Hesperocyparis macrocarpa 'Saligna Aurea' - Golden Weeping Monterey Cypress

This is a pretty cool cultivar of our Monterey Cypress tree. Growing to 25' or so and about as wide, the thin lateral branchlets are long and thin, sort of like the thread branched cypress (Chamaecyparis pisifera 'Filiera Aurea'). Trees have a strong central leader with upright arching lateral branched. 

This unbelievable specimen is in a private garden in town.

These are located at the old Suncrest Nursery on Casserly Rd. Now Griggs Nursery

Another great one across from the K-9 clinic.

The foliage is scale-like, opposite, sharp pointed, and diverging from the stems. The internodes are elongated making for thread-like stems. They remain green in the shaded part of the plant so be sure to put them in a sunny location.

Fruit is the same as you would see on the species.

Misidentification: When young they might look like a Chamaecyparis pisifiera 'Filifera Aurea' form though Hesperocyparis macrocarpa 'Saligna Aurea' has a much more open habit with a strong central leader and long ascending lateral branches.

Older name is Cupressus macrocarpa, with a Callitropsis thrown in and then out.

Location:

Corralitos - Pioneer road across from the K9 clinic.

Watsonville - 400 Casserly Rd (Griggs Wholesale Nursery - near the office)

Carya illinoinensis - Pecan

The pecan is an unusual tree in our area. Looking very much like a walnut, its easily misidentified as such. The pecans are large deciduous trees, 50+ tall and wide, with a large rounded crown, and several main scaffold branches. One on Laurel and this one in SLO. Our's in Santa Cruz has been removed.

Here is ours on Laurel. (Cut back but coming back.)

Foliage is alternate, pinnately compound, 12-18" long with 9-15 elliptical to lanceolate, serrated leaflets, dark green. Leaflets have an unequal base.

Flowers are male catkins, yellowish green, pendulous, female back some distance, small.


Fruit is large, 1-1/2" long, oblong, brown, thin shelled, dry drupe, usually in clusters of three.

Bark is thin when young, becoming fissured with age. Brown, mostly.

Twigs stout, thick, pubescent in the spring, large leaf scars, pointed buds, terminal large, and pubescent. Superposed bud (one bud on top of another, usually a flower bud, with the vegetative bud being the smaller one).

Misidentification
Black walnuts. Look at the fruit if possible, and the lateral buds are rounded on the walnut, pointed on these.

Location
Santa Cruz
302 Laurel Ave (removed) But trying to make a comeback

Corralitos

1800 Hamas Rd.

Ulmus procera - English Elm

The English Elm, sometimes called the English Cork Elm, is a large deciduous tree growing over 100' in it's native habitat, but more likely 60' in cultivation. The trees form a somewhat narrow crown with several large primary scaffold branches growing upward and then out. Fast growing, somewhat weedy, spreading by underground suckers, the trees show up in lots of places in large quantities. We have a "grove" of them on the campus in a ravine just north of the campus. The name could also be U. minor var. suberosa.

Leaves are deciduous, alternate, simple, 2-4" long, about half as wide, elliptical - ovate shaped, double serrated margins, upper surface quite scruffy (stiff hairs, scabrous) with the lower being slightly so as well as having lots of pubescences in the axils of the veins. Marginal yellow fall color.

Stems generally slender, zigzagging, light brown or slightly reddish.  May have lots of irregular corky growth. Not symmetrical like others like the U. alata which had 2 distinct rows of cork.

Flowers before leafing out in early spring, flowers reddish color.

Fruit is a rounded samara, about 1/2" diameter, papery when dry, seed in the middle of the fruit, tip of the samara lightly notched.

Bark is deeply ridged.

Misidentification:
Look for the seriously scabrous upper leaf surface, as well as the pubescent lower and the leaf size. Fruit is always helpful identifying elms.

Location:
Atpos
Cabrillo college, in the ravine north of the Sesnon House.
6900 block of Freedom Blvd.

Santa Cruz
Cedar St in the parking lot of the Calvary Episcopal Church - May be dead and removed soon.

7th Ave and Eaton St. on the 7th side of the house.

Castanea sativa - European Chestnut

The European chestnut trees are absolutely beautiful while blooming in the spring as well as in the fall with it's yellow-brown foliage and spiny fruit. Trees are deciduous, large, 60' tall and 40' wide with a rounded crown. Usually branching low resulting in a multi-stemmed tree.

 Beautiful tree in full bloom in Palo Alto.

