Are you insinuating that sycamores are gay? That would seem even less accurate. Unless you're suggesting they're bisexual, which would make much more sense with the way the aforementioned pollen is spread *shrug*
We've got a couple of poplars dominating the skyline some way down the road from us, but I don't think I've ever seen poplar seedlings anywhere, nor do I know what this fluff* looks like. Perhaps the poplars there are different? The ones near us are the stereotypical Lombardy poplars; AFAIK they're the only ones that are columnar, all the rest looking more like willows apparently (they're closely related).
(*-on second thoughts, do you mean catkins? It's been a while since I've been that near a poplar)
To return to the subject, just what is a "straight" maple? Field maple? Silver maple? Norway maple? Sugar maple? Other? I've always thought of sycamores as the most representative member of the acer family, probably due to its utter ubiquity, but perhaps it's only endemic here.
I too pictured a Lombardy poplar when I saw the word "poplar", and was confused 'cause I haven't seen any fluff from them, and more confused when I remembered that they mostly propogate by ... uh, rhizomes? runners? something like that but I can never remember which is the right word -- a root that grows parallel to the surface of the ground at a very shallow depth and pops up a new tree every s far along its length.
Then I remembered that in other parts of the word "poplar" means tulip poplar by default; a tree I know from pictures but haven't been around much. I'm betting she meant tulip poplars.
I think I've heard the rooty things in question unfortunately described as "suckers", but they might be something else (the new stems from the roots perhaps?); "runners" sounds right too but I'd thought that applied more to strawberries etc.
"Tulip poplars" I'd never heard of, but when I did a search on google images, they came out looking a lot like "tulip trees", one of which we have in our back garden :D (yep, further investigation shows they're synonymous, how odd) Haven't seen "fluff" on that either- but perhaps it's too young to set seed yet.
*sigh* No, a tulip tree looks like a magnolia, at least in the local parlance, and I haven't a clue what a tulip poplar looks like. *quick Google image search* Jeez, no! Apparently the kind of poplar trees I mean are poplus canadensis, suck on that, you botanical anal-retentives! And they most assuredly do spew fluff all over hell's half acre. When they start going crazy out at my parents' house a little later in the year, I'll take Teh Norty Camrer out and get you some pictures. In bumper crop years, it looks like it's snowing cotton.
I have no idea what species the local generic maples are, but I'm sure they're not roughbark, sugar, or Japanese. Happy? :D
As Tomble opined, the stuff does actually manage to sprout seedlings in hermetically sealed flasks, as well as giving the pool filter, the eavestroughs, and the lawnmower byssinosis...
Ah -- "Carolina poplar", a species I hadn't even heard of by name (though odds are I've seen 'em someplace). So I got the "not Lombardy" half of my guess correct ...
Your description explains why one web page said it was known as "the cottonwood of the plains". I wonder whether I'd be allergic to fabric woven from thread spun from poplar fluff.
Re: Sycamores?!
We've got a couple of poplars dominating the skyline some way down the road from us, but I don't think I've ever seen poplar seedlings anywhere, nor do I know what this fluff* looks like. Perhaps the poplars there are different? The ones near us are the stereotypical Lombardy poplars; AFAIK they're the only ones that are columnar, all the rest looking more like willows apparently (they're closely related).
(*-on second thoughts, do you mean catkins? It's been a while since I've been that near a poplar)
To return to the subject, just what is a "straight" maple? Field maple? Silver maple? Norway maple? Sugar maple? Other? I've always thought of sycamores as the most representative member of the acer family, probably due to its utter ubiquity, but perhaps it's only endemic here.
Re: Sycamores?!
Then I remembered that in other parts of the word "poplar" means tulip poplar by default; a tree I know from pictures but haven't been around much. I'm betting she meant tulip poplars.
Re: Sycamores?!
"Tulip poplars" I'd never heard of, but when I did a search on google images, they came out looking a lot like "tulip trees", one of which we have in our back garden :D (yep, further investigation shows they're synonymous, how odd)
Haven't seen "fluff" on that either- but perhaps it's too young to set seed yet.
Re: Sycamores?!
I have no idea what species the local generic maples are, but I'm sure they're not roughbark, sugar, or Japanese. Happy? :D
Hmm...
Anyway, if you want to see poplar fluff, go here:
http://www.wisarts.com/dzis/photos/seeds_gras_sm.jpg
As Tomble opined, the stuff does actually manage to sprout seedlings in hermetically sealed flasks, as well as giving the pool filter, the eavestroughs, and the lawnmower byssinosis...
Re: Sycamores?!
Your description explains why one web page said it was known as "the cottonwood of the plains". I wonder whether I'd be allergic to fabric woven from thread spun from poplar fluff.