HEBERLING LAB

It can’t be snow, right? It’s summer!  Maybe that is cotton falling from the sky?  Well, kind of!  It is cottonwood seeds! 
 
Perhaps you’ve seen little cotton-like white particles falling from the sky in early summer, especially around Pennsylvania’s rivers or lakes. It is a common site along the dunes of Presque Isle, for example, and in areas along southwestern PA’s rivers.  Aptly named, Eastern cottonwood (Populus deltoides) is a native tree found across the eastern United States that produce seeds that fall from high up in the canopy, attached to cotton-like strands.  These help spread the seeds farther, transporting the seeds in the breeze.
 
This specimen of Eastern cottonwood was collected by Henry T. Skinner on June 8, 1942 on the sand dunes of Presque Isle, Erie. You might notice this specimen is not from the Carnegie Museum herbarium like most of these pots. But instead, this specimen is  held at the Morris Arboretum (part of the University of Pennsylvania). Now that museum collections are being digitized, we can search for species of interest, or plants collected from certain places or by certain people, or more... that’s the power of specimen digitization.  The Mid-Atlantic Megalopolis Project, funded by the National Science Foundation, is digitizing nearly a million specimens across our region,  including Carnegie  Museum specimens.  This makes our collections all the more powerful, combining all specimens collected in the region and making them accessible to scientists and the public alike.
 
Find this and more Eastern cottonwood specimens from Presque Isle here: http://midatlanticherbaria.org/portal/collections/list.php?db=all&county=erie&local=presque&taxa=Populus+deltoides&usethes=1&taxontype=2
​

Tulips in June?!
 
Your tulips may be long gone as spring has faded, but tulip tree is in full force! Though hard to catch a glimpse way up in the canopy, its flowers are just as stunning.  Completely unrelated to tulips, Liriodendron tulipifera (called tulip tree, tulip poplar, or sometimes yellow poplar) is named such because its leaves have a distinctive shape reminiscent of tulips. Found across eastern North America, Tulip tree is one the tallest and fast-growing trees native to Pennsylvania, growing up to nearly 200 feet tall!   Tulip tree is relatively shade intolerant and is especially common in young forests (early successional). However, it can still be found in older forests too.  Its tall, straight trunks can be impressive. It is a widely used wood by woodworkers,  often referred to as “poplar.”   However, it is not related to true poplars (Populus species in the willow family, Salicaceae).  Tulip tree is a member of the magnolia family (Magnoliaceae). 
 
This beautiful specimen was collected on June 6, 1920 near Trafford, Pennsylvania by Otto Jennings. Jennings was an influential botany curator at the museum for many years.
 
Find this stunning specimen here:
http://midatlanticherbaria.org/portal/collections/individual/index.php?occid=12085314&clid=0
​