A Narrative Walk along Cloverlea and Rolandvue (map to follow)
This is a tentative rough draft, corrections and additions welcome to jimkell at aol dotcom.
Starting at the mailbox 1009 Cloverlea Rd. at the top of the hill,face south along the driveway. On the right is a small Dogwood with opposite simple leaves, a help in future identification. A few feet further along the drive is a pair of tall horse chestnuts. In the fall there are numerous large nuts but these are high in tannins and rarely used.
Next on the right of the drive just west of the fence is a large sugar maple, just waiting to be tapped in early spring. Near the bend of the drive closer to the house is a pair of Lindens. They lose their leaves early but flower in the spring, leading to the name bee tree.
On the left of the driveway are Spruce trees, and further along near the house a line of arbor vitae, the tree of life. One story is a tea made from the trees leaves saved the early French explorers from scurvy. On your left hand is a flat-leaved evergreen I am calling an Eastern Cedar, similar to the arbor vitae. Behind you is a Yew bush and behind that a couple of unknown maples, but possible relatives of the sugar maple.
Glancing in at the driveway at 1005, there is a Catalpa with the large heart-shaped leaves near the south west corner of the house. Further from the house and closer to the fence is an oriental chestnut, bare at this season but producing the spiky nuts in the fall.
Turning to start down the hill, on the right there are alternating white pines and yews. About halfway down on the right is a Fraser Fir, with the typical 2 parallel white lines on the underside of the leaves. This fir seems to be free of disease, such as whitish scum on the top of the leaves. Behind the pines is a grove of Hollys.
Where the lane joins Cloverlea from the north, There is a group of trees closely packed. Nearest the point of land are two Osage Orange trees. They still have the large round heavy fruit balls. At other seasons they can be identified by the thorns, they were planted as fences before barbed wire. There may once have been large animals in this area who ate these fruits like candy, now extinct.
The two tall trees have pinnate compound leaves suggesting locust or walnut but no identifying fruit on the ground. Near these trees is a shorter Mulberry bare now but coating the street with the purple berries in the spring. Across the road, on the left going downhill, is a hemlock and behind the hemlock, a willow oak (somewhat tentative since few leaves).
Just downhill from the lane on the left is a large Sycamore, leaning sharply away from the road. It has the usual splotchy "sick" bark making ID easy. The large leaves may have been used by Adam and Eve, according to some stories. Sycamores like their feet wet, tend to be along streams or at least shallow water tables. With this tree on your left, another can be seen in the woods to your right about 100 yards away.
Further down on the right is a Tulip Poplar,tall straight trunk with the large somewhat tulip- shaped leaves. There are a number of them in the area. One forest type is spruce-tulip poplar-maple and this will be common as you walk over the Rolandvue hill. The plantings and long term cultivation would mean an asterisk on the term forest.
If you have an urge to carve initials in the smooth grey bark, it is usually a Beech. There are a couple of these in the gully on the right. There do not seem to be any beechnuts left on the ground, supposedly a good food source. There are hollys, small sycamores and baby horse chestnuts as you reach the corner of Rolandvue.
Cloverlea to Malvern
Turning to the northeast on Rolandvue, there are spruce on your left, the stiff bottlebrush leaves,evergreen and pendent. Between the garden and the road is a Cunninghamia,tall with long leaves, which can turn brown and shed in the fall. The fragrant wood is, in its native China, favored for making coffins.
Near the gate of the Kellys is an edible Fig with mitten shaped leaves. Further along a Red Maple,colorful in the fall. On the right,before 1101 on the small hill is an interesting oak. It has narrow leaves but definite acorns,possibly a Willow Oak according to the distribution maps. Across the 1101 driveway is a magnolia. In the small triangle formed by the driveways on the left is a Yellow Wood, named for the lumber color. A tree for the future,a little outside its normal range.
Above the triangle on the hill, a White Oak is on the left and a Red Oak on the right. The red oak has sharper leaves pointed at the end of the lobes. The red oak produces acorns less often than the white oak. Ecologists are interested since more acorn equals more mice and more mice mean more ticks,more Lyme disease.
Starting up the hill there is a Paper Bark Birch on the right and further along a Paper Bark Maple on the left. More maples and more beeches. There are some small trees on the right with lobed leaves, possibly mulberries. The birds could have carried the mulberry seeds from Cloverlea. There is a Cherry tree near the top of the hill on the left, more white pines and more spruce. A small group of Japanese Maples on the right are very colorful in the fall.
No attempt to identify the small trees on the other side of the hill. There are more maples and more sycamores. Above the 915 driveway is a Redbud, small tree with heart shaped leaves. On the left going down the hill is a group of small Sassafras trees. I have chewed a few twigs, unimpressed, but not tried the roots for tea or beer.
On the right above the 909 drive is a evergreen in the Cryptomeria genus. Native to Japan they can be 230 feet tall,but there are many cultivars. It has round cones, male and female.
On either side of the 910 driveway are Fringe trees. Watch for the flowers in the spring and fruit in the late summer.
End the walk at the bridge on Malvern. The rocks in the stream bed are most likely, Loch Raven Schist, a metamorphic rock more than five hundred million years old. This was formed at a time of active volcanoes in the area. Baltimore gneiss is visible in some Towson areas and is more than a billion years old. It might be seen in areas along the stream. There are the expected sycamores along Towson Run, as well as spruce and maples.
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