Re: Acacia melanoxylon (wasshrub ID

There are excellent old specimens in North oakland and
Berkeley. Magnificent huge trees. I think though that
many people here in the bay area don't appreciate them
because of how invasive they are anywhere there is a
bit of soil moisture. Another case of a tree that is
too happy, and was planted innapropriately in our
urban landscape and has become a pest... 

Deborah Lindsay

--- Jason D <jjuania@yahoo.com> wrote:
> I know an architect here in the Bay Area who sings
> the
> praises of local Acacia melanoxylon wood when he can
> get well-grown specimens. He works almost
> exclusively
> in wood, and has even made good use of unblemished
> trunks of our usually heart-rotty Cupressus
> macrocarpa. 
> A. melanoxylon is a distant relative of Acacia koa,
> after all, so there's no surprise it should be a
> useful wood under the right conditions of
> cultivation
> and isolation from pests. And there are a few
> magnificent old trees scattered around San
> Francisco,
> but I can't attest to their core strength or future
> viability. Otherwise, most trees seem structually
> unsound, perhaps stressed by our rainless summer.
> -Jason Dewees
> San Francisco
> 
> --- Tony and Moira Ryan <tomory@xtra.co.nz> wrote:
> > Sean A. O'Hara wrote:
> > > Hi Barbara -
> > > 
> > > I would think that Jason's ID was correct,
> knowing
> > you are in Berkeley.  
> > > This town is infested with Acacia melanoxylon! 
> > I've consulted with many 
> > > clients who resist removing these 'seedlings'
> > (usually root sprouts from 
> > > other trees in the neighborhood) merely because
> > they were 'trees'!  They 
> > > grow ferociously fast & tall.  They also have
> very
> > brittle wood and tend 
> > > to rot in the centers, falling apart suddenly
> and
> > causing much damage to 
> > > homes and property.  Here is a picture of the
> > leaves at various stages 
> > > between the compound juveniles and the mature
> > phyllodes (modified 
> > > petioles):
> > 
> > 
> > Hi Sean
> > I am really puzzled about your description of the
> > species known to you 
> > as Acacia melanxylon and wonder if it could
> possibly
> > be a mistsken ID as 
> > this tree is so very differently regarded
> throughout
> > Australasia.
> > 
> >   I quote from the Australian Widlflower
> Catalogue:-
> >  "a valuable timber 
> > tree prized for its close-grained and beautifully
> > marked wood...one of 
> > the most long lived wattles".
> > 
> > Perhaps the last paragraph on cultivation gives a
> > clue though. Maybe 
> > your climate is too dry and warm to agree with it.
> > " the species grows best in the rich soil of cool
> > moist areas. it 
> > tolerates frost and snow".
> > 
> > As it happens, in my own valley there is an
> > experimental plantation of 
> > this tree actually being raised for timber by a
> > local trust. I guess our 
> > climate should agree very well with it.
> > 
> > Perhaps we are looking at a similar effect to that
> > on Pinus radiata 
> > which grows so much better for us here than in its
> > native home.
> > 
> > 
> > Moira
> > -- 
> > Tony & Moira Ryan,
> > Wainuiomata, North Island, NZ.     Pictures of our
> > garden at:-
> >
>
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/cherie1/Garden/TonyandMoira/index.htm
> > 
> 


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