Euc grafting or what?

Sean Freeman

Here's some pics of a Eucalyptus tereticornus down near the river at Nerang Gold Coast..tell me what you think whether you're from Oz or overseas it relates to a number of debates going on here in Oz here and in other forums.

Some questions to get you started...
Whats the cause?? (Any ideas welcome)
Do we think the grafted structure is stronger or weaker and in what ways?
Have any of you seen similar in other trees (not just Eucs) and please post any pics if you have them.

I'll put a couple up here and let you click on the rest.




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Sean

Trees are poems that earth writes upon the sky,
We fell them down and turn them into paper,
That we may record our emptiness.
- Kahlil Gibran

Treelore

Site history Sean?? any other trees growing beside at another point in time now gone??

Sean Freeman

The site is a small public park squeezed between the Nerang river and the M1, the tree was undoubtedly there before the development of the highway.



To get a better idea of the extent of the development here I have put up a wider shot red dot is the subject tree, the red circle represents an area of relatively untouched riparian buffer that I will visit to get comparative shots of similarly aged trees...I have walked around this area quite a bit there are no other Eucs that have anything like this type of growth in the area to my knowledge.



So sure there would have been far greater numbers of similar sized trees around this one in the buffer before it was developed, and yes the odd growths could be dated tot he period of initial development perhaps....but the very significant grafting in scaffold limbs?

Attached Images

	Nerang skate park.jpg (69.3 KB, 74 views)
	Nerang skate park2.jpg (99.6 KB, 73 views)

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Sean

Trees are poems that earth writes upon the sky,
We fell them down and turn them into paper,
That we may record our emptiness.
- Kahlil Gibran

azrael

Sean ...to clarify ... are you interested in the limb grafting as per pic 4872

OR the burl-like structures as in the other photos

OR BOTH phenomena.

I have seen limb grafting in E.tereticornis too ... see pics below

Sean Freeman

I'm interested nay fascinated in both, how many E. tereticornus have you seen grafting like this? For me the numbers are very very low 2% maybe.

The Nerang river tree seems to be exhibiting a degree of grafting and meristematic cell production beyond anything I've seen on any other tree....or at least without an explaination that I could be comfortable with. Is it just genetics, as Shigo wrote so clearly and emphatically in NTB when comparing resistant individual trees in forest situations. Or is it the result of and external factor....virus bacterium or something else? Until I can dissect one of the protrubences and assess if its origin is in the centre (or there abouts) or more peripherally I'll just be guessing.....what I was hoping clearly forelornly, was that others may have encountered similar oddities and had some musings of their own to share.

My pics don't really do justice to the amount of serious limb grafting going on in this tree, and none of the other trees same species along theis stretch of the river have any grafting at all...let alone the strange scrotum like growths below the limbs!!!!

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Sean

Trees are poems that earth writes upon the sky,
We fell them down and turn them into paper,
That we may record our emptiness.
- Kahlil Gibran

Treelore

That's kind of what I was getting at with the question of other trees nearby perhaps removed. I meant have there been trees growing right beside that have been removed because the growths look like a partial graft from a neighbouring tree that had grown amongst it's canopy. Could be totally wrong but the pictures suggest some sort of contact with other branches?? I have seen quite a bit of this sort of grafting out towards Eight Mile plains towards beaudesert. Almost defies logic the way masses of timber almost seem to leap across gaps where there was no apparant stem rubbing.

Ekka

One other thing Sean, that's also mistletoe haven in that region, maybe has something to play with it.

Maybe something to do with bats or birds, but seldom will you see growth underneath limbs.

Just today I saw a large tereticornis where a limb maybe 10" dia was growing bent down and under, it broke off and looked a little similar to the elephants feet below some of those limbs.

Interesting, keep hunting, the answer is there somewhere.

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Sean Freeman

Eric mistletoe was my first guess and yes there is mistletoe in the tree, it is perhaps possible that this tree has been so compromised internally that it is producing these growths...again I've never seen such things as a result of mistletoe....burls yes but not like these. the dissection will hopefully clear that up one way or another.

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Sean

Trees are poems that earth writes upon the sky,
We fell them down and turn them into paper,
That we may record our emptiness.
- Kahlil Gibran

Ekka

I agree, but look at that pic of how the branch grew underneath, that is extremely odd! I dont think something grew upwards and then formed that nice even collar etc ... nope, that branch grew down, then maybe due to the inverted whacko growth burled or callused etc.

We talk about apical dominance, but what is the opposite and could be possible an extreme hormone imbalance done something.

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Sean Freeman

Yes definately hormones are envolved too...what keeps nagging at me is the placement of these growths what is stimulatng their origin, why here and not 20mm further along? Can't find an explaination that satisfies yet!

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Sean

Trees are poems that earth writes upon the sky,
We fell them down and turn them into paper,
That we may record our emptiness.
- Kahlil Gibran

azrael

Sean ... In answer to how many .... very few (<1%)...
The one pictured in my post (#4) was the most dramatic I've seen (inspected) with regard to the size of the bridge.

This tree (Forest Red Gum) is now gone ... A TMO consented removal ... & not of my doing.

It was located in a suburban backyard: a remant tree of the former Turpentine/Blackbutt forest in this area (but much less represented in this precinct). I missed one photo in my earlier post....



As to the etiology of the phenomenon in your pics... I have no answers ...

Sean Freeman

Its a good pic Azreal, look I know this is all probably a bit esoteric to many but it fascinates me. just when I really think I'm beginning to get a broad undertanding of tree biology esp Euc biology I get this curve ball!

I will try to get some better closer pics of the grafts and scrotums and hopfully visit other riparian buffer sections along the Nerang river to see if I can find any others (though I don't expect to)

(BTW Azreal hopeful to be working around Southwest Rocks next week...ever done any work there??)

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Sean

Trees are poems that earth writes upon the sky,
We fell them down and turn them into paper,
That we may record our emptiness.
- Kahlil Gibran

Bernard Keays

Sean.... This is really interesting stuff. I haven't seen anything quiet as weird as this but there are plenty of examples of burls & branch grafts in Euc's down my way. I think Ekka has something with the mistletoe. I haven’t got any other plausible suggestion to make but could it be epicormic growth following a stressful event (storm, fire)? Epicormic shoot gets damaged in another event (invasion by pathogen, insect attack, frost or suncald) leading to a meristematic mass (canker or burl)?

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Bernie

Ekka

That's a thought, fire beneath, flames. Hmmm.

It is a good puzzle for sure.

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Sean Freeman

Bernard that would indeed be a very plausable explaination except that these things are still being produced on very small diameter branches higher up in the canopy, I have to think that whatever is triggering their porduction is partly responsible for the ease and degree of branch grafting going on as well, the grafts look like one branch just melted into the other, very much like you'd expect to see in figs, but not Eucs...well not in my experience.

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Sean

Trees are poems that earth writes upon the sky,
We fell them down and turn them into paper,
That we may record our emptiness.
- Kahlil Gibran

Bernard Keays

Thanks Sean... I'm not suggesting I know what it is but rather offering a suggestion. I'm going to check this tree out at Easter. My better half wants to go to the 'Centenary of Witches Falls' celebration on the Friday 28th of March at Tamborine Mountain. So there might be an opportunity to duck out and have a look at the tree.

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Bernie

azrael

Sean
This article discusses the different grain in burls (called 'wood figures') and it gives some clues about tissue hypertropy and related causes.

Figure in Wood.

Probably need to examine both a cross-sectional piece and long-sectional piece as a start though.

Az