The Ginkgo

Ginkgo trees seem to require a solid, sustained freeze before any leaves begin to fall. Prior to this happening, the leaves are green going gold and uncaring of the season. Though when the time comes the leaves drop all at once, sometimes nearly all fall in a single day, forming a circle at the base of the tree like an apron or a skirt dropped to the ground.

Because the Ginkgo's leaf-fall depends on a hard freeze, nights with temperatures well below freezing, the date of this annual occurrence corresponds closely to the end of the flight season of our hardiest dragonfly, the Autumn Meadowhawk. Most years these dragonflies survive the first frosts, wet snows, and brief overnight dips in temperature below freezing. It's not uncommon to find a few Autumn Meadowhawks on warm sunny days in November. Seeing the neighborhood Ginkgo trees losing their leaves, I'm afraid the recent cold spell has been cold enough to put an end to the dragonfly season.

Needing to visit the campus library (for a title about Tacitus), I detoured on my walk home to pass by what may be my favorite tree in Northfield, a very large Ginkgo on the south side of the philosophy building. With the recent construction and landscaping work at this building, I wanted to make sure the tree still stood. Wizened and elegant the tree still stands. With most of the green-going-gold leaves still on the tree, located alongside a castle-like stone building, the Ginkgo forms an iconic visage of autumn. As tonic for this momentary romantic idyll, I picked up one of the fleshy fruits from the sidewalk and took a cautious sniff and the instant snap of rancid butter made me wince. Obviously, the purpose of such repellent "fruit" must be to prevent the nuts, the embryos of future trees, from being eaten before reaching the ground where they can grow.

https://kwanten.home.xs4all.nl/goethe.htm

Posted on 31 de outubro de 2017, 02:26 AM by scottking scottking

Observações

Fotos / Sons

What

Ginkgo (Ginkgo biloba)

Observador

scottking

Data

Outubro 30, 2017 01:01 PM CDT

Descrição

Ginko
St Olaf Campus
Northfield, Minnesota

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