The Veterans

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California Live Oak, Cuyamaca Rancho State Park, Julian, California; A “band of brothers”, a tree group of three that has grown to stand together as a survivor of the 2002 Cuyamaca fire. Quercus agrifolia, the California live oak or coast live oak, is a highly variable, often shrubby evergreen oak tree, a type of live oak, native to the California Floristic Province. It grows west of the Sierra Nevada mountain range from Mendocino County, California, south to northern Baja California in Mexico. It is classified in the red oak section of live oaks.

English Oak, Sherwood Forest, Nottinghamshire, England; This English Oak, Quercus Robur known as the “The Major”; in Sherwood Forest, and as legend has it, it is the tree where Robin Hood once habituated. This giant tree, with a waistline of 35 feet a height of 52 feet and weighing an estimated 23 tons, has been here for about 800-1000 years. The exact age of this magnificent tree can only be estimated.

California Live Oak, Trabuco Canyon, Trabuco Canyon, California; A remaining veteran.

California Live Oak, Highland Springs Resort, Beaumont, California; The so called “Thousand Year Old” Oak Tree. Standing over 70 feet tall, has stood on the resort property over the years. One of the oldest oak trees in Southern California, this Costal Live Oak was revered by local Cahuilla Indians and later played an important role during the days of the stage coach. A massive iron chain was installed in the base of the tree and was to serve as a makeshift jail for cattle rustlers, horse thieves and suspected stage coach robbers. In 2006 it was saved during wildfire of the ancient tree.

California Live Oak, Trabuco Canyon, California.

Black Walnut, Boonesborough, Kentucky; Boonesborough was a frontier fort in Kentucky, founded by Daniel Boone and his men following their crossing of the Kentucky River on April 1, 1775. This tree, an American black walnut, juglans nigra, is a species of deciduous tree in the walnut family. Black walnut is an important tree commercially, as the wood is a deep brown color and easily worked. The fruits, walnuts, are cultivated for their distinctive and desirable taste.

Red Oak, Central Park, New York City, New York; This oak is located in the triangle at 5th Avenue and 90th Street, facing the John Purroy Mitchel Memorial, former mayor of New York City and veteran of World War One.

California Live Oak, O’Neil Park Trabuco Canyon, California. 

California Live Oak, Cuyamaca State Park, Julian, California; A survivor of the 2002 Cuyamaca Fire. 

Bristlecone Pine, Methuselah, White Mountains, California; The term bristlecone pine covers three species
of pine tree. All three species are long-lived and highly resilient to harsh weather and bad soils. These trees thrive only in the most 

brutal environments, areas exposed to always bitter cold and wind. One of the three species, Pinus longaeva, is among the 

longest-lived life forms on Earth. The oldest Pinus longaeva is more than 5,000 years old, making it the oldest known individual of any species having the common name “Methuselah.”

California Pepper, O’Neil Park Trabuco Canyon, California; Schinus molle is a quick growing evergreen tree that grows up to 50 feet tall and wide. It is the largest of all Schinus species and potentially the longest lived. The upper branches of the tree tend to droop. Male and female flowers occur on separate plants (dioecious). Flowers are small, white and borne profusely in panicles at the ends of the drooping branches. The fruit are round drupes with woody seeds that turn from green to red, pink or purplish, carried in dense clusters of hundreds of berries that can be present year-round. The rough grayish bark is twisted and drips sap. The bark, leaves and berries are aromatic when crushed.