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Yo! I got caught up writing a report all day, forgot to write up something for y'all. Need to keep up with these since I have a habit of scheduling too many analyses too close together. What's new? I can't say exactly what’s new; last time I spoke too soon on a project it didn't come to fruition But I'm hoping something cool is about to begin. Unlike the Tree First project, this project's name is actually what I'm stumped with! This definitely is going to get in the way of the book progress, in the way of Tree First articles, kind of everything except for the Tree First practice. Sometimes having too many good ideas is a nuisance lol. I don't have much for you honestly, spring has me in the work-trenches aside from this new budding idea. Learned something new recently though. I've known that cottonwood trees are dioecious. This means there are sort of "male" and "female" cottonwoods. The only morphological difference I'm aware of is in the flower morphology. Otherwise they're the same. Male dioecious flowers only produce pollen, and female dioecious flowers will produce fruit. This reproductive strategy prevents self-pollination. An easy way to tell a male from a female cottonwoods is rather simple: does it produce the notorious cotton? Only female flowers will produce the fruit that, when ripe, release the flying fluffy seeds. Well, I accidentally found another way to tell them apart even before the cotton arrives in early summer. The male flowers of eastern cottonwood trees are vibrant red, while the female flowers of the same species are dull green. I saw a male cottonwood next to a female one in bloom in VFW Park near my place. The difference was clear as day.
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