Interesting Trees & Tidbits - pt 2

Have you planned travels around visiting a specific tree? Did your interest perk up when Treebeard and the ents were first introduced in the Lord of the Rings? Have you ever wondered about seemingly futile facts such as what pine tree has the largest or heaviest pinecone?
 
If you answer yes to any of these questions, you might be a dendropohile...or nemophilist...or maybe you simply refer to yourself as a tree nerd or tree nut.
 
Playing trivia games doesn't typically interest me, but I do enjoy learning about unique trees and other trivial pieces of information related to trees and forests.
 
Here are a few notes from my journal of interesting trees and tidbits I’ve collected over the years.
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DEEPEST TREE ROOTS

You are likely familiar with tap roots, but do you know that most trees with tap roots only utilize them during establishment. As the tree grows, it develops a more wide-spreading, fibrous root system which is better capable of providing structural support to keep the tree upright and for nutrient & water absorption. (see illustration below)
 
Most of a trees’ roots are located within the top 3 feet of soil. The vast majority of these (90%) being in the just the top 18” of soil. Further, the majority of the absorbing roots are found in the top 6” as there tends to be sufficient nutrients, oxygen, and water closer to the surface. Sending roots deeper is not often necessary.
 
There are instances where trees may need to and can send down sinker roots to reach deeper. There have been some roots discovered at extraordinary depths!
 
In one account, a researcher from Rutgers University found roots 230 feet (70 meters) below ground. They belonged to a Shepherd's tree (Boscia albitrunca) in the Kalahari Desert, 

The Guinness Book of World Records lists the deepest tree roots ever found were discovered in a cave system in South Africa, almost 400 feet (122 meters) below the surface! The wild fig tree's(Ficus natalensis) were found in Echo Caves. (note that this is deeper than the tallest known tree is tall - Hyperion coastal redwood @ 380 ft/116 meters)

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Illustration of the root system of common deciduous trees.

OLDEST TREE PLANTED BY HUMANS
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One of the most sacred trees on the planet, the Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi tree (Ficus religiosa) was reportedly planted 2,311 years ago, making it possibly the oldest living tree known to be planted by humans.
 
Records indicate one of the early kings of Sri Lanka planted the tree from a cutting in his gardens in Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka. The tree has been cared for by kings and Buddhist monks given its heritage and a believed descendant of the original Bodhi tree under which Siddhartha Guatama reached enlightenment.
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WORLD’S RAREST TREE

There was only one known Three Kings kaikōmako tree (Pennantia baylisiana) when a botanist discovered it in the wild in 1945.

​It was found on Three Kings Island; about 34 miles northwest of Cape Reinga, the northernmost point of New Zealand’s northern island. (34.15957° S, 172.13743° E)
 
Being dioecious (having separate male & female plants), this single female tree was unlikely to reproduce and produce seed. Similar to how the Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi fig above was propagated by cutting, this tree was successfully propagated in the 1950’s. (Read more about tree propagation here)
 
That single tree growing in the wild and a few of the propagated trees eventually set seed, but the fruits were seldom fertile (around 1 in 2000). Continued efforts by scientists eventually led to an individual tree becoming self-fertile in the 1990’s, opening the door to possibility of saving this species from extinction. 
 
Even though hundreds of Three Kings kaikōmakos have been propagated and planted since finding that sole survivor, it is easy to understand why it is known as the "world's loneliest tree".
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UNIQUE WOOD COLOR

Most wood ranges in color across a spectrum of white to tan to dark brown. You may have also noticed some yellow and orange hues, from subtle to more pronounced. But did you know there are some species with seemingly unatural colors like red and purple?

left ot right: amaranth - blackwood - padauk - pink ivory

Here are a few species that exhibit unique colors and coloration:
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• Amaranth (Peltogyne spp.), also known as purpleheart, grows in Central to South America. When freshly cut, the wood is gray-brown in color. Exposed to air it turns to a deeper eggplant purple.
• African blackwood (Dalbergia melanoxylon) grows in arid regions of central & southern Africa. Its heartwood is completely black.
• African padauk (Pterocarpus soyauxii) grows in tropical areas of central & west Africa. The color of this wood varies from reddish-orange to deep brownish red.
• Pink ivory (Phyllogeiton zeyheri) is native to southern Africa and has a vibrant pinkish-red color. 

 
One species that can also be found in North America is boxelder (Acer negundo), a type of maple. It may not be a particularly desirable species in many people’s opinions, yet it has a unique characteristic you might witness when pruning and cutting into the trunk.
 
Once cut, the exposed wood can turn red and even vibrant red; blood red. The discoloration seems to be related to a fungus or the tree having been exposed to other stresses. (Scientists continue to study the details of this reaction)

​Whatever the cause, it is interesting to see it change before your eyes! The reaction makes boxelder wood with “flame red” coloration and streaking attractive to woodworkers.

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Back to Those Cones

​For my fellow tree-geeks still wondering what the largest and heaviest pinecones may be:

- Sugar pine (Pinus lambertiana) produces the longest pinecone (and longest cone of all conifers), reaching about 20 inches (50 cm) in length. They grow naturally in western North America, from Oregon, U.S. down into Baja California, Mexico.
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- Coulter pine (Pinus coulteri) has the heaviest pinecones, weighing in around 10 pounds (5 Kg). They grow in the coastal mountains of southern California, U.S. and northern Baja California, Mexico.