinderDetails.aspx?kempercode=b431
3. https://www.thespruce.com/cedar-of-lebanon-growing-tips-3269305
Sorbus alnifolia
Korean Mountain Ash
Sorbus alnifolia
Family (Botanic): Rosaceae Tree or Plant Type: Tree Foliage: Deciduous Native Locale: Non-native, Korea Landscape Uses: Specimen, Shade tree Size Range: Large tree (60-80 feet tall, 50-70 feet wide at maturity) Light Exposure: Full sun Hardiness Zones: Zone 4-7
BUILD/BEAUTY
This Korean Mountain Ash is located in the Arnold Arboretum, and has some of the most recognizable fruits of any tree. The entire tree is covered in these small little red fruits. The youngest twigs are bright red, matching the fruits color, and transitions into the grey of the real thick branches and trunk. The bark of this tree is pretty smooth, with minimal furrows and lichen. The bark gets a 2 out of 3 for its smoothness. The leaves earn a 2 out of 4, as they are simple, but their fruiting bodies are pretty attractive, especially from far away, the whole tree is red. The landscape uniqueness is high, this tree looks great in a landscape, and i’m sure in its natural location on a mountain the red really pops. This leaves the korean mountain ash with a score of 7 out of 10 for beauty
Bark: (1-3) 2
Leaves: (1-4) 2
Landscape uniqueness: (1-3) 3
Total: 7
This is one of the most difficult trees to find information about its wood. The general opinion is that although this tree grows quickly and largely, the Korean mountain ash wood isn’t great for woodworking, but some have used it for furniture such as end tables, or desk tops. It polishes up well, and can hold stain. The strength of this wood is unknown to me, but it has been traditionally used in Korea to create farming tools, especially these things called ‘jige’ which is a multipurpose tool that can carry things as well as act as a stand. I will award this tree a 3 out of 10 for buildability, due to it being used mostly as a decorative tree rather than for its wood.
Source:
1. https://www.mortonarb.org/trees-plants/tree-plant-descriptions/korean-mountain-ash
2. https://www.gardenia.net/plant/sorbus-alnifolia-korean-mountain-ash)
3. https://science.ytn.co.kr/hotclip/view.php?s_mcd=0033&key=201611251742246527