Completely Arbortrary

The Lord of the Tree Rings comes to a flashy finish with the Japanese stewartia ( Stewartia pseudocamellia) . This week we chat about all things specimen trees! Then we round off the saga with some tree lore from Alex. Completely Arbortrary is produced and hosted by Casey Clapp and Alex Crowson Support the pod and become a  Treemium Member Follow along on Instagram Find Arbortrary merch on ou...

This week we march on through Middle-earth, our path leading us to the Norway spruce (Picea abies) and into the Fangorn Forest, found on Vanilla-earth as the Białowieża Forest (bee-ah-wo-vee-EDGE-ah). Join us as we ruminate about forest management and what it means to preserve a forest. Then we play a family favorite game! Completely Arbortrary is produced and hosted by Casey Clapp and Alex Crowso...

The world is changed... In our first installment of The Lord of the Tree Rings trilogy, we discuss the pedunculate oak (Quercus robur) and take a deep dive into how we take care of trees as they enter their geriatric years, and the differences between American and European tree care. Then Alex has Casey solve a series of riddles... The Fellowship assembles. Completely Arbortrary is produced and ho...

Do trees even exist, man? This week we finish our second part on the "idea" of taxonomy and we dive into this question using the beautiful, rugged, southern catalpa (Catalpa bignonioides) as our guide. Come with us on this most pendantic of journeys. Completely Arbortrary is produced and hosted by Casey Clapp and Alex Crowson Support the pod and become a Treemium Member Follow along on Instagram F...

How do you see the world? How do you organize the world, all the plants and animals around you? This week we have a discussion about taxonomy that revolves around the gorgeous Italian cypress (Cupressus sempervirens), and it opens a door to an entirely new way to see the world. Completely Arbortrary is produced and hosted by Casey Clapp and Alex Crowson Support the pod and become a Treemium Member...

Does competition or cooperation get you further in life? That's the question we tackle this week while we discuss the paper birch (Betula papyrifera). We end this episode with a game that we all love, and get some ideas on how to love the trees in your neighborhood. Completely Arbortrary is produced and hosted by Casey Clapp and Alex Crowson Support the pod and become a Treemium Member Follow alon...

The Rocky Mountain juniper (Juniperus scopulorum), like nearly all junipers, is a conifer that took a different strategy to get its seeds dispersed. This week we chat about convergent evolution, and how nature can find the same solutions to problems in very different ways. Completely Arbortrary is produced and hosted by Casey Clapp and Alex Crowson Support the pod and become a Treemium Member Foll...

What can't this tree do? The coast redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) rounds off our two-part series on the oft-confused redwoods of California. This week we celebrate this tree and all that it is, then Alex finds himself in Jeopardy. Completely Arbortrary is produced and hosted by Casey Clapp and Alex Crowson Support the pod and become a Treemium Member Follow along on Instagram Find Arbortrary merch...

What does it take to be a perfect tree? We'll come to figuring it out this week as we dive into a flowing conversation about the giant sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum). Stick around for a discussion that explores everything about these trees, and then looks into where the term tree even comes from. Completely Arbortrary is produced and hosted by Casey Clapp and Alex Crowson Support the pod and b...

The hickories (Carya) are a part of an ancient forest system that once existed across the entire northern hemisphere, from North America to Europe, across Asia to the Pacific and back again to the North America. This week, we chat about the shagbark hickory (Carya ovata) and discuss how it and it's closest relatives have been so successful, yet ended up so far from kin across the world. Completely...

The English yew (Taxus baccata) is one of our most storied, mythological, and metaphorical trees to date. Death, disease, toxicity, warfare... it has it all! Listen along as we discuss this poisonous protector of the dead. All hail Hecate! Completely Arbortrary is produced and hosted by Casey Clapp and Alex Crowson Support the pod and become a Treemium Member Follow along on Instagram Find Arbortr...

What do you do when the way of life that you evolved over millions of years was rendered useless in the blink of an eye? Something very similar to that happened to the Osage-orange (Maclura pomifera) at the end of the Pleistocene epoch, and it wasn't alone. Completely Arbortrary is produced and hosted by Casey Clapp and Alex Crowson Support the pod and become a Treemium Member Follow along on Inst...

