Posted on 07/25/2019 1:22:39 PM PDT by DUMBGRUNT
A tree stump in New Zealand is very much alive, thanks to an interconnected root system that benefits both the stump and its neighboring trees. Scientists say this unusual symbiotic arrangement could change our very conception of what it means to be a tree.
We tend to think of trees as individuals, but the roots of some species fuse together to allow the sharing of resources, such as water, carbon, mineral nutrients, and microorganisms.
Leuzinger and Bader stumbled upon the stump while out for a hike. The woody stub caught their eye because callus tissue could be seen growing over its dead and rotting parts. It was also producing resin, which indicated the presence of living tissue. This prompted a more thorough investigation in which the researchers measured water flowing through the tissues of the stump, and also its rate of respiration, which matched those seen in the surrounding trees.
(Excerpt) Read more at gizmodo.com ...
Interesting book titled The Secret Life of Trees discussed previously here on FR. I really enjoyed reading it.
LOL That was a good one!
I must be a tree. People say I am a sap....
“Try to kill a tulip poplar by cutting it down to a stump.”
I can only wish that my beloved mulberry tree could return.
One sad day a woman from the local utility company enquired if they could trim my tree near the power lines, NOT ON OUR PROPERTY.
The secret female handshake and countersign were exchanged, and that is all she wrote.
Gone for the convenience of the utility company.
Three trucks, crawlers, hoists, man lifts, and six + workers... for three days.
And gone, but not forgotten.
The remaining 36”x40” stump is all that remains.
Critters from all over DuPage county used to visit for a late-night fruit snack. I tried not to bother them and ate mine by day.
“theres a stand of Aspen in the North West that is, as a single organism, among the oldest living things on earth.
And it’s male looking for a female. No tranies in trees.
Read Richard Power’s “Overstory” Lots of good tree stuff in there.
My favorite Penicillium is roqueforti. I recently saw an article about a study that said people who eat a lot of blue cheese have less heart problems than people who don’t. I now start every day with a spoonful of Blue Cheese or Gorgonzola.
Perhaps I will be colonized by Penicillium roqueforti fungus.
I love blue cheese.
Luckily I do too! If it were a little less expensive I’d eat more of it.
I hear you. :)
“I think that I shall never hear/
A poem as lovely as a beer/
That drink Joes bar has on tap/
With golden base and snowy cap/
I drink that golden stuff all day/Until my memory melts away/
Poems are made by fools, I fear/
But only Schlitz can make a beer.”
- MAD Magazine
I saw one Doug Fir that was healing. I haven’t been up there to check on it in years, though.
Reminds me of the Little Rascals Episode “Arbor Day” where Alfalfa sings it.
I was expecting the attribution to be Norm Peterson.
My mulberry tree is a real nuisance dropping fruit and nothing eats the berries but the tree is attractive and provides lots of shade so it stands.
nothing eats the berries
I used to put a critter cam under the mulberry, I had an Ok photo of a possum with babies on her back, a bazillion skunks, coons, a few coyotes...
And a friends mother used to make mulberry pie!
But the dog’s feet did occasionally turn purple?
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