14 May 2022 - HEADSTONE-EATING TREES - USA

 

HEADSTONE-EATING 

TREES

G'day folks,

The rogue roots are gradually consuming some of the historic marble grave markers in this famous cemetery.  

Arlington National Cemetery is hallowed ground for the U.S. Armed Forces, with around 400,000 burials since 1864 representing every American war. The sprawling rows of white marble headstones and grassy lawns are shaded by more than 8,600 majestic trees. As a work of landscape architecture, the effect is inspiring.

But a few rogue trees are currently in the process of consuming some of the headstones. You can see it here and there in the older parts of the cemetery, where the marble markers are thickly embedded in the arboreal roots and stick out of the timber like stubby molars. Find A Grave puts the count at 11 afflicted markers, with most of the entombed having served in the Civil War, World War I, or World War II.

 The headstone absorption is actually progressing much more rapidly than it would initially appear. The case of Corporal Chas Ippel is a prime example. Find a Grave has photos dated from 2008 that show the stone as relatively unmolested, with the inscribed text still clearly readable. However, as of September 2017, a nearby willow oak’s roots have expanded by inches and begun to absorb the grave. Now all that’s readable is “S IPPEL.” Anecdotal calculations suggest that the tree will eat another character from the inscription every year.

When the tree eventually dies, it will be interesting to see how authorities handle the embedded stone. Perhaps some future chainsaw-wielding arborist will be asked to wade into the solid timber in search of the lost marker.

Clancy's comment: Mm ... I spent hours walking around this hallowed ground when I worked in Washington DC. 

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16 December 2021 - THE FAMOUS BOWTHORPE OAK TREE

 

THE FAMOUS 

BOWTHORPE OAK TREE

G'day folks,

England’s ancient oak tree has such an impressive girth, people have been hosting parties within the hollow trunk for centuries.  

In a field in south Lincolnshire stands one of Britain’s greatest trees: the Bowthorpe Oak, an ancient survivor that may well have witnessed more than 1,000 years of English history.

The Bowthorpe Oak stands in a paddock at Bowthorpe Farm near Manthorpe village. The first references to the tree date back to the 1760s and describe the tree’s hollow trunk being smoothed out by the then Squire of Bowthorpe, who created a room inside the oak in which he could entertain as many as 20 guests at a sit-down dinner.

The oak, however, was around long before the gregarious Squire of Bowthorpe decided to use it as a dining room. Experts aren’t entirely sure of the tree’s true age, but the current consensus is that it’s at least 800 years old and perhaps dates back more than a millennium.

The estimated age of possibly 1,000 years or more makes the Bowthorpe Oak likely the oldest oak tree in England and one of the oldest in Europe. Also, as many humans in their later years can attest, with advancing age comes expanding girth. The Bowthorpe Oak has slowly expanded to achieve a most impressive girth of 43.6 feet (13.3 meters), larger than any other pedunculate oak (Quercus robur) in the United Kingdom.

 Today, the hollow tree serves a variety of purposes. Livestock sometimes take shelter in its ancient interior, and humans are known to throw the occasional party within the walls of the gnarled old trunk. Of course, nature lovers, tree aficionados, and other dendrophiles also come to Bowthorpe Farm just to visit the oak, to marvel at its mighty girth and imagine all that it has seen.

Clancy's comment: Imagine what that tree has seen in the past 1,000 years.

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