Field Notes: What’s In The Woods? February 14, 2019

February 14, 2019 3:50 pm

Kissing Trees!

by Area Forester Lisa Deaton

Valentine’s Day seems like an appropriate time to share these images of “kissing” trees.  A tree, bark first, will slowly grow over stationary objects it encounters, such as nails, signs nailed to the tree, or ropes or chains.   I am guessing that these formations started when the branch of one tree encountered the trunk of the other tree. A sweetgum and a loblolly pine are “kissing” in the photo above, and an oak and a beech tree are “kissing” in the photo below.

This last photo is a red maple stem, which thanks to its “eyeball” spot, looks like it is eating another very decayed stem from the same tree.

Category: Education