Big Mama

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ArborOmega

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The following pictures are from a trip I made this summer to see "big mama". Big Mama is a 136 foot tall 37 foot circumference Bald Cypress in a swamp along the Nottaway River here in southern virginia. Along with big mama are some really cool tupelo trees. Sadly my camera batteries died after two pics of big mama and only one pic was any good. I will be return to see this tree on Sat because the forest is dry right now. In the one photo you can see 11 people crowded into the stump of an old tupelo tree.
 
That last picture is a huge stump. It looks like the main trunk broke off and those vertical small offshoots are the main wood now??
 
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The las pic is the basal roots of a carolina ash (fraxinus caroliniana) with with wingged elm and american elm growing out of the sides. The main trunk is in the middle. All of those seperate stems are seperate trees. Makes it that much more amaizing. I just got home a few hours ago. Need o sort the pics from today, reduce size, and will post more when finshed. Hope everyone enjoys them.
 
Dang man, I live close to it, and didn't even know it was here. :(

That's out in Southampton, right? Which section?


If I'm remembering right, it's around Newsoms.
 
ArborOmega said:
The las pic is the basal roots of a carolina ash (fraxinus caroliniana) with with wingged elm and american elm growing out of the sides. The main trunk is in the middle. All of those seperate stems are seperate trees. Makes it that much more amaizing.
Click to expand...

Thanks for explaining that...the possibility they were different trees never crossed my mind. 8)
 
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Round 2 --from my trip last saturday

pic 1 is a within a few feet of diameter from being a national champ - Quercus lyrata - overcup oak

pic 2 is some very tall cypress knees (over 6 feet on some)
 
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pic 3 is a carolina ash (or at least one is)

pic 4 is also a carolina ash.

Ill post more later including better pics of big mama - my server seems to have some issues tonight
 
You may want to document the overcup oak, in case it is truly a champ. Many former champs will be falling off the list because no one remeasured them in the last ten years.
 
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Guy - the man who led me to this tree is a virginia big tree hunter for a living - he knows of one other that is slightly larger - the one in my picture and the other one he knows of are actually bigger in dbh than the national champ, but the national champ beats them in total point value, what he told me at least.

pic 5 was featured in national geographic in the recent 400years of jamestowne issue, but this swamp forest is a good 1 1/2 from jamestowne - the magazine was trying to paint a picture of what Virginia must have looked like to the colonists.

pic 6 is big mama with some people in it for scale
 
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pic 7 is carya aquactica a water hickory

pic 8 is big mama as I am trying to fit it into the frame pic 7 was at my back when i took big mam's picture.

( side note the guy who named big mama said it was an accident to name it that)
 
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pic 9 is the fruiting body of a ganoderma fungus - I saw this on an urban tree root once - resulted in a takedown

pic 10 is me inside of a hollow tree. A small person could have clibed right to the hole...that is not the top of the tree is is just a hole at a bend in the trunk

pic11 is a fallen ash tree that is folden and brokn, but still alive. CODIT was very much active inside the fold.

pic 12 is a nurse log - you can see where the other trees rooted over the log and now have developed an interesting root system

pic 13 is a split carolina ash

pic 14 is an american elm and a sycamore growing side by side on a flood plane

pic 15 is that overcup oak again

pic 15
 
Very cool pictures. Those are some beautiful trees there. That hollowed out tree is pretty neat.
 
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