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Re: [OM] Chuck's "Spring done sprung" up on TOPE2

Subject: Re: [OM] Chuck's "Spring done sprung" up on TOPE2
From: "Brian Swale" <bj@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Tue, 14 May 2013 00:49:51 +1200
Chuck wrote: 
> Thanks, but I don't think I've in any way outdone your E-3 shots.  I was
> blessed here with soft light and wet foliage.
> 
> I'd be happy to show you a female cone if I had the slightest idea how to
> tell them apart.  In general, I can't tell pines from spruce or fir except
> for a few specific trees (like the very obvious blue spruce). Maybe if I
> showed the whole tree you could tell or maybe I can look it up on line so
> I know what to take a picture of.
> 
> You can see the row of trees in this shot. 
> <http://www.chucknorcutt.com/2712%20Columbia%20Drive/img_5541e.htm> 
> They run along the back fence line.  I suspect they're almost as old as
> the house (1958) and are not in particularly good health... lots of dead
> lower branches.  You can judge from the height of the 4' fence how tall
> the trees are.

Thanks for the photo. At that distance, fir and spruce look very similar.
I agree that for their age their growth is less than optimal, but if it had 
been 
faster you would have felled them by now, so their growth strategy ( 
assuming they have one :-) ) has ensured their survival so far. !
One quick mnemonic to discriminate between firs and spruces (Picea) is 
Picea Persistent Pungent (pointed), either look at a shoot which has the 
'needles fallen off' or go to a twig with green leaves - needles on , and rip 
one or two off. If it is a Picea, there will be a persistent little woody point 
remaining where the middle of the leaf base was. None for fir (Abies).

I'll post some pics illustrating the two genders of cones.

I agree, they are very photogenic. The white lines of the stomata on the 
undersides of the needles add to the attraction, in my eyes.

Brian Swale
-- 
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