Stanley Leaming was a Chilmark character in the 1930s who remains remarkable for stories of his droll donkeys and his predilection for peculiar plants.

Mr. Leaming, a landscape architect by profession, lived on three acres in Chilmark where he cultivated and created an arboretum at his home on Middle Road. But before we talk trees, we must discuss those donkeys.

Stories of that duo of donkeys, named Tex and Otono, were remembered by elders and recorded in Chris Baer’s historical column and Linsey Lee’s Vineyard Voices books. Those donkeys wandered Islandwide. They were a kid’s favorite feature at the annual Agricultural Fair where children could ride for a dime. Others recall rowdy rides at the Gay Head Cliffs when the donkeys would carry passengers up and down the Cliffs, like a miniature Grand Canyon excursion.

Beyond the brayers, Mr. Leaming’s love for landscapes led him to develop his property with trees not native or even found on the Island, predating the more famous Polly Hill. In one recounting, he planted Chinese dogwood along Middle Road. And he took their care very seriously.

In a letter in the Dukes County Intelligencer, H. B. Engley shared this story, “when plans for surfacing the road were announced, my late neighbor Stanley Leaming, promptly enlisted the unanimous support of the local community in petitioning for extreme care for the roadside trees in the construction. His efforts were amply rewarded. Almost no damage was done.”

It was not those dogwoods that have me thinking of Stanley, but another tree that I suspect was the result of his planting hands.

A line of large, ivy-covered locust trees descends along a stone wall at the Martha’s Vineyard Land Bank’s Tiasquam Valley Reservation. Midway down the trail, there is a tree that has fascinated me for a while though its identity eluded me until recently. This tree has unique, reddish, scaly bark making it stand out among the other trees along the route.

River birch — scientific name betula nigra — is also called red birch, black birch and water birch. On a trip to America, Mexican Emperor Prince Maximilian called these the most beautiful of American trees, so it is not a wonder why Mr. Leaming planted them.

While river birch can be native to some areas in New England, it is a popular, cultivated tree and has become naturalized in areas from the yards and gardens of those that have planted it. A tolerant tree, this birch can live in areas with high air pollution and that is happily thriving in New York’s City’s Central Park.

Nor do poor soil conditions affect it much: river birch has been used for erosion control and for strip mine reclamation because it can survive in acidic environs without trouble.

Valued by Indigenous people for its medicinal effects and food potential, river birch sap can be turned into a sweetener similar to maple syrup. The bark served as famine food when needed, and wild yeasts could be gleaned from its bark. That bark was used for basketmaking and its wood for tools, canoes and bowls.

Wildlife also finds this tree type favorable. Birds eat its seeds, deer munch its twigs and at least 15 species of moths and butterflies use river birch as a larval food for its caterpillars, including our local mourning cloak.

There are many reasons to walk the trails of Tiasquam Valley Reservation, but especially to see this iconic tree. Do it sooner rather than later since river birch usually live less than a century; Mr. Leaming’s legacy of terrific trees won’t last a donkey’s year.

Suzan Bellincampi is Islands director for Felix Neck Wildlife Sanctuary in Edgartown and the Nantucket Wildlife Sanctuaries. She is also the author of Martha’s Vineyard: A Field Guide to Island Nature and The Nature of Martha’s Vineyard.