[obol] Fields Trees- Harney County stuff
- From: Tim Rodenkirk <timrodenkirk@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: "obol@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <obol@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 1 Jun 2014 14:19:02 -0700
Excuse the non-bird discussion, but this may interest birders who have
visited the Fields oasis and vicinity over the years.
After some discussions with Jeff Gilligan on the identity of the large
trees around the Fields oasis and up Cottonwood Creekin southern Harney
County I did some digging. In the Steens Flora book one would assume they
were narrowleaf cottonwood (Populus angustifolia), a species more common in
the SW US. However, according to the Flora of North America, narrowleaf
cottonwood does not occur in eastern CA or Oregon. Instead those trees are
a narrow-leaf form of black cottonwood (Populus trichocarpa) the common
species on the west side and elsewhere in Oregon. I asked some plant
experts I know about it and they said that they had only seen the
narrow-leaved form a few places in the Great Basin areas and not on the
west side. The typical leaf on a black cottonwood is ovate shaped- one can
see these at Hdqs. The narrow-leaved forms are visible at Fields and up
Cottonwood Creek south of Fields, check them out next time you are down
there. The Flora of North America does not say definitively if they are an
integrade form of P. angustifolia and trichocarpa or just an unusual form
of P. trichocarpa- maybe some day the taxa experts will decide they are
differtent but in the meantime they are all black cottonwoods.
And maybe you thought these type of discussions were limited to birds...
Merry June!
Tim R
Coos Bay
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