Leaves are deciduous, simple, alternate, lanceolate, 6-10" long by 2-4" wide, dark green in the sun, lighter below, coarsely serrated with nice 1/4" long teeth and a rounded leaf base. Petioles are long, almost an inch. Lower surface can be covered with white hairs or not, do wish they would be consistent.

Flowers are monoecious, on the same inflorescence, males at the tips maturing after the females, very showy and attract lots of bees. Inflorescence can be 4-6" long with lots of flowers.

Fruit is a nut and have been eaten for ages. Like others in the Beech family (Fagaceae), the fruit is partially or totally enclosed by vegetative floral parts. In this case, they completely cover the developing fruit (2 or more) in a sharply spine covered cupule. (The oak fruit is also a nut and is only partially covered by what is commonly called the cup.)

 Sort of a mess, unless you collect them and eat them…..

There is a cool looking star shaped pattern formed by the vascular connections on the flat end of the fruit. The American chestnut patterns look more like a sunburst (reference, then click on the image of the fruit to see all of them).

Stems are stout, dark brown eventually, though green early in the season, with lots of lentils, lateral buds somewhat diverging from the stem. Bark has longitudinal grooves, potentially pretty deep.

Misidentification:
As mentioned below, many chestnut plants are likely hybrids making identification difficult, but look for the long petiole, narrow and long leaf, leaf base rounded, long pointing spines on margins.

Don't be mistaken by the horse chestnuts, they are not edible. They have compound leaves.

Location:
Scotts Valley/Felton
Mt Herman Rd to the left of the Heavenly Roadside Cafe are 2 specimens.
MacDorsa Park


There are at least four species of arborescent Castanea. The American chestnut C. dentata was essentially wiped out due to chestnut blight that struck the eastern mountains in New York in 1904 and by the 40's millions of trees were dead. I viewed some trees over the years at Finch Arboretum in Spokane that were planted as C. dentata. The other species include the European chestnut (C. sativa) and the Chinese Chestnut (C. mollissima).

Researchers found some American chestnuts that showed some resistance and were hybridized with the Chinese and European chestnuts and these are likely to be found North American landscapes. The Chinese chestnut introduces disease resistance and cold hardiness. In fact breeding has been going on since the late 1800's on the east coast. According to the Flora of North America, if a tree does not fit the key exactly, its likely a hybrid, and all the trees I have found do not fit as nicely as I would like.

UC Davis suggests that Chinese immigrants introduced C. mollissima in the mountains of Northern CA during the gold rush and Italians planted C. sativa along the coast of central CA. The results suggest that many trees may indeed be hybrids.

I have used almost every key I have found, and have settled on the European Chestnut. I found the American Chestnut Foundation key from the 2012 Chestnut Summit to be excellent.

Fraxinus pennsylvanica - Green Ash

The green ash is one of the most commonly planted trees in the country because they're very fast growing trees and they provide shade in only a few years. We don't see as many here as in colder climates. As I said, they are fast growing, I have seen 3-5' of growth on some trees when planted as a bare root specimen. They will grow at least 2' a year when young and will eventually reach 70' with a broad asymmetrically rounded canopy. They are deciduous and will provide a weak yellow color that will last for a short period of time unless the weather is cold and they will fall overnight, sometimes still green. Most of the plants sold are male cultivars because females produce millions of fruit that will likely germinate.

Leaves are deciduous, opposite, pinnately compound, 6-9" long, with 7 elliptical to broadly lanceolate leaflets. Leaflets are about 1-2" long, having various amounts of serrations on the margins, may or may not have hair on the lower surface, but they usually do in the spring.

Twigs can be stout or thin on weak lower branches. Usually squared at the nodes. Buds are covered with hairs, copper colored, with the terminal being larger than the others. Usually three buds in the terminal location. Leaf scars are one key to correct identification. The bud sits on top of the semicircular scar.

Plants are dioecious, male and female. Developing early spring along with the foliage, usually slightly earlier. Many selections are males.

Females.

 Males.

Fruit is a narrow, straight samara, borne in large clusters, green turning brown and falling   about the same time as the leaves.

Bark is smooth, gray but eventually darker, furrowed, scaly or ridged.

Misidentification:
Ash trees can be tough to sort out. The bud and leaf scar are one important characteristic. Leaflet shapes, margins, bud color are other things to look at.