Has the European beech (Fagus sylvatica) been man's best friend since time-immemorial, or has it just been doing it best to impress the whole time? This week we discuss the complex history of the European beech, but the jury is still out if it's a natural history or unnatural. Completely Arbortrary is produced and hosted by Casey Clapp and Alex Crowson Support the pod and become a Treemium Member...

The King of Bonsai, this week we're welcoming the new Unseason of Completely Arbortrary with a discussion of the Japanese black pine (Pinus thunbergii). This tree has been cultivated for thousands of years as bonsai trees, and this week we chat about what Casey and Alex think of these trees and the art form they helped create. Completely Arbortrary is produced and hosted by Casey Clapp and Alex Cr...

Enjoy this BONUS EPISODE from our Patreon as a palette cleanser to this season of food trees, in which we discuss three drinks from non-tree plants; coffee, hops, and grapes. Completely Arbortrary is produced and hosted by Casey Clapp and Alex Crowson Support the pod and become a Treemium Member Follow along on Instagram Find Arbortrary merch on our store Find additional reading on our website Cov...

In our annual finally, we talk about the amazing cacao tree (Theobroma cacao). We discuss the sordid history of this funny little fruit, and we end the season with a deep dive into the real costs of our eating culture. As a palette cleanser, we play a new game! Then we discuss the future of Completely Arbortrary... Completely Arbortrary is produced and hosted by Casey Clapp and Alex Crowson Suppor...

The Meyer lemon (Citrus x meyeri), named after the tiger-fighting plant explorer Frank Meyer is this week's subject, but they go way further back than that. This sour fruit tree was traded to all corners of the world and cultivated for thousands of years before, and even to this day it can be a life saver... Completely Arbortrary is produced and hosted by Casey Clapp and Alex Crowson Support the p...

A tree that has been known to solve everything from rheumatism to syphilis, the sassafras tree (Sassafras albidum) is a quintessential part of the history of the United States. The classic ingredient of root beer, this tree has a lot to offer, but may not be quite as pure as they thought... Completely Arbortrary is produced and hosted by Casey Clapp and Alex Crowson Support the pod and become a Tr...

The olive (Olea europaea). What more needs to be said about this historic tree? This week, we dive into how it is grown, where, and how orchards have developed and changed throughout history. The wonderful history of the olive, its groves, and its future are the topic this week. Completely Arbortrary is produced and hosted by Casey Clapp and Alex Crowson Support the pod and become a Treemium Membe...

The nut that actually is a nut, this week we chat about the filbert (Corylus avellana) and discuss the philosophical distinction between what exactly is a shrub versus a tree? We ask the question can we even include this in a podcast about trees? Or do we need to reconsider the very nature of that alleged category. Completely Arbortrary is produced and hosted by Casey Clapp and Alex Crowson Suppor...

The pomegranate (Punica granatum), a tree of mythical history, is our subject this week. We dive to the depths of Hades back again, exploring the outsized role this squat tree has had in the myths and histories of nearly every religion and culture of the Mediterranean, Middle East and southern Asia. Completely Arbortrary is produced and hosted by Casey Clapp and Alex Crowson Support the pod and be...

This week we chat about the Colorado pinyon pine (Pinus edulis) and its multitude of uses and fascinations. A group of pines, the pinyons, are an interesting evolutionary clade that tend to interbreed where their populations overlap. The seeds of the pinyon, though, are what has led to them being of utmost important to our culinary pantheons. Completely Arbortrary is produced and hosted by Casey C...

The center of conflict and conquest, the Helen of Troy of Trees, the nutmeg (Myristica fragrans) tree has caused international incidents and revolutionized the flavors of cuisines world wide. We talk all about how this tree and the Spice Islands it grows on impacted the world. Then we get a delectable recipe and description of nutmeg that will simply make your mouth water. Completely Arbortrary is...

A historic tree that still shapes our world today, the almond (Prunus amygdalus) is curious member of our culinary pantheon. Once so inedible that it would kill you, now it's one of the most popular and widely grown trees in the world. But with that popularity comes a cost... Completely Arbortrary is produced and hosted by Casey Clapp and Alex Crowson Support the pod and become a Treemium Member F...

An oak that has got it all figured out, the holm oak (Quercus ilex) has made a friend that is worth having. This week we talk about the holm oak and its most famous fungal associate, the Périgord truffle mushroom. Then, we flip the script and Casey gives Alex a chance to play a brand new game... Completely Arbortrary is produced and hosted by Casey Clapp and Alex Crowson Support the pod and become...