Subject: Re: Bendable trees

From: [email-masked]
Date: 3 Mar 95 14:31:07 -0600

In article <[email-masked]>, [email-masked] ( Melissa ) writes:
> 	We had an ice storm here in Mass. a few days ago, and as you can
> imagine the trees look like intricate ice sculptures.  I've been noticing 
> that if some unfortunate tree has been bent like a horseshoe down to the 
> ground, invariably it's a white birch.  The other trees are sagging a bit
> or have lost branches, but the birches are always bent down in what looks
> like impossible positions.  I'm curious if there's a reason for this (like
> the fact that certain trees are much more likely to go down during a 
> hurricane.)  Is the birch structurally different than other trees so that
> these contortions are possible, or are all these beautiful trees going to
> die come Spring?

Birches and many other trees have wood that is very limber, and adapted 
to handling this type of stress.  Limber pine, Pinus flexilis, has
branches you can literally tie in knots.  If it warms up soon, the
birches should straighten with no real problems... if they stay
bent for a very long time, the tree may be slightly deformed.

Kay Klier   [email-masked]

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From: [email-masked] ( Melissa )
Date: 3 Mar 1995 15:55:13 GMT

die come Spring? :(
			Melissa

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From: [email-masked] (Steven M. Begley)
Date: Sat, 4 Mar 1995 16:33:15 GMT

In article <[email-masked]> [email-masked] writes:
>From: [email-masked]
>Subject: Re: Bendable trees
>Date: 3 Mar 95 14:31:07 -0600

>Kay Klier   [email-masked]

I've been watching a birch on my street that was bent a few years ago. It's 
doing fine, although it was left in it's bent possition and is now very 
contorted. I noticed some people use stakes and/or cables to staighten them up 
again and they seem to grow back into shape.
	Steven