Location:
Aptos 125 Heather Terrace - Aegis Living

Abies grandis - Grand Fir

The Grand fir is another uncommon sight in our warmer climate but, to a conifer lover, a welcome one. Growing up to 250' in its native range, we will likely to see them 50-60' tall by about 15-20' wide. They form a beautiful conical shape. Generally quite dense when young eventually a bit more open. You can see the one on the left is much fuller than the one on the right. Looks like a redwood if you look quickly at the foliage. This planting has two trees, right next to a redwood, and I suspect there was some confusion at planting time or when they were pulled from a nursery. Supposed to be three redwoods?

Leaves are evergreen, spirally arranged, linear, needle-like, 3/4 - 2" long, narrow, bright green upper surface, lower surface with 2 distinct white bands of stomates. The leaves on reproductive branches are very different than lower down on the tree. Those tend to form a very strong "V" shape. This feature is common to most firs and makes this characteristic useless for identification. The lower leaves form a single flat plane with the leaves spreading out sideways. 

The leaves on the top appear to be different lengths, alternating long and short.

Bands of stomates in 2 rows on the lower portion of the leaf.

Stems are yellowish-green initially, persistently smooth, with round depressions where leaves were once attached.

Female cones are found only at the top of trees. Growing 2-4" long, yellowish green or purple green when young turning brown at maturity and like all fir trees, the cones disintegrate on the tree, shedding the seeds, scales and bracts leaving behind only the thin central stalk. Bracts shorter than scales so you don't see them until they hit the ground. In this image you can see the scale on the left has its attached bract on its "back" while the one to the right is not showing a bract.

Male cones are yellow and found on the lower branches.

Bark on trees initially is smooth, gray or silver with horizontal resin blisters, becoming furrowed or flaked with age.

Misidentification:
First, determine that it's a fir and not a spruce. Once you a certain it is a fir, you have to look at how leaves are arranged on the stems and avoid the reproductive ones. Look for the presence or absence of stomatal bands on the upper surfaces, they are always on the lower surface, not the upper for this species. Look up for cones and down for cone scales and bracts.

Not at all easily. I used my trusted Pacific Coast Trees by McMinn and Maino.
Foliage is found in one plane, often called 2 ranked but I like the plane concept, or in 1 dimension. To use a key on these you have to find the resin glands with are inside the leaf, either along the margins or near the main vein. These are shallow and along the margin. To see the resin glands you need a 10X hand lens. Cut the leaf in half crosswise and then carefully squeeze the leaf with your nail while looking for where some resin comes out.

Location:

281 Pebble Beach Drive

Taxodium distichum - Bald Cypress

The bald cypress is a large deciduous tree with a narrow pyramid-shaped crown, 50' or so in cultivation (much larger in wet soils, and with knees). Resembles Metasequoia but not as symetrical with lateral branches going in more than one direction. One of a few deciduous conifers. Uncommonly planted in Santa Cruz but there are lots in one condo landscape in Capitola.

Great orangish brown fall color.

Generally deciduous, linear (needle-like) shaped leaves, 1/2- 3/4" long, light green, sprially arranged but appearing 2 ranked on laterlal shoots. Side shoots are called deciduous branchlets and fall as a unit, they appear to be a single pinnately compound leaf.

Deciduous branchlets are alternately arranged but can be subopposite, differing from Metasequoia being strongly opposite, and the branchlets seem to point more forward on this species. Stems green on deciduous branchlets, brown on others, below you can see the main branch going left to right. The laterals, looking like compound leaves, are green.

Cones are composed of peltate scales forming a woody, brown sphere with rough surfaces, 3/4 to 1" in diameter, differing from Metasequoia by not having the "lips". They break apart when mature.

Trunks develop into a widened buttress with fibrous peeling bark. Trees are native to areas with standing water, some times called Swamp Cypress. To survive flooded conditions, they develop upright extensions from the roots called knees. They allow the plants to get oxygen to the roots. These are located in North Carolina.

These are at a homeowners association in the lawn, and the mowers keep hitting the tops. 

As usual, there are disagreements concerning one species or more. Lumpers vs, splitters. Other species include T. ascendens (Pond Cypress), and T. mexicanum (Montezuma Bald Cypress) though Kew Gardens considers them to be botanical varieties due to the size and shapes, awl-shaped leaves on one.

Misidentification:
Without a doubt you will think its a Metasequoia glyptostroboides, but the branchlets are alternate not opposite. You might encounter another Taxodium and there are quite a few cultivars.

Location:

Aptos

On the campus of Cabrillo College in the depression near the ceramics department and display.

Capitola
On Frederick in the lawn area the Capitola Knolls Condos (private property) there are 5-6 trees pretty close to the road.