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Magical Moments

2008 October 9

Originally published October 9, 2008
photo by Ken Moore. Beautiful winged seeds of southern sugar maple.
Photo by Ken Moore. Beautiful winged seeds of southern sugar maple

By Ken Moore

Though the sun was rising, the paper had not yet arrived. Walking slowly back up the drive, my eyes were captured by clusters of emerald green. The sun had illuminated the paired winged seeds, samaras, of the big southern sugar maple, Acer barbatum (formerly A. saccharum ssp. floridanum), shielding our house from the road. Countless green seed clusters dangled beneath the leaves throughout the tree. The subtle beauty of the green seeds with their pale tan wings was one of those magical moments that nature offers at unexpected times.

Brilliant red samaras of red maple, Acer rubrum, against a clear blue sky provided similar moments last spring. Curiously, the seeds of red maples mature quickly and spiral, helicopter-like, to the ground during the spring. In contrast, seeds of southern sugar maple hold on, maturing slowly, to spiral earthward during the fall. One could imagine these two maples conferring cooperatively thousands of years ago to agree to shed their seeds at different seasons for mutual benefits.

My magical green seed moment progressed to another one. While absorbed in the beauty of the seed clusters, I became aware that one of the seed bodies was altered in an odd way, and when it moved I focused on a beautifully colored insect, the likes of which I had never before seen.

I was unsuccessful in locating that insect critter in my basic guide. I turned for assistance to my friends at the Botanical Garden. Those folks’ knowledge extends far beyond the world of plants. Curator Chris Liloia directed me to a website for the green stink bug. The little critter on the maple seed clusters was a fourth instar, the fourth of five stages, of the green stink bug nymph. Development from egg to adult takes only 35 days. It is the adult stink bug that hibernates in leaf litter or beneath tree bark to continue the cycles each summer. I made a couple of visits to those very same seed clusters during the day and found that beautiful little nymph crawling about nearby. Most stink bugs feed on vegetation, so I’m assuming some of those seed bodies were providing some source of sustenance. With thousands of seeds hanging on the tree, there were certainly enough for many such bug nymphs with lots of seed left over to germinate on new ground.

The days are full of magical moments if we open our eyes to them. Calling special experiences “magical moments” is a notion demonstrated to me by friends who are practicing new ways to share nature with children. We all have special moments, whether with the outdoors, listening to music, reading, cooking or watching sports. For me, the really special ones are in the local forests and fields.

My most recent magical moment was discovering the ground beneath my favorite persimmon tree, Diospyros virginiana, already strewn with plump, ripe persimmons. It’s time to get outdoors to collect some. If you don’t already love persimmons, a magical moment for you will be your first taste of a sweetly ripe persimmon.

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