Plants in the Parking Pad: Plane Tree, Locust, Elm , Redbud

You have your favorite latte and your favorite paper, but before you relax you just have to know "what is that unusual tree near the curb?"  It's a common problem because the trees around the Starbucks are not the same you would have seen walking along the trail.  I will start with the Charles Street store near Eddies(Towson area of Maryland) but may add to this post until we get to most of the common street trees in the immediate area.

Straight toward the street from the entrance is a line of sycamores along the sidewalk. Sycamore is the general category but these are probably London plane trees a cross between the oriental and the American sycamore.  The details of the cross are lost in the 18th century.  Leaves are intermediate between the two species and the fruits are two per stem vs one per stem on the American sycamore.
The hybrids are fertile and seedlings might be found in the area.  It is difficult to get a good count although the seed balls are present this time of year(October).  Part of the ID is based on the location, the tree is more tolerant of pollution and may actually remove some toxins from the air.  The native sycamore likes its feet wet and would be less likely to grow well in the urban setting. The latin would be Platanus x acerifolia.

Some negatives are fine hairs on new leaves which can exacerbate asthma, the leaves breakdown slowly, and it may be a host to some pests such as the ash borer.

Across the parking lot are trees with the bipinnate locust leave arrangement but with no thorns and no pods. they are turning yellow in the fall as expected and do have the dappled shade of the locust.  There are variations in the cultivars going under the names such as Sunburst and Shademaster.  Pluses are the lack of messy pods, the absence of thorns, the partial shading, bright yellow spring and fall colors and tolerance of urban conditions.  It is subject to some diseases such as webworm.  The latin gets complicated, Gleditsia tricanthos var. inermis.  A honey locust which lacks the usual three thorns.

Between these two groups of trees, also near the street are some redbuds, these seem to be the native trees preferred for their fast growth, pink spring flowers and the golden fall colors.  Latin is Cercis canadensis.  Negatives for the street use are the relatively short life, some disease susceptibility and the need to manage the multiple trunks to preserve the structure.

Dutch elm disease has taken the numerous original elms but resistant cultivars are being widely planted.  If you are sipping coffee in Roland Park there are elm variations in the median.  Also note the same thornless locust along the sidewalk.  There are so many cultivars I made no effort to ID further but interesting to see the elm making a comeback.  Next trip  I will get more detailed picture of the leaves and bark.

So it is a little off the trail but it is all part of nature in the broad sense, even Starbucks.