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Come back to this page each day to read another entry from Frederick R. Gehlbach's almanac of suburban natural and unnatural history, "Messages from the Wild," which chronicles the world of a forested ravine in central Texas.
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Early flowers add to my impression that spring is on its way. It's still winter for sure, cold and blustery, although I've seen the first trout lilies and American elm blooms. Among majestic canopy trees, American elms always bloom first, including a favorite individual two and a half feet in diameter and seventy feet tall. Once the species characterized the eastern deciduous forest, but it is long gone from most places, killed off by Dutch elm disease imported by accident from Europe. Our trees comprise one of the few remaining original populations. Thank goodness the disease didn't get here, probably because our American elms are semi-isolated along rivers and were not planted as ornamentals, a practice that facilitates the spread of disease by increasing tree density. |
Frederick R. Gehlbach is Professor Emeritus of Biology and Environmental Studies at Baylor University. His ecological studies have taken him from New Zealand to Slovakia and, in the Americas, from Alaska and Newfoundland to Guatemala, Belize and Honduras. His research interests include the life-history strategies of small owls, small burrowing snakes and urban wildlife ecology.
From MESSAGES FROM THE WILD: AN ALMANAC OF SUBURBAN NATURAL AND UNNATURAL HISTORY by Frederick R. Gehlbach, Copyright © 2002. Courtesy of the University of Texas Press.
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