Imagine Miami’s campuses without trees. We know that staff from decades past thought about this because they planted diverse tree species with careful contemplation about how they would integrate with campus once mature, and they preserved many of the already venerable native individuals. As the saying goes: “The best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago. The second best time is today.”
In addition to considering landscaping and architecture, Miami’s arborists planted trees from around the globe, knowing that they would be studied by a wide range of botany and ecology classes as students learned to identify the different kinds and the services this perennial plant provided.
As we prepare to observe the significance of trees on Arbor Day, April 28, we celebrate trees on campus today and those that enlivened Miami in the past.
When America’s first poet-in-residence Percy MacKaye came to Miami’s Oxford campus in 1920, he requested a simple studio in the woods where faculty and students could come talk with him and listen to his new works. Called the Poet’s Shack by students, it was built in Lower Campus (Bishop Woods). During his fellowship, the well-known poet and dramatist wrote “The Trees of Miami,” engraved on an outside wall of Upham Hall.
Majestic American elms (Ulmus americana) once lined High Street, providing a leafy canopy over the main thoroughfare. Unfortunately, Dutch elm disease started to slowly kill the elms. By the summer of 1943, the grounds crew was helpless to stop it. When the students returned that September, they saw oil drip fires burning out the great stumps left behind. In three years, 1,500 elms came down. “The largest, 86 inches across with 145 rings, had been a sturdy tree when the first bricks were laid in the first college building.” (The Miami Years by Walter Havighurst)
The graceful, repeated arches that form these branches are characteristic of the Osage orange (Maclura pomifera).
This tree has a tiny natural range near the Oklahoma panhandle, but its exceptionally strong wood has led people to plant it far and wide for centuries. Colonizers would often use it to make living fences that were “horse high, hog tight, and bull strong.”
Trees aren’t all about academics, of course. Walking under a diverse tree canopy can reduce feelings of stress and anxiety, help you heal faster and focus better, and make you feel younger. Although it can be easy to take trees for granted, a healthy tree collection is fundamental to our campuses. In all of our endeavors, we embody another old saying:
“A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in.” (Greek Proverb)
Several varieties of Magnolias (left) grace the campus — saucer, bigleaf, Southern, and star. Eastern redbud (Cercis canadensis) (center) provide cheery pink color in early spring, brightly circling the Hub and greeting all who walk onto the Oxford campus through the Phi Delta Gates. The blossoms of redbuds look similar to pea blossoms because the trees are in the same legume plant family (Fabaceae). Early-flowering trees such as Crabapples (Malus species) (right) are wonderful sources of food for bees, providing nutrient-rich pollen and nectar.
The Bald cypress (Taxodium distichum) (left) stands on the northeast corner of McGuffey House’s front yard. It predates 1920. Branches of old trees are full of life. Here (right) we see mosses, lichens, recently flaked bark – evidence of birds hunting for overwintering insects – and some woodpecker activity from decades past.
Three factors influence autumn leaf color:
The onset of color changes and falling leaves is a response to the longer nights of year’s end. Less light causes tree hormones to change, preparing the tree to survive freezing temperatures by adding sugary antifreeze to some cells and dissolving others, which causes leaves to drop. Cool nights and warm days facilitate the breakdown and recycling of each leaf’s green pigments, exposing brilliant colors that were previously obscured by the green, photosynthetic “machinery.”
The Sycamore (Acer pseudoplatanus) (left) stands out in the winter landscape because its bark gleams white against the dark bark of nearby oaks and maples. They are easy to notice while driving, especially as you cross rivers. Unlike most trees in our region, Sycamore shed their bark in large plates. This prevents vines from climbing up and eventually ripping them down. Rain reveals additional colors caused by the bark sloughing.
The fast-growing Chinese conifer – there is a Dawn redwood (Metasequoia glyptostroboides) in Miami’s Conrad Formal Gardens – is related to the giant sequoias of the Pacific Northwest. It is often called a “living fossil” because many species in its genus can be found in the form of fossilized leaves, cones, and even intact logs, but all of these other species disappeared millions of years ago.
Percy MacKaye, America’s first university poet-in-residence (1920-1924), paid his own special homage to “The Trees of Miami.” Below is an excerpt from his poem. The first three lines are carved into Upham Hall’s north wall on the courtyard side. This is near the place where MacKaye’s woodland studio, the Poet’s Shack, once stood.
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