Dissemination

My husband has the camera today. What's a blogger to do? Why, dig into her archives, of course.

You may remember my July 3rd post about a fluffy tree in the Hahamongna basin. Well, Ann Erdman, Pasadena's Public Information Officer, read that post. Ann can't bear letting a question go unanswered and, like me, she loves research. Unlike me, however, she knew where to look for the answer. The question was, what was that fluffy tree?

Ann emailed two experts and sent me her results.

From Darya Barar, Certified Arborist at the City of Pasadena:
"The tree in the picture looks like an Arroyo Willow to me. I believe the maintenance policy in the arroyo is to allow trees to be as natural as possible.... that means in the fall there is no intervention by City crews."

And from Elise Jackson, Arroyo Seco Program Coordinator:
"Darya is correct. This is a native willow, a predominant tree in the Hahamongna flood basin, behind Devil's gate dam. The white 'fluff' contains the seeds which aids in the wind dispersal of these seeds. You can see in the photo the seeds (dark spots) mixed in the fluff. These trees definitely give Hahamongna the look of a winter wonderland, when the wind blows the white fluff completely covers the air and the ground, distributing seeds for the natural regeneration of our native willow woodland and providing important wildlife habitat."

In the July 3rd post you see the tree, looking snowy. In today's photo you see what Elise is talking about: the fluff distributing its seeds on the ground along the path.

Thanks to Darya and Elise for responding to Ann, and thanks to Ann for spreading this information.