You Can't Believe Everything You Read

At Duke Farms they're working to identify and label more of their trees and shrubs. When I saw the sign I figured I'd wander over and see whether they had planted an American Sycamore or a London Planetree; the 2 (related) trees look very similar.

Imagine my surprise when I read the sign saying that this was a Ginkgo tree. This wasn't a misidentification - this time - on my part. The smooth, patchy-white bark clearly indicates some sort of sycamore [1]. So what happened?

The first thing to realize is that there was a fairly large Ginkgo tree a short distance away, and the sign was no doubt intended for that tree. There is a small chance that some Duke Farms visitor really thought that the sycamore was a Ginkgo tree and tried to be helpful by moving the sign. Far more likely though is that this was intended as a practical joke. 

As jokes go, it probably doesn't work well:

  • Some people who know virtually nothing about trees might be fooled, but fooling these folks isn't hard. And since I suspect many people forget these quick IDs, it probably doesn't have much long term impact.
  • Other people like me will know that the sign is wrong and burn a little time figuring out how it got there. I was briefly puzzled, though never really amused by it.
I considered moving the sign myself, but wasn't sure where Duke Farms wanted it placed. I alerted Duke Farms staff (and interns), and it was quickly corrected.
July 6, 2022 at Duke Farms


[1] I'm going to use "sycamore" as a generic term for American Sycamore and London Planetree since most of us are familiar with that term, though "planetree" might be a slightly better generic term.

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