Symbolic Trees

     There are four major habitats in Lancaster County. Pennsylvania- waterways and impoundments, urban and suburban areas, farmland and woodland.  And each habitat has a tree that is symbolic of it.  Though one species in several, each symbolic tree is the most outstanding, most representative of its habitat, whether natural or human-made.
     Big, tall, stately sycamore trees are the most typical ones along creeks and ponds.  Massive sycamores with large, gnarled branches are easily noticed from a distance because they have light and darker mottled bark that stands out before the darker bark of silver maples, ash-leafed maples and black walnut trees that are also common on floodplains, but not as outstanding as sycamores.  Lines of sycamores seen from a distance indicate the presence of water at their roots.
     Many larger sycamores are riddled with cavities where wind ripped limbs off the trees.  There a variety of creatures live and reproduce, including raccoons, wood ducks, screech owls and others.
     Norway spruce trees are the most typical species of urban and suburban habitats.  Of course, several other kinds of trees flourish in those built habitats, but many of them also live in our woods.  Norway spruces, being from Europe originally, have long been planted on lawns, and there they are confined.  White pines and eastern hemlocks are also planted on lawns, but they are also wild in spots in this county.
     Though it is an alien kind of tree, Norway spruces are a good species to plant on lawns.  They don't seem to get diseases readily.  They don't snap off in wind as do many white pines.  They don't seem to be invasive and they have handsome shapes all their lives, attractive, needled boughs through the year and long, striking cones that are pretty in the trees, on lawns and in dried arrangements.  Squirrels, mice and a variety of small, seed-eating birds eat the winged seeds in their cones, and those that already fell from the cones.  Mourning doves, great horned owls, red-tailed hawks and Cooper's hawks are some of the birds that roost in these wind-breaking spruces through winter.
     The rugged, spindly black locust trees are the most representative of Lancaster County farmlands.  Some of them grow alone in fields, while other form lines along roadsides and hedgerows.  The deeply-furrowed bark of black locust appears gnarled and twisted, like mighty muscles straining.  And because its wood does not easily rot in the soil, some black locusts are made into fence posts. 
     Black locust trees bloom during the last two months of May in this area.  Their multitudes of
 sweet-scented blossoms are white and grow in many clusters.  Their fragrance is strong on the breeze and can be smelled from a bit of a distance, making cropland more enjoyable in mid-May.  Honey bees and other kinds of insects swarm over the flowers to sip sugary nectar and ingest dusty pollen.
     A few beans develop in each of several small, brown pods that grow from the fertilized blooms.  Mice, squirrels and a few kinds of birds eat many of those beans.
     Tall, stately tulip trees, or tulip poplar trees, are the most characteristic species of local woodlands.  The trunks of this type of tree grow tall, and as straight as telephone poles.  Their bark is shallowly furrowed and they have tulip shaped and sized flowers during the last two weeks in May.  We generally don't see their pale green blossoms with a band of orange near the base of each one because they develop near the tops of the trees.  However, strong winds in May might knock some limbs out of the trees and dash them to the ground.  Then we get to see their lovely blossoms.
     Bees and other kinds of insects eagerly visit tulip tree blooms to sip nectar and consume pollen.  The resulting seeds of that pollination are beige with thin wings on each one for spinning away on the wind some distance from the parent trees.  Mice and squirrels eat many of those seeds through winter.  The two-inch spikes those seeds developed on remain in the trees and resemble tooth picks.
     The wood of tulip trees is used for pulp for paper and cheap lumber.  And these trees are planted on some lawns for their attractive shapes and the shade their leaves provide.
     Each local habitat has at least one tree that is characteristic of it.  And each tree adds beauties to their environment that we all can enjoy through the year.