Treepedia: A Brief Compendium of Arboreal Lore

By Joan Maloof and Maren Westfall

A captivating A–Z treasury for the tree hugger in all of us

Treepedia is an entertaining and fact-filled illustrated compendium of tree lore. Featuring nearly 100 entries—on topics ranging from tree ecology and conservation to the role of trees in religion, literature, art, and movies—this enticing collection is a celebration of all things arboreal.

In this charming book, Joan Maloof explains the difference between a cedar and a cypress, and reveals where to find the most remarkable trees on the planet. She tells the story behind the venerable Bodhi Tree, and describes peculiar species like baobabs and Fitzroya. Maloof profiles legendary conservationists such as Julia "Butterfly" Hill, John Muir, Wangari Maathai, and Ken Wu. She discusses reforestation, proforestation, emerald ash borers, the ents from The Lord of the Rings, culturally modified trees, the ill-fated and controversial Redwood Summer, and much more. The book's portable size makes it the perfect travel companion no matter where your love of the forest may lead you.

With enchanting illustrations by Maren Westfall, Treepedia is a fun and informative book that is guaranteed to inspire anyone who has ever enjoyed a walk in the woods.

• Features a cloth cover with an elaborate foil-stamped design
• Uses 100 percent recycled, uncoated, wood-free paper

• Language: English
• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Release date: Sep 14, 2021
• ISBN: 9780691218243

Joan Maloof

JOAN MALOOF is a professor emeritus of biology and environmental studies at Salisbury University.

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Treepedia

Copyright © 2021 by Joan Maloof

Princeton University Press is committed to the protection of copyright and the intellectual property our authors entrust to us. Copyright promotes the progress and integrity of knowledge. Thank you for supporting free speech and the global exchange of ideas by purchasing an authorized edition of this book. If you wish to reproduce or distribute any part of it in any form, please obtain permission.

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Published by Princeton University Press

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press.princeton.edu

All Rights Reserved

ISBN 978-0-691-20875-6

ISBN (e-book) 978-0-691-21824-3

British Library Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available

Editorial: Robert Kirk and Abigail Johnson

Production Editorial: Mark Bellis

Text and Cover Design: Chris Ferrante

Production: Steve Sears

Publicity: Matthew Taylor and Kate Farquhar-Thomson

Copyeditor: Cathryn Slovensky

Cover, endpaper, and text illustrations by Maren Westfall

All royalties from this book are donated to

This book has been composed in Plantin, Futura, and Windsor

Printed on 100% post-consumer recycled paper

Printed in China

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Dedicated to the impeccable team at the Old-Growth Forest Network: Susan Barnett, Barbara Bush, William Cook, Lisa Marie Ghezzi, Vanessa Goold, Sarah Horsley, Susan Ives, Richard Marion, Melissa Micriotti, Holiday Phelan-Johnson, Sarah Robb-Grieco, Eleanor Sloan, and the network of people who support our work speaking for the trees.

There is one quality that characterizes all of

us who deal with the sciences of the earth and

its life—we are never bored.

—RACHEL CARSON

Thank God, they cannot cut down the clouds!

—HENRY DAVID THOREAU

Every tree has its own stories to tell.

—JOAN MALOOF

Preface

Within these pages you will read about some of the most exceptional trees, some of the most exceptional forests, and some of the most exceptional tree advocates on the planet. This book does not contain all the tree species, nor does it contain all there is to know about trees; it simply couldn’t in something this dainty. But no matter how much you know about trees already, I can promise you that you will learn something new here. And if you know next to nothing about trees now? All the better, as these entries will quickly bring you up to speed. So, although this book is not meant to be complete, it is meant to be stimulating. What you are holding is a mini-encyclopedia for our times, short and precious tidbits, not to be read in one sitting but to pick up and put down at a moment’s notice—perhaps to be kept within reach in the smallest room in the house.

Adirondacks

A mountainous region in northeastern New York State that is illustrative of the worst that can happen to forested land, and the best. The word Adirondack comes from a Mohawk word meaning ­eaters of trees. The inner bark layer of many trees is edible, and Native Americans would dry strips of this inner bark and pulverize it into a kind of flour, which they used for baking. Native people occupied the Adirondacks region for thousands of years before the European settlers arrived, eating trees and many other plants and animals that shared their ecosystem.

