Afternoon of September 27, 2009

The following pictures were taken near the eastern end of the hedgerow on the northern side of the Charter Oak apartment complex that separates the complex from the Hidden Creek Country Club golf course to the north.

Most of the trees in this hedgerow are tulip trees, also known as yellow poplars or tulip poplars (Liriodendron tulipifera).  They are instantly recognizable by their unique large four-lobed leaves.  Compare the Virginia Tech fact sheet.  The bud-like structure in the center of this picture is the fruit of this tree, consisting of numerous samaras that will apparently float off in the next month or so.

In the understory there is this isolated occurrence of tree of heaven (Ailanthus altissima).  Compare the Virginia Tech fact sheet.  This is a highly invasive weed species;  see this National Park Service fact sheet for details.

The large brown structures are the remnants of its seed pods;  from their size and number you can tell that this tree is a prolific seed producer, which is what makes it such a success as a weed.

Tree of heaven has large pinnately compound leaves, much like walnuts and sumacs.  The way you can tell a tree of heaven leaf is that each leaflet is smooth-edged except for a distinct notch near the base on both sides of the leaflet.  Walnuts and sumacs, by contrast, have serrate (finely toothed) leaflets.

Just beginning to bloom at ground level is this small-flowered white-rayed aster (Symphyotrichum spp.).  There are a large number of asters, which are apparently difficult to distinguish.  Cross-referencing the small-flowered white-rayed asters listed in Newcomb's Wildflower Guide to those listed as growing wild in Fairfax County in the Digital Atlas of Virginia Flora, it appears this could be either calico aster (Symphyotrichum lateriflorum - see this description from the Connecticut Botanical Society) or frost aster (Symphyotrichum pilosum - see this description from the Connecticut Botanical Society).

The hedgerow also features several black walnuts (Juglans nigra), which are now magnificently in fruit;  the green husks, which contain the walnut, are about 2-3 inches across.  Compare the Virginia Tech fact sheet.  Note that this is black walnut, and not butternut (J. cinerea), as the fruit are round rather than lemon-shaped.  Black walnut is found not infrequently in the wild woods of Reston.

 

Virginia creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia), with its distinctive five-part palmately compound leaf, is the dominant vine in this hedgerow.  Here it can be seen as both ground cover as well as climbing the trunk of a tulip tree.  This is the view from my living room window.

The dominant maple in both the hedgerow and the landscaped portions of the Charter Oak apartment complex is the red maple (Acer rubrum).  But the hedgerow also contains this sugar maple (Acer saccharum), with the leave shape familiar to us from the Canadian flag.  Compare the Virginia Tech fact sheet.

Toward the very eastern end of the hedgerow is yet another species of maple, the silver maple (Acer saccharinum), whose large leaf is deeply dissected.  Compare the Virginia Tech fact sheet.  The only other silver maple I have noticed so far in Reston is in the Charter Oak Townhomes complex.  In this image (which was taken pointing straight up), also note the pinnately compound leaves of a black walnut higher up in the canopy.