Amazing tree in Balboa Park, San Diego - Needs I.D.

WinsomeWorks

I'm not sure this is the place to put this thread. Please move if necessary. Last June, I photographed a humongous and amazing tree in Balboa Park, San Diego. The light was dying and so were my batteries and flash and stamina (at the end of a long day at the zoo)... so my photos are nothing to write home about! However, I'd still love to get an I.D. on the genus & species of this tree. There are a couple places I may submit a photo or two, if I can get them edited well enough. I have a call in to the park, but it may be awhile til I hear back. So just wondering if any of you Californians know this tree, or if any tree specialists out there can help me name it. Here's a link to a gallery where I put a few of the photos for now: http://www.winsomeworks.com/Portfolio/San-Diego-Area-CA-Portfolio/13722225_JSYyV#1220250520_QzBzG Unfortunately I didn't get any photos of the foliage. The last shot in that gallery is a shot of a tree right near this one which I'm pretty sure is the same species, just a younger version. That shot does include some foliage. The only guesses I have so far are a Kapok tree or a Moreton Bay Fig.

The tree had a label sign by it, but of course I thought I'd remember it. The problems I'm having with identifying it are partly due to the fact that there is one really famous tree in Balboa Park, and all links point to that tree. Also, anyone I asked about it thought that was the one I meant. This particular tree that I'm IDing is huge as well, but it's not one you'd see on a casual stroll through the park. It was down in a ravine near the International houses, where there is a walkway made of boards. The roots appeared to ooze down the bank, and you can see in the photos how tall the roots are... the girl in the photo I linked is my teenage daughter, and she's over 5' ; when we were there, we felt like Alice in Wonderland! If anyone lives near that area of the park & walks through there, I could probably explain to you how to find that tree. Ok, well, thanks-- if I can figure out how to post photos in a thread again, maybe I should do that. Well, after all that, I guess you can all tell I'm really crazy about trees. :wink Another problem I ran into when trying to find a similar tree online, is that it seems these types of trees change appearance drastically depending how old they are. [Wow-- I may have just answered my own question, presuming this person has the tree labeled correctly. I can't believe it, but I just found a shot of the same exact tree's roots, from the same angle and an almost identical crop to one of my first shot in that gallery I posted! Here it is: http://www.123rf.com/photo_6836521_the-tangled-roots-of-a-ficus-macrophylla-known-as-the-moreton-bay-fig-that-is-a-large-evergreen-bany.html He does have it labeled as a Moreton Bay Fig, or Ficus Macrophylla. Crazy.]

WinsomeWorks

got "my" tree identified by Balboa Park ranger
I just realized I never did post back here with the answer to my puzzling tree I.D. questions. Soon after I'd posted, I left a message with a Balboa Park ranger. When the ranger returned a couple days later, he called and we had a great conversation about this wonderful tree that I'd seen & photographed. http://www.winsomeworks.com/Portfolio/San-Diego-Area-CA-Portfolio/13722225_JSYyV#1220250520_QzBzG He told me it's indeed a Moreton Bay Fig, which is in the Banyan family. This particular species, or sub-species, is the Ficus macrophylla "Columnaris", as its roots form tall column-like structures. That tree has especially grand columns because of the moisture it gets in the ravine, and the way it is growing down the bank. Interestingly, the ranger said that the park's rangers had recently had their annual group photo taken in front of the tree! If you're headed to Balboa Park, post back here & I'll tell you how to find this fantastic tree-- it's certainly not in an obvious spot, and even if the park were much smaller, most visitors would never see it.

mom2sage

Wow, that is an amazing tree! When I first started reading this, I thought you were going to ask about my favorite childhood tree, which we used to climb on, but now is fenced in. It is near the Natural History museum and the artist's colony (not sure if that is the right name, it has been awhile). Either way, I never know the names of trees, even common ones, but I did enjoy reading your post and looking at the pictures as it brought back memories. Thanks!

WinsomeWorks

mom2sage wrote: »

Wow, that is an amazing tree! When I first started reading this, I thought you were going to ask about my favorite childhood tree, which we used to climb on, but now is fenced in. It is near the Natural History museum and the artist's colony (not sure if that is the right name, it has been awhile). Either way, I never know the names of trees, even common ones, but I did enjoy reading your post and looking at the pictures as it brought back memories. Thanks!

That's cool that you used to climb on that tree... yes, I imagine they had to fence it in eventually because of so many visitors to the park seeing it & wanting to climb on it. That's the tree I'd mentioned that's so famous... it's a Moreton Bay Fig as well, but it's not the "Columnaris" variety so that's why it grows rather differently from this one in the ravine. The environmental difference (flat place rather than ravine) causes differing growth patterns too. Yeah, it's no surprise that the Ents were my favorite LOTR characters, as so many of my best memories going way back involve trees!