![]() Two are another pair of sister species the Kawakami maple ( Acer caudatifolium) and Manchurian striped maple ( A. At the Arnold, three East Asian species vie with red and silver maple for the title of Earliest Bloomer in early to mid March. And at least when planted in North America, few other species begin waking up for spring as early as the red and silver maples flower. Though other maples flower before producing leaves, none, to my knowledge, allows five weeks to pass between the two events. The bright red flowers of red maple ( Acer rubrum) began appearing at the Arboretum in early March. In the meantime, red and silver maples are distinguishable by the haze of red to yellow flowers surrounding their otherwise bare branches. ![]() Regardless of the timing of this event, these flowers will be fertilized and begin ripening into seeds, which are often quite obvious by the time leaves begin to emerge (around April 15, this year). This year-a relatively warm, and thus phenologically early one-the Arnold’s red and silver maples were sending out flowers by the first week of March. They produce flowers in late winter, far before other maples have begun breaking bud. Fascinatingly, these trees behave differently, by far, from other maples. I’m speaking here of those neighborhood friends, red ( Acer rubrum) and silver ( A. But among them is a homegrown duo, a pair of “sister species,” meaning that they are more closely related to each other evolutionarily than to any other species. There are relatively few native North American maples, just nine species compared to over 100 indigenous to East Asia. This tension creates a trade-off between liberal growth and conservative bet-hedging and makes some species both better at responding to a changing climate while also more vulnerable to its dangers. Yet my ongoing experiments show that those trees that are further along, phenologically speaking, are more vulnerable to the dangers of a late winter freeze. A quick and robust start in spring gives a tree more opportunities to capitalize on April’s lengthening days and abundant rains. This process of budbreak, one step in the annual cycle of plant phenology, represents a double-edged sword for maples and other temperate trees. The maple collection (Acer) in late April. The arrival of flowers seems incongruous amidst a pandemic, and the season, for unrelated factors, can be uncertain and unpredictable for plants as well.Īs part of my study of the climate-change vulnerability of the Arnold Arboretum’s diverse maple (Acer) collection, I have been visiting trees of 37 maple species at the Arboretum once or twice a week and recording whether their buds have opened and how development of their leaves and flowers has progressed. Eliot’s nomination of April as the “cruellest month, breeding / Lilacs out of the dead land” certainly feels apt. ![]() In the spring of 2020, when cities like Boston have ground to a halt due to the novel coronavirus, T.
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