One of the fun things about autumn and winter is collecting seeds, nuts, and acorns of native tree species and planting them in my yard. Some of these seeds have made it to the "Seedling-Patch" and others were planted in pots with variable degrees of success. The images below show items collected from Brazos Bend State park in early October 2016. For the image on the left, the leaves are from a Shumard Oak. Middle row from left to right: Water Hickory husks, Water Hickory nuts, Water Locust seed pods, Shumard Oak acorns; and bottom row from left to right: Pecan husk, Pecan nut, and Swamp Chestnut Oak acorns. The image on the right shows from left to right: Burr Oak, Swamp Chestnut Oak, Shumard Oak, and Water Oak acorns.
The picture below on the left shows three types of Hickory nuts collected on the Turkey Creek trail in Big Thicket on October 22nd 2016. From top row to bottom row, unidentified Hickory possibly a Black Hickory (Carya texana), Shagbark Hickory (Carya ovata), and another unidentified Hickory, possibly a variety of Pignut Hickory. In an attempt to identify these hickories, I sawed the nuts in half. The picture below on the right shows the following acorns also collected in Big Thicket. Top row from left to right: Laurel Oak (Quercus laurifolia); Swamp Chestnut Oak (Quercus michauxii). Second row from left to right: Souther Red Oak (Quercus falcata) - only found one of these acorns despite an abundance of this tree; White Oak (Quercus alba). Bottom row from left to right: Post Oak (Quercus stellata);Willow Oak (Quercus phellos).
The picture below on the left shows a Southern Magnolia cone with seeds, some berries from a Blackgum tree, and some berries from an American Holly tree. We also saw all three species of pine (Loblolly, Longleaf and Shortleaf), but failed to collect any cones containing seeds. The images after that are from the bonanza of Swamp Chestnut Oak acorns that we found in Big Thicket on November 25th 2016.
In 2017 the nearby parks were closed for months after Hurricane Harvey. When Brazos Bend State Park finally opened in November, there was not a single acorn on the ground anywhere in the park, though I did pluck some Cedar Elm seeds (bottom right of picture below, right) and some Sugarberry seeds (picture on left below) from tree branches - perhaps the flooded trees "decided" not to produce a crop this year or maybe all the acorns floated away. I picked up a few Water Oak acorns in Huntsville State Park, but nothing else. Big Thicket was better, with 4 different types of acorns and nuts lying around. From left to right moving down, they are as follows: White Oak, possibly Pignut Hickory, Laurel Oak, possibly Black Hickory, Water Oak, and Cedar Elm (seeds from Brazos Bend). I planted some of each in pots - most did not germinate apart from one sickly looking Laurel Oak, and the Cedar Elm and Sugarberry which both grew very vigorously.
On September 30th 2018, on a drizzly day in Brazos Bend State Park, with hardly any people and surprisingly very few mosquitos, I collected the following seeds, from left to right, top to bottom on the picture below: Water Hickory, Ashleaf Maple, Western Soapberry, Shumard Oak, American Hornbeam, and Water Locust. Only one or two of the Ashleaf Maples in the park had produced any seeds.
On October 6th 2018, I went to Huntsville State Park and collected the following seeds, clockwise from upper left: Flowering Dogwood, Blackgum, Carolina Buckthorn, Southern Red Oak, Eastern Hophornbeam. Only very few of the Hophornbeam trees had a few seed pods, and I only saw one Carolina Buckthorn tree on the 7 mile hike. On Sunday October 7th I planted all 11 types of seed in one-gallon pots. The Blackgum, Buckthorn, and Hophornbeam all sprouted in spring, but only the Buckthorn seedlings made it through the summer.
On October 20th 2018, I went to Brazos Bend State Park and picked up the following nuts and seeds. Clockwise from top left, these are Burr Oak, Red Buckeye, Pecan, some kind of Hawthorn, and Green Ash.
On October 31st 2018 I went to Big Thicket and collected the following seeds, acorns, and nuts. Clockwise from top left these are Overcup Oak (first time I've ever seen these acorns), Shagbark Hickory, unknown Hickory (possibly a variety of Pignut Hickory), Bald Cypress, and Southern Magnolia.
