By DAVID A. FARRELL/Item Staff Writer
The Picayune Item
PICAYUNE — Alan Branhagen, one of America’s most renowned naturalist and director of horticulture at Powell Gardens in Kansas City, took a group of local nature lovers on a walking tour of Crosby Arboretum’s grounds on Saturday and shared with the group some of his knowledge about plants and wildlife.
For instance, did you know that the American holly tree comes in two genders, one male and one female? It takes both genders in a landscape to produce red berries. They have to cross-pollinate one another.
You know, the birds and the bees thing.
He said the American holly is native “all the way up to Massachusetts and very common in the South.”
He said that an algae and a fungus grow together on the tree’s trunk, making a blotched covering of the bark, that adds to the tree’s beauty.
“The flowers of the holly are real tiny, but are rich in nectar, and good for honey bees,” he said. “All the hollies make a nice light honey that is real popular. And the red berries in the winter provide important food for the birds.
“If your holly doesn’t produce red berries, then you will have to get another one, of the opposite gender, and then, presto!, nature does her thing, and the red berries appear,” said Branhagen.
He also pointed out a “swamp tupelo.” There is also a water tupelo and an upland tupelo.
The tupelo has colorful fall foliage, grows into a shape like a pyramid and has straight, strong limbs that can withstand hurricane force winds, said Branhagen.
Tupelo trees are like hollies, too, they come in male and female genders, and to produce fruit, they must be close by each other.
Branhagen, who is credited with designing the nation’s largest edible landscaped garden at the Powell Gardens, also discussed several other varieties as he discovered samples of them growing along the arboretum’s nature trails. The walk took about two hours.
Besides the American holly, he discussed with the group the magnolia, the red maple, the Carolina jasmine, choke berry, the ink blot hedge, huckleberry, and the different varieties of pines and other species. He also pointed out an interesting plant called only, the “Green Briar.”
Another interesting fact he pointed out concerned the magnolia, the tree that produces the state flower. For instance, did you know that the magnolia manufactures its own “weed killer”, or you might say its own “Roundup,” which prevents competing plants growing up into the tree’s space?
Branhagen has been touted as being “a walking encyclopedia” on plants growing in the wild.
He pointed out the “needle palm,” which he said makes a good protective plant to plant beneath windows because its sharp needles, after maturing, makes a “great protective plant” that will discourage people from climbing into your windows, like potential thieves.
Early pioneers also used the sharp needles for sewing needles.
Branhagen pointed out three different types of pine trees that grow here: The slash, the loblolly and the long-leaf or yellow pine.
It was the yellow, long-leaf pine that covered millions of acres in the Southern forests in early times, and was the basis for the timber boom that took place here during the early part of the 20th Century.
The Crosby family cut one of the last large stands of the yellow pine right here in Pearl River County. The harvest and the mill established to cut that last big track is the main reason for Picayune’s economic growth after its founding in 1904.
The land on which the Crosby Arboretum is located was a gift of the Crosby family.
