Tree of the day

WDH · January 17, 2020, 04:48:44 PM

Don,

The Southerneastern Native Americans used the yaupon holly to make a "black drink" that they used to purify and cleanse themselves via induced vomiting.

Texas Ranger · January 17, 2020, 04:57:59 PM

Yep, don't try it for historical reference. 8)

Don P · January 17, 2020, 06:46:14 PM

Sitting home today with a cold... too much close quarters with snotty nose young'uns. Michelle came home with my learnin of the day. Anybody know what a snot otter is :D?

WDH · January 17, 2020, 08:08:59 PM

Don't know, but I bet that it is slick when wet

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Don P · January 17, 2020, 08:24:43 PM

They're going to make T shirts with the same critter for a land stewardship contest at the school. 3rd place is gonna be snot otter. 2nd place will be the critter with another of its names, mud puppy. 1st place will be...?

Don P · January 18, 2020, 07:49:47 AM

It must be too obscure, a hellbender, the largest salamander. They are aquatic but have no gills. They "breathe" through their skin so require very clean oxygen rich water.
There are some pics of them and a description here;
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hellbender

Roxie · January 19, 2020, 08:27:24 AM

Speaking of salamanders, when I was in the second grade, I found a salamander in the basement of the house in which we lived. I wanted to keep it, and against my parents objections I consulted my second grade teacher, Mrs. Henry, about how to take care of it. Armed with what I believed was thorough knowledge on his care, I put my salamander in an old turtle bowl that I had, dug earthworms that I put in his sand for him to eat. He was living a good life on a north facing window sill, until one day he had buried himself in the sand and was dead. It was a cold December day when I carried him into the kitchen crying, and it took some doing on my parents part to convince me that a (flushing) burial at sea would be in everyone's best interest. We gathered round the bowl and I recited 'The Lord's Prayer,' for his tiny soul, and my brother as pallbearer gave the flush. At school, when I began to tell Mrs. Henry that he was dead, before I could say anything more, she said, "Oh, he probably isn't dead honey, salamanders hibernate."

Don P · January 19, 2020, 09:43:58 AM

Ooops! :D

doc henderson · January 19, 2020, 11:36:11 AM

I found one in a window well in the fall, while "helping" (age 4) my grand parent rake up leaves. got my picture in the Blade Empire news paper. you would of thought it was a new species.

kantuckid · January 20, 2020, 02:27:40 PM

When I'd clean out our concrete spring box, a tad over a 150 gallons, I'd run into salamanders in the water. It's a free-flowing, year round spring we got all our water from until city water came down our road and by then it seems like El Nino had affected our huge springs flow? It used to run by gravity 1,350' to a cistern I removed near the house. They also lived in the mud in the cistern bottom.
I never told our company/visitors they were swimming around in there. They looked healthy enough, same brand as the ones I see under the leaves in our woods, just like the picture above.

caveman · February 22, 2020, 06:49:34 PM

It has been a while since I have submitted a tree of the day. Tree of today.

We sawed a smaller version of the one pictured at the bottom today. The wood is soft and the sap is gooey.

WDH · February 22, 2020, 08:34:59 PM

Is it a eucalypt?

Texas Ranger · February 22, 2020, 10:32:06 PM

kentucky coffee?

Ianab · February 23, 2020, 12:37:30 AM

Quote from: WDH on February 22, 2020, 08:34:59 PM
Is it a eucalypt?

Not if the wood is soft. :D

tule peak timber · February 23, 2020, 07:26:55 AM

Some kind of ficus ???

caveman · February 23, 2020, 08:20:26 AM

The wood,as Ian reminded us, is soft (470 Janka). Sorry for no leaf pictures. It is deciduous and has bipinnately compound leave that resemble those of a mimosa tree. The tree is native to Central and South America.

It is not Eucalyptus or Ficus. It is nitrogen fixing. The seed pods (pictured by my left hand) are a hint to its common name.

When I sawed three of these logs yesterday I spent more time cleaning the mill than sawing a log. We had a 7° blade on the mill for sawing pecan and did not change it for the tree of the day. Stringy goo is a better description of what should have been sawdust. If we sawed this stuff with regularity, I would try a 13° blade. There was a lot of tension in the log but I do not know if that is a trait of the species or since this tree was growing to the light and not straight up.

Poquo · February 23, 2020, 08:24:33 AM

Is it an Elephant Ear Tree ?

caveman · February 23, 2020, 09:05:57 AM

Poquo got it. Elephant ear tree is one of its names. Sometimes it is called Monkey Ear, Parota and other names which are inappropriate. ENTEROLOBIUM CYCLOCARPUM.

The tree pictured is 4' DBH and he wants it slabbed. I gave him the contact information for a Jacksonville based FF member who has a Lucas. The young guy has dollar signs flashing in his eyes but I recommended to him to cut one of his smaller trees first and learn on it rather than the big one. I reminded him that all of my education has been expensive - mostly due to costly miss steaks.

tule peak timber · February 23, 2020, 09:39:16 AM

As a side bar...Parota has flooded into the slab market here with garages full of the stuff being imported by new-get rich guys....
Nasty sawdust, plummeting prices, Parota.....I do not allow any of this wood near my property.

stavebuyer · September 01, 2020, 02:54:19 PM

I know we have done this tree but I stumbled across a very large example of its "fruit" this morning and thought it might be fun for a few;

That is a Maglite Mini about 6 1/2" long. The "fruit" is about the size of nice peach.

Here is the tree it dropped from(actually both trees are the same specie)

and finally the fruit cut open

stavebuyer · September 02, 2020, 01:42:46 PM

Yellow Buckeye; Aesculus flava

WV Sawmiller · September 02, 2020, 04:17:09 PM

They are starting to drop their nuts here right now. Old timers said they were good luck and good to help relieve rheumatism pain. I am sure my grandfather died with one in his back pocket. The nuts are supposed to be poison and people used to say one side was okay and squirrels knew which side was safe to eat as you'd find them with only one side eaten. My son's forestry professor told him "No both sides are poison but a young squirrel does not know better and starts eating gets about half of it eaten before he gets sick and stops." I also hear Indians used to eat them and did like acorns - roast, dry, grind then leach the flour several times to remove the toxin.

caveman · September 02, 2020, 07:25:08 PM

Thank your for reviving this thread, Stavebuyer. I do not think that I have ever seen a buckeye tree in person. If I have, I did not realize what I was looking at. I have not been anywhere lately to get any pictures that have not already appeared on "Tree of the Day".