Journal archives for September 2017

September 3, 2017

Why Did Oak Trees Once Grow in the Middle of Pasadena Intersections?

It was no accident of haphazard surveying. It was a deliberate act of town planning that placed a massive oak tree in the middle of a major Pasadena intersection. When Calvin Fletcher laid out the San Gabriel Orange Grove Association subdivision in 1874, he oriented the main thoroughfare, Orange Grove Avenue, so that it would wrap around at least two ancient live oaks. Shade was a precious commodity on Pasadena’s mostly treeless mesa, and Fletcher’s plan saved these sprawling oaks by incorporating them into the avenue’s landscaped median.

https://www.kcet.org/shows/lost-la/why-did-oak-trees-once-grow-in-the-middle-of-pasadena-intersections

Posted on September 3, 2017 10:18 AM by biohexx1 biohexx1 | 0 comments | Leave a comment

September 20, 2017

American oaks share a common northern ancestor.

If you had been in northern Canada 45 million years ago, you might have encountered the distant ancestor of all of the oaks in the Americas. That single species gave rise to 220 more and two distinct lineages -- red oaks and white oaks -- that moved south through the boreal zone to populate large swaths of the continent all the way into Mexico.

https://twin-cities.umn.edu/news-events/american-oaks-share-common-northern-ancestor

Posted on September 20, 2017 03:12 PM by biohexx1 biohexx1 | 0 comments | Leave a comment