樹木與我

Liquidamber

This is the time of late autumn.  A lot of trees already turned yellow, red and start to fall on the ground.  As part of maintenance and my exercise, I rack the yard and appreciate all the autumn foliage around me.  One thing I found interesting is some trees around my house.  In the first few years after I moved in, I didn't pay any attention to what those trees are since they belong to the city.  When time goes by, I got some spare time to care about trees and tried to find out what they are.  I found out that the two tall trees in front of my house is Liquid Amber and commonly called Sweet Gum.  I dug in and found that this particular sweet gum is called Liquidamber Formosana, commonly known as the Formosan Gum or Chinese Sweet Gum, a species of tree native to East Asia.  It is a surprise to me that the tree has something to do with Formosa and I have never known this when I was in Taiwan.  Further investigation, I found that it is called 楓香樹:

落叶乔木，高达30米，胸径最大可达1米，树皮灰褐色。喜温暖湿润气候，性喜光，耐干旱瘠薄。产中国秦岭及淮河以南各省， ...
別稱台灣香膠樹、楓樹、楓子樹、楓仔樹、楓仔、香楓、白楓、白膠香、雞楓樹、雞爪楓、靈楓、大葉楓、香菇木、路路通等，為楓 ...

I feel sort of embarrassed as I don't know anything about this 台湾特產 until now.

Several years ago, city planted two little trees along the curb near my garage.  They grow every year and now look nice as the leaves turned red and become part of the wonder of autumn foliage.  The arborist told me that they are Chinese Pistache.   Since I am from Taiwan, I feel a little bit weird that I don't know anything about this tree.  With some curiosity, I dug in and found out that it is called 黄連木 in China.

Chinese Pistache

黄連木（Pistacia chinesis Bunge ）别名楷木、楷樹、黄楝樹、藥樹、藥木、黄華、石連、黄木連、木蓼樹、雞冠木、洋楊、爛心木、黄連茶。爲漆樹科落葉木本油料及用材樹種。黄連木壽命長達幾百年，是城市及風景區的優良綠化樹種。樹冠渾圓，枝葉繁茂而秀麗，早春嫩葉紅色，入秋葉又變成深紅或橙黄色，紅色的雌花序也極美觀。宜作庭蔭樹、行道樹及山林風景樹，也常作“四旁”綠化及低山區造林樹種。黄連木栽培具有極大的生態效益、社會效益和經濟效益。

It is interesting & odd that I have to come to the North America to know two kinds of tree around my house and they are actually originated from Taiwan & China which I call' 故鄉'.  The trees and I all migrated several thousand miles to meet and make acquaintance in Palo Alto, a city of Big Stick.

It is interesting to note that 'Tree & I' is like 'Christine & I'.  Christine & I lived within two miles of radius in Taipei long time ago and we have never met & known each other there.  We have to migrate several thousand miles to meet and make acquaintance in Dallas, a city of Lone Star.  Love, like Life and infact a part of life, is a many splendored thing.