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Hi Jim & All, Oct 17, 2007 Your comments Jim, prompted me to pick a sprig from each species and compare them side by side. It is remarkable in how many relatively subtle ways these sprigs differ. I would not care to suggest that all of these differences will be valid for all individuals of these two species although this assumption is the basis apparently of type-based taxonomy. One difference that I know to be consistent is bud shape; Sugar has narrow, pointed, nearly terete terminal buds that (at this time of year) are more than 3 times as long as wide whereas Norway has squat, relatively blunt and somewhat flattened terminal buds that are less than 2 times as long as broad. Based on the samples before me, Sugar has well developed buds in the axils of most leaves on vigorous shoots but Norway has only small poorly developed buds in the axils of leaves except for the slightly better developed buds in the axils of distal leaves just below the terminal bud. This difference in shoot structure, along with the tendency of shoots in Sugar to grow upright, may account for the tendency of open-grown Norway to form a squat ball-shaped tree with many weak narrow croches. Terminal bud scars are crisp and persist into the second year in Sugar but are vague even in the first year in Norway. Sugar leaves are thick, leatherly, and variously cupped (margin not long enough for blade) whereas Norway are thin, fragile and nearly flat. Very few people, unless they are seeing a White Pine for the first time, will need to examine a leaf bundle, count the five needles, and thereby confirm the ID. But the distinctive features that set White Pine apart are difficult to describe in a way that will be easily recognozed by someone who has never seen a White Pine tree. Yt, Dave Webster, Kentville Jim Wolford wrote: >Marian, do you know how to distinguish sugar from Norway maples? In >Wolfville the sugar maples have another fungus, ANTHRACNOSE, which does not >make spots on the leaves, but just dries up the leaf edges which get brown >and crispy. > >For Norway vs. sugar maple, there are differences in leaf shape, in how much >lighter coloured the back of the leaf is, and in the size and angle of the >pairs of fruits/seeds. > >Find a tree book somewhere. Gary Saunders' Trees of Nova Scotia is cheap >and good and for sale at the N.S. Museum of Nat. Hist. -- perhaps in >libraries? -- and other books should be helpful as well. > >I will try to embellish this note about distinguishing marks later. > >And thanks to all of you who have responded to my initial inquiry about the >distribution of tar spot fungus on maples. > >Cheers from Jim >---------- >From: Marian Fulton & Art Harding <fulton.harding@ns.sympatico.ca> >Date: Tue, 16 Oct 2007 21:16:17 -0300 >To: 'Jim Wolford' <jimwolford@eastlink.ca> >Subject: RE: Tar spots mar Norway maples -- The Advertiser (King's >County),Tuesday, October 16, 2007 > >Hello Jim, > >I have had these spots on a sugar maple in our back yard for the past two or >three years. There were fewer spots this year than previously. > >I saw several maples at Amherst Point Bird Sanctuary last month with these >similar spots. > >I also saw them on maples in the Rideau Lakes region on Ontario (Portland on >Big Rideau Lake) when I was there a couple of weeks ago. > >Marian Fulton >9 Alder Drive >Hantsport NS > > > >-----Original Message----- >From: Jim Wolford [mailto:jimwolford@eastlink.ca] >Sent: 16 October 2007 19:49 >To: NatureNS >Cc: Ruth Newell; Laurel McIvor; Melanie Priesnitz; Marian Munro; Frances >Anderson; Troy McMullin; Karen Casselman >Subject: Tar spots mar Norway maples -- The Advertiser (King's >County),Tuesday, October 16, 2007 > >I'd be interested to hear from you all about where else this fungus is being >seen on Norway Maples (and other species?). For a nice photo, go to >NovaNewsNow.com Web-site, choose the Advertiser icon, then search "tar >spots" for the article and photo. > >Cheers from Jim in Wolfville >--------------- > >from NovaNewsNow.com Web-site: > >The Advertiser (King's County), Tuesday, October 16, 2007 > >Tar spots mar Norway maples > >by Brent Fox/The Advertiser > >View all articles from Brent Fox/The Advertiser >Article online since October 13rd 2007, 9:45 >Be the first to comment this article > >PHOTO: This Norway maple illustrates the extent of the fungal infection, but >horticulturalist Tim Amos says there's nothing anyone can do to stop it. >Tar spots mar Norway maples > >BY BRENT FOX >The Advertiser >NovaNewsNow.com > >It?s unsightly, relatively harmless to the tree and there?s little you can >do about it. > >You may have noticed the black spots on local Norway maples this year. >Simply ugly, and it has a number of people worked up and worried for their >trees. > >But Kingstec campus horticulture faculty member Tim Amos says, ½it?s nothing >to worry about.... It?s called 'tar spots,? Amos noted, a fungal disease that >marks certain trees. It doesn?t really affect the infected trees and most >trees are safe from it. > >One way to reduce the occurrences, he said, is to stop planting Norway >maples and plant other, less susceptible species instead. The spots haven?t >affected sugar maples and other more valued trees. > >The disease can be perpetuated through composting leaves. The fungus remains >with the leaves and will bring it into a new season. But it also goes from >tree-to-tree through the air. ½There?s absolutely nothing you can do,... Amos >said. It may go away at times, he acknowledged, because it runs in cycles. > >And people have to decide which is more important; the value of leaves in >compost or the increased potential of the fungus. > >A means of avoiding such a problem in the future, he noted, is to grow >different species in your garden. A mono-species attitude leaves one wide >open to having a whole yard affected by one disease. >
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