Re: Schinus molle-Weed trees in California?

Schinus molle is fire resistant, as far as I know. One of the members of
medit-plants lost her house in the Oakland-Berkeley fire 10 years ago, but
her tree survived. When I told my husband about this, he said 'sure, the
trees removed in Claremont, Ca when I was in college did not burn as
firewood in our fireplaces, either'.
Elly Bade
Berkeley, CA

On Wed, 16 Jan 2002, david feix wrote:

> --- Ryan Gyurkovitz <r.gyurkovitz@verizon.net> wrote:
> >
> > Schinus terebinthifolius may not spread like a weed
> > in California, but
> > it's cousin, Schinus molle sure does, to such a
> > degree that it is often
> > known as the "California Pepper Tree" in spite of
> > being native to the
> > Peruvian Andes. Possibly it is not as well adapted
> > up in your neck of
> > the woods? I find it ironic, that the Peruvian
> > Pepper Tree  is the
> > "Native" tree most loved by (American) visitors to
> > the southern half of
> > the state (many seem to find the shape of our oaks
> > unattractive, so
> > accustomed they are, I suppose, to the taller,
> > straighter trees of their
> > home).
>
> Ryan,
>
> I wasn't aware that S. molle was reseeding itself
> around in Southern California, I've not seen it doing
> this myself.  It is well behaved here in the Bay Area,
> at least it doesn't escape into the wild, but is
> perfectly content with no attention at all.  It is
> sometimes used as a street tree in San Francisco, but
> generally does better, and certainly grows much
> faster, in hotter summer areas.  The tree is also
> messy and difficult to garden under, but the billowy
> foliage is unique and pleasing, making great shade and
> branches for climbing.  The psyllid which attacks
> their foliage can make them look unnatractive at
> times, and many trees in inland northern
> California(USDA zone 8a or colder) were severely
> damaged by the 1990 December freeze, although most
> came back to original size within 5 years time.
>
> I'd always assumed that the local name came from how
> commonly this had been planted by the missions and
> settlers from Mexico.  This was a very early
> introduced tree from South America, which the spanish
> found very useful.  Most other early introductions at
> the time were valued for useful fruit, timber or other
> economic uses, and S. molle was probably most valued
> for the large shade canopy created with so little care
> and reliance on natural rainfall.
>
> As cast iron as the tree is, some might find it
> interesting to know that it is killed at sustained
> high desert temperatures as found in parts of the
> middle east.  Four months of summer night temps over
> 110F would severely debilitate the tree in Saudi
> Arabia, stopping all growth by early summer, losing
> most of its leaves.  Trees would die within 3 years of
> planting.  A Ficus species was also similarly
> affected, F. rubiginosa, which could survive if the
> foliage was shaded.  I had always considered both
> these  trees as well adapted to hot places, until
> seeing them suffer so in Riyadh.
>
> It is hard to believe you find so many out of state
> visitors don't appreciate the appearance of our Coast
> Live Oaks.  The oldest groves with 300 year old trees
> a 100 ' across and branches arching down to the ground
> can be just as dramatic as the Southern Live Oaks of
> the deep USA south, or  the tropical Rain
> Trees-Samanea saman of Hawaii.
>
> With so many place names throughout California
> affectionately named for the original oaks, I think
> that more people have found them beautiful than
> boring, or we wouldn't have places like Thousand Oaks,
> Oakland, etc.  It is a pity that the oak woodlands
> they're named for no longer exist, or as isolated
> remnants.  They typically serve as suburban markers
> for all the creeks  emptying into the bay.
>
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