There's a particular Oak I've seen planted in a park that I cannot figure out.. It may not be a particular species but a defect... but there are at least 4 of them in this particular area.
As I mentioned they are in a man-made park so I wouldn't bet they are anything native. They are near a freeway (elevated) and I've noticed them for years because they just look so weird. I finally got a chance to walk over to them and look at one close. I didn't take a pic, perhaps I will but they may be devoid of leaves by the time I can do that.
Anyway, the leaves aren't anything special. They look like a white oak with very shallow lobes, much like the leaf of a chestnut oak, but perhaps a bit wider a more lobed than crenate. I know there's a big variation here within those two species from what I have seen. The general shape is ovate, about 4x2.5" or so on the lower branches.
The bark looks to me very reminiscent of bur oak. It's (mostly) parallel and deeply ridged, without many vertical breaks and very light grey on the tops of the ridges.
All those identifiers are not what bother me. It's the branching. It has very large branches which then stop at what are almost like nodes with 10's of very small branches protruding outward like a scrubby bush. The "nodes" occur at relatively far spaces and foliage only grows on those small "bushes" making the tree look very odd in that it has not a full, spreading crown (these trees are well spaced), but full spreading, thick branches (all with those pronounced ridges) with those small scrubby portions dotting the tree.
Perhaps these aren't special trees but are being harmed by the road pollution. I didn't spend enough time to look for an acorn, but perhaps I will, although I didn't see any on the tree I looked at closely.
There are a number of (what I believe are) bur oaks planted close by in another section of the park, away from the road. The leaves are slightly different but the bark looks similar. The bur oak had a number of different leaf variants that I could see that I believe correspond to the shapes of that species. I didn't find any acorns to confirm they are bur oak though.
At any rate, that other grove does not have that strange branching. The upper branches of the bur oaks looks like the other "ugly" trees but they all have much more dense, full crowns with lots of leaves and none of that weird, ugly bush branching.
I've searched a number of different references and I can't find anything regarding that weird branching, so perhaps it's an environmental impact.
As I mentioned they are in a man-made park so I wouldn't bet they are anything native. They are near a freeway (elevated) and I've noticed them for years because they just look so weird. I finally got a chance to walk over to them and look at one close. I didn't take a pic, perhaps I will but they may be devoid of leaves by the time I can do that.
Anyway, the leaves aren't anything special. They look like a white oak with very shallow lobes, much like the leaf of a chestnut oak, but perhaps a bit wider a more lobed than crenate. I know there's a big variation here within those two species from what I have seen. The general shape is ovate, about 4x2.5" or so on the lower branches.
The bark looks to me very reminiscent of bur oak. It's (mostly) parallel and deeply ridged, without many vertical breaks and very light grey on the tops of the ridges.
All those identifiers are not what bother me. It's the branching. It has very large branches which then stop at what are almost like nodes with 10's of very small branches protruding outward like a scrubby bush. The "nodes" occur at relatively far spaces and foliage only grows on those small "bushes" making the tree look very odd in that it has not a full, spreading crown (these trees are well spaced), but full spreading, thick branches (all with those pronounced ridges) with those small scrubby portions dotting the tree.
Perhaps these aren't special trees but are being harmed by the road pollution. I didn't spend enough time to look for an acorn, but perhaps I will, although I didn't see any on the tree I looked at closely.
There are a number of (what I believe are) bur oaks planted close by in another section of the park, away from the road. The leaves are slightly different but the bark looks similar. The bur oak had a number of different leaf variants that I could see that I believe correspond to the shapes of that species. I didn't find any acorns to confirm they are bur oak though.
At any rate, that other grove does not have that strange branching. The upper branches of the bur oaks looks like the other "ugly" trees but they all have much more dense, full crowns with lots of leaves and none of that weird, ugly bush branching.
I've searched a number of different references and I can't find anything regarding that weird branching, so perhaps it's an environmental impact.
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