Distinctive, Decorative Bark

     At least six kinds of deciduous trees in southeastern Pennsylvania have distinctive, decorative bark that is most readily seen in winter when the trees are bare.  The bark of each tree helps identify it, and adds more beauty and intrigue to it, and the outdoors in winter.  The six are shag-bark hickories in bottomland woods, river birches and sycamores along streams and creeks, black locusts in fertile farmland, and sugar maples and American beeches on wooded slopes.
     Shagbark hickory bark peels off in long, vertical strips, with both ends of each one flared away from the trunk, but the middle still attached to it, giving hickories a shaggy appearance.  Older hickories appear rough and picturesque, which we can enjoy in bottomland woods.
     Brown creeper birds, mourning cloak butterflies, daddy long legs and other kinds of invertebrates shelter behind the partly dislodged planks of curled bark.  Gray squirrels chew into the hard husks and shells of hickory nuts to eat the meat inside.    
     As the wood and bark of hickories, and other kinds of trees, grow in circumference, the older, outer bark of each trunk and limb is forced loose and away.  The shedding of the outer bark makes room for new bark, and wood, growing underneath it.      
     The thin, pale-orange bark of river birch trees peels away in innumerable loose curls and strips, which makes the entire tree rustically attractive.  River birches are commonly planted on lawns because of the shaggy appearance of their limbs and trunks.
     In spring, long, hanging catkins, that cling to river birch twigs, produce pollen that is blown about in the wind.  Fertilized female flowers on these birches grow tiny, winged seeds that also blow away on the wind and are eaten by mice and a variety of seed-eating sparrows and finches in winter.
     White-tailed deer, cottontail rabbits and deer mice consume the twigs, buds and young bark of river birches in winter.  Beavers ingest birch bark, but use the trunks and branches to help build their dams and lodges.       
     Sycamore trees' older, barker bark drops off the trees in small, thin pieces, revealing patches of newer, lighter-hued bark that creates the mottled appearance on those trees.  Sycamores can grow massive along the waterways in the sunny meadows they call home.  I know of a few huge sycamores, close to home, that have cavities at ground level so large that up to a half dozen people could sit comfortably in them.  And this type of tree has seed balls that hang on long stems attached to the outer twigs of the trees.
     Black locust trees have thick, twisted-looking bark that resembles powerful, knotted muscles, giving these trees a rugged, rustic appearance.  And, in the middle of May, black locusts develop clusters of white flowers with a sweet fragrance that can be detected for some little distance across cropland fields.  Beans form in thin pods where the blossoms were.  This species of tree also has several cavities that make good homes for farmland screech owls and American kestrels.
     Sugar maple trees have several interesting traits, including strikingly beautiful orange foliage in autumn, two percent sugar in their sap that is boiled down to maple syrup and candy early in spring, and bark that flares out in long, firm ridges from trunks and larger branches.  Sugar maples are commonly planted on lawns because of their elegant shapes, colored leaves and maple syrup.      
     The handsome and stately American beech trees also have intriguing characteristics, including long, pointed leaf buds in winter, pale-yellow, curled leaves attached to twig moorings all winter and smooth, gray bark on trunks and branches.  One can see how common beeches are in certain woods by seeing those dead, curled leaves on their trees through winter when other deciduous trees are bare.  This is another species that grows to massive size.  And it is commonly planted on lawns.
     These are some of the deciduous trees that have distinctive and decorative bark in southeastern Pennsylvania.  The bark on these trees helps make time outdoors more interesting and enjoyable.