Late February I went to Sam Houston National Forest and found a fallen Shortleaf Pine tree - I plucked off some cones from the rapidly dying tree and extracted a few seeds which I planted in a pot. Several seeds sprouted but none made it through the summer.
In the late summer of 2019, I collected several Osage Oranges from Lake Jackson and also from Brazos Bend State Park. The oranges are shown in the picture on the left, and the extracted seeds on the right. I planted a great number of these seeds in the seedling patch.
In November 2019, I went to Big Thicket and also to Village Creek State Park in Arkansas. I collected an assortment of hickory nuts, which are shown below, compared to Water Hickory and Pecan nuts from the previous year: From left to right, top to bottom: - Mockernut Hickory, from Village Creek State Park, Arkansas - Shagbark Hickory, from the Houston Arboretum - Unidentified Hickory, from Big Thicket. The fruit is shaped like a Pignut Hickory (some of them are shaped like pears), but it is too large and the husk is too thick to be a standard Pignut Hickory - it is possibly a variety called Carya glabra var megacarpa. I have collected these for a couple of years now and the nuts are always dark brown. - Water Hickory from Brazos Bend - Pecan from Brazos Bend - Pignut Hickory (probably) from Village Creek - Bitternut Hickory from Village Creek - Unidentified Hickory from Big Thicket, possibly another variety of Pignut Hickory As I collected plenty of them, I planted the Mockernut Hickory, both unidentified Hickories, and the Bitternut Hickory nuts in the seedling patch.
I also collected two main types of acorn from Village Creek State Park, AR. The smaller acorns with dark stripes (left, and right-lower) are very likely from the Southern Red Oak - there were millions of these acorns everywhere. The larger, broader acorns (right-upper) were possibly from Black Oak, or Northern Red Oak. I planted both in the seedling-patch.
In early October 2020, we went to Brazos Bend State Park and discovered two Water Hickory trees. The ground below them was littered with nuts which were obviously Water Hickory nuts (flattened and very rough nuts with winged husks), but very different from the "Water Hickory" nuts collected from the only other tree we know in Brazos Bend, near the Nature Center. They were also somewhat different from each other (one tree had rounded nuts, the other more elongated). The picture below shows Pecan nuts on the right, the Water Hickory nuts from from the two newly discovered trees in the middle, and the nuts from the tree near the Nature Center on the left. Looking at these nuts, my conclusion is that the tree near the Nature Center is actually a hybrid between a Pecan and a Water Hickory as it has features from both (flattened, dark brown flecks, intermediate roughness). I planted nuts from each type in the Seedling patch - looking forward to see whether there will be any differences in leaf shape.
I visited Sam Houston National Forest on October 18th and finally found several bona-fide White Ash trees. I collected a few seeds from a specimen that was leaning across the trail. The reasons I think these were White Ash as opposed to the ubiquitous Green Ash are (i) very white leaf undersides, (ii) the wings of the seeds do not extend down the past the end of the seed; (iii) the bark is distinctively different from the Green Ash, by being mid-brown in color instead of mid-grey. I also collected a few berries from some Devil's Walkingstick plants. Planted both in the seedling patch. Not sure about the viability of the White Ash seeds as they seemed quite old.
An unexpected find in late November in Hanson Riverside County Park. A solitary Honeylocust tree, a species I have never seen before growing in the wild, right next to the trail, with seed pods strewn all over the ground underneath it. I collected a handful of pods for planting in my yard. The Honeylocust tree which I purchased by mail order several years ago unfortunately never produced thorns, so it is obviously a thornless variety. Now I finally have a chance to grow "real" Honeylocust. Opening the pods up I recovered several healthy looking seeds for planting, but also many seeds that had been pierced with a small hole and were hollow inside. Also a few small grubs wriggling around, and a strong smell of rotten fruit from the pulp inside the pods.
Took a road trip east in the last week of December 2020, and found a bonanza of Ovecup Oak and Nuttall Oak acorns in Cat Island National Wildlife Refuge in Louisiana. I have never before found acorns from these tree species in any abundance. This was a beautiful floodplain forest dominated by Bald Cypress, Overcup Oak, Nuttall Oak, and Water Hickory.
Found two very different types of what I think are Pignut Hickory nuts in Manatee Springs State Park and Wakulla Springs State Park. Both were pear-shaped, but the ones from Wakulla Springs (left) were much bigger.