4.17.12 Haggett Hall, UW, Seattle

Date 4.17.12

Location: Outside Haggett Hall at the University of Washington
Lat: 47.6592165, Lon: -122.3042679
Time: 13:00-14:00
Weather: Cloudy day with light sprinkles. I could not feel much wind, but that could have been because buildings blocked it from reaching the wooded area where I was.

Observations and things taught/learned:

This day, I simply went to a small wooded area right in front of my dorm. The variety of trees was extensive. There were Bigleaf Maples, Cedars, Douglas Firs, and Madrones. But the ones I would most like to talk about and noted, were the trees that I have seen and mentioned the least since starting this journal…
Buckeye (Aesculus) was one of the many trees that formed the canopy. Its leaves were fully formed (not dropping or particularly young). I believe there were some remnants of white flowers blooming, but it was hard to tell because they were so high up. The leaves are very distinctive in that they grow linked in (and splayed out) in groups of five.
I found that Pacific Crab Apple (Malus fusca) grew in a variety of heights. Some appeared almost to be bushes while others grew much taller (30-40 ft). I saw the remnants of white flowers; it must have just been blooming not too long before.
The Paper Birch (Betula papyrifera) (maybe just general Birch, Genus Betula) trees had rather small leaves. The shape of the leaves reminded me of an aspen, except that these had small ridges while the quaking aspen leaves were smooth along the edges. The bark was mostly white and appeared to peal in horizontal lines along the trunk every so often. I cannot help but think of the poem "Birches" by Robert Frost. I wonder if the type of Birch tree he describes in the poem is different? Because in the poem he describes them as having flexible branches. Are these flexible as well? I will have to test it.

English Ivy (Hedera helix) covered most of the understory of the wooded area. It grew thickly on the ground. One area, I noticed a few days earlier, had been cleared of ivy by a group of students. The leaves feel durable and thick. The plant is definitely extremely pervasive.
The Rhododendron (Azalea, Genus Rhododendron) was in full bloom. (I do not know what type of Rhododendron, probably not Pacific Rhododendron). The flowers were a brilliant pink. It grew in the shade under a canopy of trees. The area around its roots was mostly clear of underbrush. When I was a little kid, my back yard had a line of massive rhododendron bushes that grew along the fence of an alley. My best friend and I played games and climbed on he branches of the bush. The ground over the roots was clear then too. The leaves of these were soft and look almost matted (verses glossy).
Another bush I saw was I have no idea what it was, so I posted it on iNaturalist. Hopefully someone can help me identify it. These berries were dark blue, but they did not form like blueberries where the bottom has formed a ring (where the berry has dropped the flower); there was only a little dot. The berries were also slightly elongated, oval in shape.
I thought I saw quite a few Red Huckleberry (Vaccinium parvifolium) (some areas the ground for 10 square feet were almost completely covered by them), but I found it strange how much they hugged the ground. Richard Olmstead corrected me on iNaturalist informing me that it’s Symphoricarpos (probably S. alba). They were rarely taller than a 3 ft. I saw no flowers or seeds, just leaves. Each leaf is a couple centimeters in diameter. The area underneath many of them was clear, someone probably cleared the area of Ivy, or the soil was lacking in nutrients, or the roots of the huckleberries took up the space that Ivy would need to grow, and/or light blockage prevents the Ivy from thriving underneath.
At first glance I thought that the Trailing black current (Ribes laxiflorum) was a Red-flowering currant, but then that didn't seem to fit. It grew lower to the ground than the ones I'd previously seen, it's flowers were slightly lighter in color, and the flowers did not grow in as large of clumps (in groups of 3-4 max rather than 10-15).

Species list:

• Trailing black current (Ribes laxiflorum)
• Indian Plum (Oemleria cerasiformis).
• Paper Birch (Betula papyrifera) (Or just general Birch, Genus Betula)
• Azalea (Genus Rhododendron)
• Pacific Crab Apple (Malus fusca)
• Snowberry (Symphoricarpos probably S. alba)
• English Ivy (Hedera helix)
• Buckeye (Aesculus)
• One unknown

Previously Mentioned species seen:
-Bigleaf Maple (Acer macrophyllum)
-Western Redcedar (Thuja plicata)
-Madrones (Arbutus menziesii)
-Douglas-Fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii)

Posted on April 21, 2012 05:39 PM by chimeravo