Things that you might not know about tree trunks
Did you know that in areas that have different seasons, trees form new cells that appear in concentric circles in their trunks? Known as the annual rings, they chart how much a tree has grown in a season and can be used to tell the approximate age of the tree.
There are 3 main things that can be learned from tree rings:
How old the tree is
Things that have an impact on tree growth such as fungal attacks and soil conditions
Significant weather events and the level of rainfall
Here are some other tree trunk facts that may surprise you:
Bark helps to protect trees from many things, including disease, drought, fungi and animals. When the bark gets damaged, disease and fungus can enter the tree and have a negative impact on its health.
The tree reacts by damaging the sap to flow out in an attempt to cover the damaged area.
Stripping trees of bark entirely will likely kill them.
An exception to this is the Cork tree, which can have half of its bark stripped and stay alive as they are able to regenerate.
The biggest redwood trees in the world have supple bark that can reach up to 30cm deep. This clever bark is fire resistant so as to protect the redwood forest from fires.
Saplings have smooth bark that cracks as the tree gets older. For assistance and advice with trees in your garden, talk with a Poole Tree Surgeon at a site like kieranboylandtreeservices.com
Here are some more interesting facts about the trunk of a tree:
The middle of a tree trunk is known as the heartwood.
This super strong wooden heartwood helps the tree to grow tall and support their own weight and the spreading of its branches.
The advantage for the branch spread is greater access to sunlight, blocking the sun for the plants underneath.
Every year a new ring grows in the trunk as the trunk gets wider.
The entire network is found in the trunk of the tree. Two tubes run up and down the trunk – One is called the phloem, and this brings a nutritious sap and the other is the xylem that transports water and minerals from the soil to the leaves.
Mature oak trees are able to drink 50 gallons of water in just one day! During hot summer days, this can be increased even more.
The tallest tree on earth and one with the longest trunk is called Hyperion. It is a redwood species found on the coast of the US and measures 115.5m high.
The largest tree trunk in the world, by volume, is the General Sherman, a giant redwood in California.
