Evertime I go hiking and exploring in the redwoods, there is something unique or different to see and take photos of. Burls included. The Burl below is on a coast redwood in Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park, and one forest researcher wrote that it weighs 20 tons, or 40,000 pounds. A bit bigger I recall. Imagine that - 18,000 Kilograms. The trunk is 24' diameter. I'm going to dig through some image files for a couple of odd shaped ones. Just saw one on the Boy Scout Tree that looks like a huge pair of lips up high on the trunk. Reminds me of the Simpsons.
wow I sure wish I lived near some redwoods, Ive alwayse wanted to see one up close and personal :) :)
That lump on the left side of the tree above your head? Looks to have a diameter of at most about 1.5-1.7 metres, which - with a rough density of a tonne per cubic metre - I can't see it exceeding about 5 tonnes, and probably less than that. Or does it extend a long way out of view of the photo round the rear of the tree?
Not sure of exact measurements, but my guess is that Robert Van Pelt was probably correct with "20 tons" in Forest Giants of the Pacific Coast. His book photo shows that it extends around to the hill side too. Judging by the person in Van Pelt's book image from a different angle, the burl looks to be over 3 meters high. Gauging from the 24 feet diamter, proportionately the burl looks upwards of 2 meters wide. It may appear smaller, because I'm standing in front of the tree. Standing beneath the burl, the bottom of it is about 12 feet off the ground. With my walking stick raised, I could touch the tip to the burl's underside. Here's an odd shaped one below on Boy Scout Tree. Reminds me of a Simpson's character mouth.
How fortunate you are to live near to such magnificent beauty! Closeup views of the vegetation on the burls would be fascinating: your photos show an intriguing variety of moss, ferns, and lichen. One wonders what insects live among them...bijou ecosystems.
These look a bit bleached with light - was pretty sunny. Two burls in different parks. One in Jedediah Smith redwoods. The partial view in Redwood National Park - the top is covered with ferns. If I'm not mistaken, Polypodium is the fern genus.
Oh - just remembered. Here's something for you, in Prairie Creek redwoods. I think "Lignotuber" is the tern for this kind of growth, rather than burl.
Some weeks after I posted this topic, had a chance to get together with a park ranger I know on his off-time. He made a pretty good model. Its hard to do a shot like this alone or without a remote. Same redwood as the first post. But check out the difference with this view. See him?
Awesome! On that last pic, what is growing on the burl? It looks pretty big - could it be a small redwood? The do grow new plants out of burls, right, or is that not while they are still attached to the living tree?
Can you explain what a burl is? What causes them. I have what I now think might be a burl on one of the native trees here. I think this thing is caused by insects, probably a gall. Or is this something that only happens to the Red woods. The few Red woods that grow in this area (planted by humans) are really quiet small even tho some are over a hundred years old. Makes me wonder how old the one in the pic is. It looks huge like our old Mountain ash (Eucalypt) around here that missed the timber getters in the mid 18th to 19th century. Thanks for the great pics liz
For certain I knew there was a fern on it. Polypodium scouleri - that's the foliage growing down. Had to look at a bigger file to see the upper foliage on the burl, and it appears to be a young western hemlock tree. Looks like Wikipedia has enough on it's burl page that listing the link to it is the most streamlined way to answer: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burl They come in many shapes and sizes. The mountain ash look pretty groovy in photos. Although the color looks lighter, the smoothness reminds me of the bark on the much, much shorter madrone which grow near here. Here is another redwood I saw on my last visit several weeks back. James Irvine Trail in Prairie Creek Redwoods.
Sorry did'nt even think of good old Google. Should know better. Ok it looks as tho I might have one on the Black wood. http://www.anbg.gov.au/acacia/species/A-melanoxylon.html I now realise where I have heard the term before "furniture making" " One of the largest burls known was found around 1984 in the small town of Tamworth, Australia. It stands 6.4 ft tall, with an odd shape resembling a trombone." Wikipedia wonder what type of native that is on?? From memory Tamworth is out in the plains not forest area ?? Some great pics on this article Ta Liz
