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| 9. Niche Switch |
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Remember the American chestnut tree? A whole host of animals including man depended on it for food and fiber. When it disappeared from Georgia's forests it left an empty niche. Fortunately, oak trees could do the job of the chestnut tree, though not as well, and they filled the empty niche. Without biodiversity, we sometimes loose the niche switching plants that keep things going in the face of disasters like the chestnut blight.
Choose a path. The left fork in the trail leads back to the edge of the Memorial Garden near where you began this walk. The right fork continues on. It will take about 20 more minutes to complete. You will walk through a living medicine chest and rest a while in a beech glen. Then, when you're ready, you can return to the Memorial Garden a few hundred feet from where you started |
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| 10. Pawpaw Paradise |
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You are moving through a huge pawpaw patch, acres of it! The fruit of pawpaw is a laxative. The leaves were used as a compress applied to boils and abscesses. The seeds contain a chemical once used to kill head lice. A yellow dye was once made from the fruit, and rope was made from the strong inner bark fibers. Recently, an anticancer drug was distilled from this plant and is now being tested. Who knows what useful drugs may come from other wild plants like the pawpaw? By preserving biodiversity, we are saving a storehouse of plant compounds that may some day benefit people. |
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| 11. Another Fork In The Trail |
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Our way is the left fork in the trail here. The right fork goes up to a small granite outcrop 100 feet from here and then on to the Pinetum. Take a look at the small granite outcrop if you like before returning here to continue. Prickly pear cactus grows and blooms in the thin, dry soil up there. Contrast the granite outcrop with the rich, moist beech glen you will soon enter. There is a wide range of habitats between these two extremes, still another reason for the rich biodiversity found here. |
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| 12. Beech glen |
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Linger here awhile if you like. Take in the sights, sounds, and smells of this peaceful place. It is one of the favored spots in this forest. Look for the old beech tree carved with initials and a date long ago. You may come back here whenever you wish, because someone cared enough about nature to set aside a piece of it for everyone, forever.
When you're ready, follow the trail across the bridge and out to the last stop at the edge of the Memorial Garden, about 800 feet from here |
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| 13. Garden edge.
You are at the edge of the Memorial Garden. Walk up hill in the Garden and you will soon see where you are parked. We hope you enjoyed the Native Tree Trail walk. Have a wonderful day. |
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