Leafless trees still tell tales
Jan 31, 2019
Students got bundled up to learn about plants outside. Photo courtesy: Marion Natural History Museum.
Participants in the Winter Tree Walk look at plant parts under a microscope. Photo courtesy: Marion Natural History Museum.
MARION — Despite the impending polar vortex, a small group of hardy participants at the Marion Natural History Museum learned how to identify local trees and shrubs with the help of wetland scientist, Sarah Porter, on Jan. 30.
Participants in the class smelled a black cherry tree’s unpleasant odor and learned how to differentiate it from a yellow birch’s more pleasant scent.
The explorers also learned about opposite and alternate leaf arrangement on a branch, what lenticels look like on a birch and a hickory and how sassafras trees can be used to make tea.
