Tree of the month

[sean]

Heres a great photo...apparently taken in 2006 at Hampstead heath.....Do you recognise the tree MonkeyD?

[Giles Hill]

Birch rods were used for corporal punishment in public schools, as in give 'em the birch.

 

I won't lower the tone by referring to the S&M usage I found when checking the above on google.

[David Humphries]

Heres a great photo...apparently taken in 2006 at Hampstead heath.....Do you recognise the tree MonkeyD?

 

 

Was one of only three SB's on the Heath till I cut them all down in a fit of anti

pioneer species.

 

 

Nice idea for a thread Sean.

 

A few of the more well known of the Betula Fungal associations.........

 

Fly agaric

Birch polypore

Hoof fungus

 

 

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Edited January 4, 2010 by Monkey-D

[armchairarborist]

the white pigment in the bark is 'betulin' best seen on the betula utilis where it rubs off onto your hand. been exploring the scottish birchwoods in the snow lastweek on holiday,

loads of pictures of birch polypore and friends, found an unusual growth up one, pics posted later.

[sean]

the white pigment in the bark is 'betulin' best seen on the betula utilis where it rubs off onto your hand. been exploring the scottish birchwoods in the snow lastweek on holiday,

loads of pictures of birch polypore and friends, found an unusual growth up one, pics posted later.

 

 

sounds cool. look forward to seeing the photo's:thumbup:

[sean]

Marssonina Betulae

 

 

Marssonina betulae is a common foliar pathogen on birch

throughout Europe, causing characteristic leaf spots

as well as lesions on young shoots. The fungus

infects leaves and young shoots in spring and summer via

asexual spores called conidia, which are likely spread by

rainsplash from overwintering infected leaf material.

Previously, damage caused by this fungus was thought to

be limited to leaves and young, small shoots, and its

degree of aggressiveness was considered to be weak

(Peace, 1962; Bäucker and Eisenhauer, 2001). In this

study, M.betulae was found inhabiting diseased shoots at

all five WGS sites sampled in 2002, causing necrotic

lesions on 63% of diseased 4–5 month old shoots

collected in September (Green, 2004). Also, inoculation of

silver birch seedlings with M. betulae resulted in the

development of secondary stem cankers (Figure 7), which

continued to expand months after initial infection, causing

extensive shoot dieback and the death of some seedlings

(Green, unpublished). These results indicate that M.

betulaeis more damaging to birch than the literature

currently suggests.thestromatal tissues dry up and drop out of the cankers,

leaving deep fissures in shoots and branches (Figure 5),

which are indicative of older infections by A. virgultorum.

[David Humphries]

Birches

 

by Robert Frost

 

 

When I see birches bend to left and right

Across the lines of straighter darker trees,

I like to think some boy's been swinging them.

But swinging doesn't bend them down to stay.

Ice-storms do that. Often you must have seen them

Loaded with ice a sunny winter morning

After a rain. They click upon themselves

As the breeze rises, and turn many-colored

As the stir cracks and crazes their enamel.

Soon the sun's warmth makes them shed crystal shells

Shattering and avalanching on the snow-crust--

Such heaps of broken glass to sweep away

You'd think the inner dome of heaven had fallen.

They are dragged to the withered bracken by the load,

And they seem not to break; though once they are bowed

So low for long, they never right themselves:

You may see their trunks arching in the woods

Years afterwards, trailing their leaves on the ground

Like girls on hands and knees that throw their hair

Before them over their heads to dry in the sun.

But I was going to say when Truth broke in

With all her matter-of-fact about the ice-storm

(Now am I free to be poetical?)

I should prefer to have some boy bend them

As he went out and in to fetch the cows--

Some boy too far from town to learn baseball,

Whose only play was what he found himself,

Summer or winter, and could play alone.

One by one he subdued his father's trees

By riding them down over and over again

Until he took the stiffness out of them,

And not one but hung limp, not one was left

For him to conquer. He learned all there was

To learn about not launching out too soon

And so not carrying the tree away

Clear to the ground. He always kept his poise

To the top branches, climbing carefully

With the same pains you use to fill a cup

Up to the brim, and even above the brim.

Then he flung outward, feet first, with a swish,

Kicking his way down through the air to the ground.

So was I once myself a swinger of birches.

And so I dream of going back to be.

It's when I'm weary of considerations,

And life is too much like a pathless wood

Where your face burns and tickles with the cobwebs

Broken across it, and one eye is weeping

From a twig's having lashed across it open.

I'd like to get away from earth awhile

And then come back to it and begin over.

May no fate willfully misunderstand me

And half grant what I wish and snatch me away

Not to return. Earth's the right place for love:

I don't know where it's likely to go better.

I'd like to go by climbing a birch tree,

And climb black branches up a snow-white trunk

Toward heaven, till the tree could bear no more,

But dipped its top and set me down again.

That would be good both going and coming back.

One could do worse than be a swinger of birches.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[Bundle 2]

Taphrina betulina can be caused by a number of agents infact...

Here's an extract from wikipedia...

 

"Witch's broom growths last for many years and can be caused by many different types of organisms, such as fungi, insects, mistletoe, dwarf mistletoes, mites, nematodes, phytoplasmas and viruses.[1] Human activity is sometimes behind the introduction of these organisms;."

 

Witch's broom - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Edited January 4, 2010 by Bundle 2

[David Humphries]

Pollards, coppices, and rejuvinates life itself from the ashes of death.

 

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[czhey]

Pollards, coppices, and rejuvinates life itself from the ashes of death.

 

All very interesting! great photos, you've proved me wrong but i didn't think it normally responded very well to pollarding or coppicing?

 

Love the birchwood knife

 

so what trees will we see in the next 12 months?

 

C