After the Revolutionary War, all of the land in New York came under the control of the state, but the state sold it off very cheaply—mostly to timber barons who cut all the timber and then abandoned the land without paying taxes on it. The heavy cutting of the original forests continued through the late 1700s and early 1800s. This cutting reduced the soil’s ability to hold water, causing both topsoil erosion and flooding. By 1850 the destruction of the Adirondack forests became a growing concern. In 1857 a popular writer named Samuel Hammond wrote, Had I my way, I would mark out a circle of a hundred miles in diameter, and throw around it the protecting aegis of the constitution. I would make it a forest forever. It would be a misdemeanor to chop down a tree and a felony to clear an acre within its boundaries. Hammond’s words struck a chord in many readers, but one man who did something about them was Verplanck Colvin. In 1872 Colvin was granted a $1,000 stipend from the state to survey the Adirondacks. The following year he presented a report to the state legislature, arguing that if the Adirondack watershed was allowed to deteriorate, it would threaten the viability of the Erie Canal, which was then vital to New York’s economy. Colvin echoed Hammond’s words, declaring that the entire Adirondack region should be protected by the creation of a state forest preserve. He continued with his surveys, and every year he made a similar plea to the legislature: Unless the region be preserved essentially in its present wilderness condition, the ruthless burning and destruction of the forest will slowly, year after year, creep onward. Persuaded by such testimony, the legislature established a Forest Preserve in 1885, stating that it shall be forever kept as wild forest lands. At the 1894 Constitutional Convention, this protection was written into the state’s constitution.

The boundary of the Adirondack Park, shown as a blue line on most maps, encompasses almost 6 million acres, nearly half of which is constitutionally protected to remain forever wild. The remaining half of the park is private land, which includes homes, farms, businesses, and camps. Logging is allowed on private lands. These wild lands and private lands are braided together throughout the park. Adirondack Park is now the largest publicly protected area in the contiguous United States, greater in size than Yellowstone, Everglades, Glacier, and Grand Canyon National Park combined. It is a prime example of the good that can be done when governments and individuals work together for preservation. Current estimates are that 300,000 acres of old-growth forest remain in the Adirondacks, and every year visitors come to the park for the clean water, clean air, and towering trees.

See also Old Growth.

American Chestnut

This species was at one time the largest and most plentiful tree in the eastern Appalachian region. Some of the trees were more than seven feet in diameter. In her book about the American chestnut, author Susan Freinkel calls it the perfect tree. In addition to its grand size, the American chestnut (Castanea dentata) was important for the large and nutritious nuts it produced inside spiny husks. Many poor settlers were saved from starvation by these nuts.

After most of the wild forests of the United States were cleared, and replanting for shade and beauty began in the cities, the American chestnut was considered too large for the polite grounds. Instead, the smaller, shrubbier Asian chestnuts were brought in, and with these chestnuts from across the sea came a microscopic fungus (Cryphonectria parasitica). It arrived in New York City in 1904. The sad tale plays out from there with the fungus jumping to the native American chestnuts and eventually killing them all to the ground. As an example, from just one state, the chestnut blight arrived in Georgia in 1924, and by 1930 the blight had killed half the chestnut trees in the state. Both living and dead trees were quickly logged for their timber value. In the few places where the chestnut trees were not cut, they eventually died anyway. The roots frequently sent up hopeful shoots, but by the time the shoots reached seven years of age, most of them were reinfected and killed as well. And then more shoots would sprout, and again the fungus would appear. Today some of our original trees are still sending up shoots, but very few of these shoots live to flower and produce nuts. The American Chestnut Foundation is now working to create disease-resistant strains of American chestnut trees and reintroduce them into the landscape.

American chestnut

Appleseed, Johnny (1774–1845)

Although parts of his life have been fictionalized, Johnny Appleseed was a real person with the given name of John Chapman. At the time when Chapman lived, settlers were allowed to stake a claim on certain allotments if they showed that they had improved the land. Planting apple trees for making hard cider was one of the easiest and least expensive ways to make a land claim. But where to get the apple seedlings for planting? That’s where Chapman came in. He collected apple seeds by plucking them from fruits and cider mash, and then germinated the seeds. These sprouts were planted in small fenced-in nurseries that he rented on other people’s properties. Chapman educated the property owners on the care of the seedlings and returned once or twice a year to check on them. In this way he was able to grow apple trees on nineteen different nurseries in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Indiana. When the small trees were old enough, he dug them up and transported them, bare-root, in a boat he paddled himself. He sold the trees by the dozen to enterprising settlers along the frontier. The settlers paid six cents each for a small whip. Some apple trees grown from seed produce delicious fruits, but most often the apples are small and tart. For cider, or for claims of ownership, the quality of the apples wasn’t that important.

Chapman traveled widely, and simply, and shared his faith wherever he went. He was a strong Christian believer. In those days, Native Americans still occupied many of the areas where he traveled; they considered him filled with the spirit, and even hostile tribes left him