Trees of Floyd County, GA   Jess Riddle   Jan 18, 2006 19:43 PST  Ents, Over the holidays I had a chance to visit Richard Ware, one of Georgia's leading botanists. He was kind enough to take my dad and me on a tree tour of Rome, Georgia and surrounding Floyd County. Rome was founded in the 1830's where the Etowah and Oostanaula Rivers merge to form the Coosa River. The northwest Georgia county's odd physiographic mix contributes to the area's unusual diversity. The low, ridge-like mountains of the southern Appalchians' Ridge and Valley section enter from the northeast, and coastal plain species including evergreen bayberry and water tupelo follow the Coosa River into the county from the west. The limestone underlying many of the lower lying areas, and naturally occurring wet prairies further contribute to the counties floral diversity. Our first stop was the state champion nutmeg hickory, which grows within site of the largest highway in town. The species was unknown in the state until Richard spotted them in the late 1990's. At 109.2', the 6'4" cbh champion pokes above the surrounding forest of cherrybark oak, other nutmeg hickories, shumard oak, and florida maple. Our next stop was the Berry College Campus. The school's 28,000 acre campus, the largest in the world, includes a mountain with a montane longleaf pine forest. However, all of the champion trees on campus benefit of open surroundings. The largest of a couple rows of planted northern catalpas has achieved champion status with a 9'2" cbh and 70.0' tall trunk. Nearby we looked at a nice, but not record breaking, 6'0"cbh x 69.9' Kentucky coffeetree. Within site of that tree, we spied a chalk maple with an enormous 4'10" cbh, with a more modest 32.7' height but impressive maximum spread of 50'9". This tree would have qualified as a national co-champion with another Rome tree and one elsewhere in Georgia, but a larger individual has recently been reported. Next on campus, we visited the champion shingle oak, another species Richard has recently found may be native to Georgia. The trees unusually open crown reaches up to 90.3' and spreads at most 96' on a 10'2" cbh trunk. On our way out, we hopped a fence into the cow pasture, really more of a deer pasture, to see the national champion florida maple. My dad thought the tree was a twin, but I think it just has an unusually large branch about seven feet up. The tree has a 12'0" cbh and rises to 77.1'. We stopped by an older residential development near the Oostanaula to check on another potential state champion oak. This tree was another where my dad saw a fusion and I saw a classically heavy branched open grown oak. The tree is probably a nuttall oak, but may be hybrid between two other red oaks. The stout tree's limbs spread over the house and over the street but reach only 71.2' high while the roots attached to the 15'10" cbh trunk continue to destroy the driveway. We stopped in town at an unkempt and rather inconspicuous row of trees. The soapberrys, probably western soapberry, are descendents of an earlier planted tree. The tallest in the row of similarly sized trees is 2'8" cbh and 52.1' tall. We also stopped in town beside a medical clinic to look at a big, hilltop cherrybark oak. As we drove up, I think all our hearts stopped when we saw a backhoe sitting beneath the tree. The brilliant landowners had decided to put in a broad sidewalk about 10' from the tree. When we arrived, the trench was for the sidewalk was complete and about a foot deep. Farther away from the tree on the same side is a preexisting parking lot, so maybe the tree had not invested too many resources in that direction. What makes risk of injury to the tree such a poor decision for the landowners is that the tree is critical to the property. Massive limbs stretch out over the building and save who knows how much in air conditioning bills. The tree also distinctively defines the property. The 19'3" cbh trunk is easily seen from the road, and the huge crown, with 143' long spread dominates the space. The 93.8' tall tree currently appears in good health. The owner of the grading company commented that he that Sherman might have slept under the tree as he marched towards Atlanta and Savannah; however, I doubt the tree is old enough for that event to have occurred. When my dad and I first measured the tree in 1996, thinking it was a black oak, the tree was 17'10" in circumference. That rapid growth, the typically fast growth of the species, and the tree's immense photosynthetic area all lead me to believe the tree has attained its great size in relatively short time, even without the usual benefit of bottomland soils. I doubt the tree is over 150 years old, possible much less. An impressive chalk maple also grew in the yard with 5'3" circumference below where the first true branches emerged at 1'7". At 4.5', the largest branch was 3'5" circumference, and supported a twig 41.8' high. At the next stop, a 15'3" circumference of an osage orange behind a business appeared to be the combined effort of two trees. The roughly orange coated trunks and dense, compact, repeatedly arched crowns reached 58.5' and 60.4' high. Standing on an otherwise recently razed and cleared lot, we looked at one of the most puzzlingly and impressive trees of the day, a hickory. Tight gray bark, strongly reminiscent of bitternut hickory, covered the trunk, and the dried leaves covering the ground indicated usually nine and sometimes eleven leaflets. However, the fruits more closely resembled pecans, and the buds had only a scruffy yellow coating on brown regular scales. If all pecans had the flavor of these nuts, the species would not be nearly so widely planted. Our best guess is that the tree is a bitternut-pecan hybrid, Carya x brownii. The tree stands 102.9' tall, and even after some crown breakage, has a 101' long spread. The immense 17'6" trunk rises straight out of the ground, and continues about 30' before dividing into many branches. To find another hickory with a 101' max spread, we had to venture slightly into adjacent Polk County. There, near a creek, stands a potential champion, open grown shagbark hickory. The 13'0" cbh trunk supports a broad, rounded crown. Three measurements gave heights of 103.3', 104.1', and 104.7'; the former two measurements may be of the same branch, but the latter is definitely a separate top. With light waning, we set off for a small mountain to see alabama black cherries. Some consider the tree a variety of black cherry, but the tree has officially recently been given status as its own species. The cherries, with crooked trunks and open crowns, appeared similar to black cherries at many southern piedmont sites. The bark was indistinguishable from the more common black cherry. At this site, the Alabama black cherries took advantage of the interface between the road and young, chestnut oak dominated forest. The three largest individuals were 2'3" cbh x 50.4' tall, 3'1" cbh x 45.9' tall, and 2'6.5" x 55.1'. Richard has nominated the tallest as a national champion. Jess Riddle   Home