Re: favorite shade tree


----- Original Message ----- From: "david feix" <davidfeix@yahoo.com>
To: "Gayle & Tim Kalman" <leahdragonfly@earthlink.net>
Cc: "MeditPlants" <medit-plants@ucdavis.edu>
Sent: Sunday, November 21, 2004 8:23 AM
Subject: Re: favorite shade tree


Tim,
I was not aware that this tree had escaped here in the
East Bay, I haven't seen it growing wild myself, and
have only seen seedlings in irrigated gardens, where
they are not so much a problem as a nuisance to
remove, but slow enough to rogue out once a year.  Of
course, the tree does sprout from runners almost
everywhere, and this seems to make it a better
candidate for lawns or surrounded by paving if you
don't want to deal with root runners.

Is Mayten selfseeding into creeks?  I would imagine
that it does need a constant source of water to seed
successfully here, and it is a riparian species
growing along rivers through the Atacama
Desert(portions of which almost never see rain), in
Chile, coming out of the Andes.  Being adapted to such
hot and dry habitat, it is amazing to me that this
tree does so exceptionally well in windy and foggy
situations, such as San Francisco, where it is used as
a street tree.  Do you know where in the East Bay and
under what situations this tree has naturalized?  I am
more familiar with its spreading by root runners and
suckers, tending to form small groves of trees over
time, and creating its own shade, probably an adaptive
mechanism to save water and create its own ideal
habitat.  The weeping character and low branches all
the way to the ground surely reduce water loss in dry
sites.  I have not see this tree do well where it
can't tap into a high water table or unless it
receives periodic summer irrigation, and have never
seen it spread by seedlings into areas that aren't
irrigated in summer.It seems to especially favor
germination in containers that receive twice weekly
irrigation, or lightly shaded shrubbery areas that are
well mulched.

As the seed is quite small and light, it probably does
spread by wind easily, and if it is a problem near
creeks, ought to be watched.  Under most conditions,,
I doubt whether the seed is spread much beyond a 100
yards of the source in typical urban settings.  In its
favor, however, is that the seed is not spread by
birds, as so many of our most invasives exotics are,
and this would tend to limit its spread, as does its
inability to get an established toehold without
constant water.


--- Gayle & Tim Kalman <leahdragonfly@earthlink.net>
wrote:

Dear All,

     The Mayten tree is a terrible weed here in the
east bay (region of the
San Francisco Bay Area).  It has escaped from home
gardens in several
urban-wildland interface regions. I admit to finding
this tree cute and
desirable, however it cannot behave itself in my
neck of the woods.

Tim Kalman



Dear David,

It indeed follows creeks and wet areas. Locally it has escaped in Claremont canyon where there has been a good deal of effort to stop it. It is also known in Wildcat Canyon and Leona Heights. Around the corner from here it is trying to escape out the back of the Blake Estate. Mayten is fire adapted. Seeds germinate readily after a fire.

Tim Kalman 



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