Tag: Travel Bug

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Heritage Tree (#ThursdayTreeLove)

Well, I had heard of heritage structures, heritage walks, heritage conservation and so on but a heritage tree was something unique. Come to think of it why not considering that some trees live for hundreds of years… 


In a perfect coincidence, my tree for the day is the Pilu or Salvadora persica which I have seen in the lawns of the Qutub Minar in Delhi. Our guide told us that this tree is really really old and the tree trunk showed its age. It belongs to the Salvadoraceae family and is also called Meswak. 

Pilu, Salvadora, qutub minar

There are several of these in the complex so do take a while to spot and admire then if you do visit Qutub Minar. They have gnarled trunks with elliptic to oblong leaves with entire margins and arranged oppositely on the stems. We were lucky to see the fruits that were really beautiful glassy looking red globule like structures. 

Leaves
qutub minar, heritage, pilu
Fruits

One of the trees has this massive trunk which has some infestation

As you can see one of the trees has fallen possibly weakened by some infection or due to weather conditions


According to my field botany teachers, this tree is a mangrove associate so how come its flourishing in dry Delhi is a bit of a surprise to me.


Have you visited Qutub Minar? Have you spotted these trees?


I am participating in Parul’s #ThursdayTreeLove27. Head over there to see some lovely trees from around the world. 

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Birch (#ThursdayTreeLove)

What do we ‘see’ when we travel away from our home cities? Over the past few years, I have made it a point to look out for plants and flowers of that particular place, especially when overseas. This made my visit to the Scandinavian countries a double delight as I was able to enjoy the flora of the temperate region – which for me had been limited to books and electronic screens so far!


I had a small field guide to help identify the trees and I cannot express my joy at recognising a tree!!  

Here is a road outside our Helsinki hotel that struck me for two reasons, one is obviously the golden carpet of yellowing autumn leaves and the second is the white bark. Moving a little closer, the white almost looked like paint! I did not need any reference to know that these were Birches. They belong the family Betulaceae and the genus Betula. 

Autumn 



White bark


These are mostly deciduous trees which means they shed their leaves in winter. All seemed to have straight trunks. This was most obvious in the countryside, as the scene outside the window was blur of vertical white lines!! 

View from the bus window

An article I read online, mentions that during the World War II, Birch wood was used to build the Hercules H4 which was a strategic airlift flying airboat.  The aircraft is called “Spruce Goose” and is on display at the Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum at McMinnville in Oregon. Wow!! 


Which trees have you spotted in your travels – for work or leisure? 
🙂


I am participating in Parul’s #ThursdayTreeLove25. Head over to seen some wonderful trees from around the world…

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Sleeping (#ThursdayTreeLove)

Sleeping, Moscow, Kremlin, Trees



Strange as it sounds these trees do have a ‘sleeping’ habit dont you think?


I came across them in Moscow during our tour of the Kremlin. As yet, I havent been able to ascertain their ID and none of the locals around including our Guide could help me in this respect…


Why must they be horizontal? Flattened in some storm perhaps? Or is it the natural growth style of the species? 


I wonder…. Any ideas folks??


I am participating in Parul’s #ThursdayTreeLove24. Do head over for some fantastic trees from around the world.

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