ENTS,
I had the privilege to spend three days in Congaree National
Park (formerly
Congaree Swamp National Monument) with Ed Coyle, Jess Riddle,
and Jason
Childs. The weather was cold but reasonable and graciously
mosquito-free! We
revisited several known trees and hunted new areas. We found new
height
records and lost former champions. Much has changed in the swamp
since my
last visit, and the influence of hurricanes was more and more
evident. Much
of the area we traversed was pummeled, with very few large trees
left.
However, the gems are to be found here and there, and we managed
to locate a
few.
...(material deleted)
The second
tallest tree is of all things an oak! The incomparable
cherrybark
oak (Quercus pagoda) is one of the fastest growing, widest and
tallest trees
in the east. Jess and Ed confirmed one to 160.2' tall, making it
the 6th
hardwood species to join the "160 Club", joining
tuliptree, sycamore, pignut
hickory, black locust, and white ash. If 160' tall wasn't
enough, we found
one that measured 154' across! Folks, these trees are immense! I
am baffled
by the sheer strength of the wood to hold a canopy so high and
so wide
through so many hurricanes. I did notice that for an oak, they
are very
slender and wispy, and have few large branches and an open
crown. I would
think that such crown architecture would reduce wind loading and
stress on
the main trunk, acting in a way like a fishing rod that
dissipates the
energy over a long section of stem. Composed as such, they have
very little
volume for their immense size, but 2500 ft3 is not out of the
question.
Girths over 22' have been measured by ENTS and girths of over
24' are known
from the park. However, all exhibit extreme root flare and do
not maintain a
trunk of such dimension for any distance. Cherrybark has been
recorded to
over 170' in the park, but the measurements were also in error
(that was the
160.2' tree ten years ago). One tree, with the 154' spread, was
listed as
156' tall but is actually 134'. (Jess, I know I probably botched
the 1995
figures so correct me as needed ;)
...(material deleted)
Will Blozan
|