Natures Art Work - Patch Work
by Judy Palkimas
Title
Natures Art Work - Patch Work
Artist
Judy Palkimas
Medium
Photograph - Photography- Photograph
Description
I took this image of the Sycamore Tree in Old Greenwich Ct. in a park near the water. What really attracted me to the tree were its different shades almost like camouflage or a patchwork of color of the bark. Which made it stand out against the blue sky.
An American sycamore tree can often be easily distinguished from other trees by its mottled exfoliating bark which flakes off in great irregular masses, leaving the surface mottled, and greenish-white, gray and brown. The explanation is found in the rigid texture of the bark tissue which lacks the elasticity of the bark of some other trees, so it is incapable of stretching to accommodate the growth of the wood underneath, so the tree sloughs it off.[1]
A sycamore can grow to massive proportions, typically reaching up to 30 to 40 meters (98 to 130 ft) high and 1.5 to 2 meters (4.9 to 6.6 ft) in diameter when grown in deep soils. The largest of the species have been measured to 51 meters (167 ft), and nearly 4 meters (13 ft) in diameter. Larger specimens were recorded in historical times. In 1770, near the junction of the Kanawha and Ohio Rivers, George Washington recorded in his journal a sycamore measuring nearly 45 feet (14 m) in circumference at 3 feet (91 cm) from the ground.[2]
The sycamore tree is often divided near the ground into several secondary trunks, very free from branches. Spreading limbs at the top make an irregular, open head. Roots are fibrous. The trunks of large trees are often hollow.
Bark: Dark reddish brown, broken into oblong plate-like scales; higher on the tree, it is smooth and light gray; separates freely into thin plates which peel off and leave the surface pale yellow, or white, or greenish. Branchlets at first pale green, coated with thick pale tomentum, later dark green and smooth, finally become light gray or light reddish brown.
Leaves: Alternate, palmately nerved, broadly-ovate or orbicular, four to nine inches long, truncate or cordate or wedge-shaped at base, decurrent on the petiole. Three to five-lobed by broad shallow sinuses rounded in the bottom; lobes acuminate, toothed, or entire, or undulate. They come out of the bud plicate, pale green coated with pale tomentum; when full grown are bright yellow green above, paler beneath. In autumn they turn brown and wither before falling. Petioles long, abruptly enlarged at base and inclosing the buds. Stipules with spreading toothed borders, conspicuous on young shoots, caducous.
FEATURED PHOTO in PhotoRus~4/29/13
FEATURED PHOTO in Weekly Fun For All~6/28/13
FEATURED PHOTO in All Things Atlantic~ 7/30/13
Uploaded
April 5th, 2013
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Viewed 961 Times - Last Visitor from New York, NY on 03/28/2024 at 4:22 AM
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Comments (87)
Robert Bales
What a very nice presentation and congrats for being feature on the Excellent Self-Taught feature page!! v/f/t