The Mighty Popular Poplar Tree Traditional Cache
MAPAsearching: With the continuing damage at GZ by locals, this site is being archived. It was fun while it lasted.
The Mighty Popular Poplar Tree
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Size: 
(micro)
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It is a small film canister size cache with a log inside.
This is the third in my tree science lessons to teach about North Carolina trees. This is a Tulip-Poplar tree. Liriodendron Tulipifera. It is going to be a very popular Poplar tree because of this cache! It is somewhat common to hear people call them POPULAR Trees. Just drop the “U” please. Poplar trees are one of the largest hardwood trees that grow in the Carolinas. They grow taller then the oaks and maples. It is common to see them at 159-165 feet high, with some at 180 feet in the mountainous areas. They do prefer bottomland or the draws and valley in the mountains. It is different then the Chinese version of the poplar tree as that version has much deeper grooves in the four points of the leaves. Poplar trees get beautiful flowers on it only after it reaches 8 to 15 years old. Flowers will be about 1 ½” diameter with yellowish-green pedals with a bit of orange at the bases. The flowers smell like cucumbers and have a fruity seed inside of them that can eventually grow into more seedlings. Other names for the tree have been Sweetgum or Canoewood, used by Native Americans for dugout canoes.
Wood is commonly used for cabinetry frames and drawer components. It is a hardwood, but softer then oak or cherry. It is used very often in the veneer layers of more expensive hardwood veneers. Many of the lower end veneered hardwood furniture pieces are just stained poplar and would be claimed to be cherry or maple.
The Poplar tree is popular as a host for many insects. You will see ants carrying food up and down the trunk. The Eastern Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly lays its tiny eggs on the leaves and caterpillars make short work of the leaves for lunches. Additionally, this particular Poplar tree has two very thick poison ivy vines on the south and east side of the tree. You can see the hairy growth on the vines to indicate that they are poison ivy vines. These vines are at least 70 or 80 years old. Don’t worry as the leaves are about 40 feet up in the tree branches. I am not about to cut into the vine and count the annual growth rings… That is the next science lesson!
Leaf everything as you found it.
Congratulations to GEO-BERGERS for first to find!
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Or yvxr n fdhvery, gura chyy gur svfuvat yvar gung vf gvrq gb gur anvy
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