Each year as we get into the holiday season, we follow a few traditions in our celebrations. Some of those traditions involve plants: for many, the poinsettia flowers and branches from holly -- with its leaves and red berries -- are an expected part of the season. Conifers play a role as well. Bringing in and decorating a spruce or balsam as a Christmas tree is very common. Garland made from pine branches are frequently used too.
But conifers don't only serve to spruce up our indoors. Yes, in the landscape of bare deciduous trees and a snow cover, the evergreen trees show up clearly.
This is a good time to see and get to know our native conifers.
The forests in this area are mostly a mixture of tree types. We have a huge variety of broad-leaf trees (ones that drop their foliage in fall) but we also have about 10 kinds of conifers scattered among them. Anyone traveling in the region now can easily see the trees that still hold green leaves (needles) in the winter woods.
Since each of these species of tree produces seeds in a growth called a cone, we collectively call them conifers.
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Among our natives are three kinds of pines: red (Norway), white and Jack. Red, our state tree, has long needles grouped in pairs -- as are the short needles of Jack pine. White pine holds groups of five medium-length needles.
The two native spruces are known as white and black spruce. White spruces are larger and more likely seen in the upland forests or hillsides; the smaller black spruce grows in wetlands. Both have short, sharp needles.
Flat needles are on the medium-sized balsam fir (usually called just balsam) and the small yew. Those of the former are rounded on the tip while the latter's are sharp.
White cedars abound in swamps. Here they hold their branching foliage, not looking anything like needles. Long flaking bark, tiny cones and a noticeable odor are characteristic of this tree. Its cousins, the junipers, are found in poor soil and in sand or rocky sites; they may grow nearly flat to the ground.
Strangest of our conifers is the tamarack. Unlike the others that stay green all winter, these trees of the wetlands drop their clusters of needles. They are deciduous conifers: evergreens not ever green.
Except for the last, nearly all of them could be chosen as Christmas trees, but most common are the white spruces and balsams. Both are plentiful, grow fast and thrive in our environment. A passerby need not even go far from a road to see these conifers.
But in the wetlands, especially the swamps and bogs of the Northland, the black spruces remain green and standing all winter. In these sites with poor soil, they rarely grow large.
Indeed, a black spruce of the bog with a trunk diameter of 6 inches may be older than a nearby forested pine tree of a measurement of 2 feet. This habitat is the domain of other strange plants such as sphagnum mosses and Labrador tea. Here the small spruces survive winter and, within their snowy boughs, provide shelter to various small North Country critters living here. Not usually taken into our houses as a Christmas tree, the black spruces of the bogs add to our terrific winter scenes and are a crucial member of this wetland community.
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Retired teacher Larry Weber is the author of several books that are available now: "Butterflies of the North Woods," "Spiders of the North Woods" and "Fascinating Fungi of the North Woods." Contact him c/o budgeteer@duluthbudgeteer.com .
