The Hidden Life of Trees

[C T]

This just happened a couple of days back in Connemara, Ireland. About an hour's drive from where I live. So sad. Not only the beautiful trees, but countless young (and old) wildlife must have perished. 

 

http://www.southeastradio.ie/2017/05/firefighters-fighting-massive-forest-fire-in-connemara/

 

 

pics of Connemara: 

 

https://www.google.ie/search?q=connemara&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiC3KPunejTAhXhJcAKHVCgDpAQ_AUICigB&biw=1279&bih=606

[AussieTrees]

Replanting trees can be hit and miss about a third perish.

 

 

These a few we planted about two years ago.

 

 

This getting big manna gum is the sole survivor of twenty trees planted.

See the old cart in the mud.

Edited May 20, 2017 by AussieTrees

[AussieTrees]

At first it was the swans that kept pulling up the tree tubes soon after planting,then soon after replanting we had a lot of water similar to what happened last winter that killed off the other trees.

[gendao]

On 5/12/2017 at 5:11 AM, AussieTrees said:

Replanting trees can be hit and miss about a third perish.

This getting big manna gum is the sole survivor of twenty trees planted.

Well, that's why I feel it's so devastating when even just 1 healthy tree, much less a whole old growth forest, gets cut down.

 

Because look at how long and against what odds it took for even just 1 tree to grow out in the wild?

First its parent tree had to reach maturity to produce seeds.

Then, one of those seeds had to implant into soil fertile enough to grow.

It had to germinate and sprout.

Become a seedling.

And at these early stages, it is still very fragile and subject to various threats..

To even survive this far, is not easy!

Only if it does, does it slowly becomes a young sapling, sturdier, and more established.

And after that point, it still takes decades and centuries to keep growing larger and larger...

Nothing but rings and rings of TIME!

 

Many, many trees never make it this far.

 

So, when you cut down a desirable (noninvasive), healthy, mature tree - it's like gunning down someone who just won an ultramarathon.  But one that took decades or centuries!

 

That represents a huge loss in history and something that would take decades to replace, at the least.  And even then, it still wouldn't be the same...

Edited May 21, 2017 by gendao

[Pavel Karavaev]

On 01.05.2017 at 5:33 PM, cheya said:

Check out this fascinating and beautiful review of Peter Wohlleben's book!

Just the review is amazing! Can't wait to read the book!

 

_{The Secret Life of Trees: The Astonishing Science of What Trees Feel and How They Communicate}

https://www.brainpickings.org/2016/09/26/the-hidden-life-of-trees-peter-wohlleben/

 

I have not heard of this book before. Going to read it, thank you!

I read a similar named old book about plants. 

It called

The Secret Life of Plants: A Fascinating Account of the Physical, Emotional and Spiritual Relations Between Plants and Man by Peter Tompkins, Christopher Bird
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/99442.The_Secret_Life_of_Plants

 

It certainly has contentious information.
But overall I liked it. Especially the head of George Washington Carver and the head  "Plant Alchemists".

[Geof Nanto]

On 5/2/2017 at 0:33 AM, cheya said:

Check out this fascinating and beautiful review of Peter Wohlleben's book!

Just the review is amazing! Can't wait to read the book!

 

_{The Secret Life of Trees: The Astonishing Science of What Trees Feel and How They Communicate}

https://www.brainpickings.org/2016/09/26/the-hidden-life-of-trees-peter-wohlleben/

 

Thanks for the reference, Cheya. It’s an excellent review. I’ve only just now read the review and recently read this awesome book.

 

As far as I know, the author, Peter Wohlleben, knows nothing of classical Daoism, yet relevant insights are woven seamlessly throughout his narrative. He slowly came to these views simply by observing forests, especially the one he manages, over many, many years. And I don’t mean cool, detached observation; his learning arose through empathy and deep respect for the intelligence, wisdom and mystery of trees as complex, feeling beings. He was taught by nature, just like those ancient Daoists.  

 

Here’s an excerpt that wasn’t quoted in the review – but really, only reading the whole book can do it justice……

 

“So, let's get back to why the roots are the most important part of a tree. Conceivably, this is where the tree equivalent of a brain is located. Brain? you ask. Isn't that a bit farfetched? Possibly, but now we know that trees can learn. This means they must store experiences somewhere, and therefore, there must be some kind of a storage mechanism inside the organism. Just where it is, no one knows, but the roots are the part of the tree best suited to the task. The old spruce in Sweden [referred to in previous paragraphs, whose still living roots have been carbon 14 dated to an astonishing 9,550 years old] also shows that what grows underground is the most permanent part of the tree—and where else would it store important information over a long period of time? Moreover, current research shows that a tree's delicate root network is full of surprises.

 

It is now an accepted fact that the root network is in charge of all chemical activity in the tree. And there's nothing earth shattering about that. Many of our internal processes are also regulated by chemical messengers. Roots absorb substances and bring them into the tree. In the other direction, they deliver the products of photosynthesis to the tree's fungal partners and even route warning signals to neighboring trees. But a brain? For there to be something we would recognize as a brain, neurological processes must be involved, and for these, in addition to chemical messages, you need electrical impulses. And these are precisely what we can measure in the tree, and we've been able to do so since as far back as the nineteenth century. For some years now, a heated controversy has flared up among scientists. Can plants think? Are they intelligent?

 

In conjunction with his colleagues, Frantisek Baluska from the Institute of Cellular and Molecular Botany at the University of Bonn is of the opinion that brain-like structures can be found at root tips. In addition to signaling pathways, there are also numerous systems and molecules similar to those found in animals. When a root feels its way forward in the ground, it is aware of stimuli. The researchers measured electrical signals that led to changes in behavior after they were processed in a "transition zone." If the root encounters toxic substances, impenetrable stones, or saturated soil, it analyzes the situation and transmits the necessary adjustments to the growing tip. The root tip changes direction as a result of this communication and steers the growing root around the critical areas.

 

Right now, the majority of plant researchers are skeptical about whether such behavior points to a repository for intelligence, the faculty of memory, and emotions. Among other things, they get worked up about carrying over findings in similar situations with animals and, at the end of the day, about how this threatens to blur the boundary between plants and animals. And so what? What would be so awful about that? The distinction between plant and animal is, after all, arbitrary and depends on the way an organism feeds itself: the former photosynthesizes and the latter eats other living beings. Finally, the only other big difference is in the amount of time it takes to process information and translate it into action. Does that mean that beings that live life in the slow lane are automatically worth less than ones on the fast track? Sometimes I suspect we would pay more attention to trees and other vegetation if we could establish beyond a doubt just how similar they are in many ways to animals.”

 

(From Peter Wohlleben, The Hidden Life of Trees, pp82-4)

[Pavel Karavaev]

I remembered in the last post about George Washington Carver.
I often remind the story of him as an example of how a person with an open heart can achieve a deep understanding of nature and interact with the outside world. 

 

From book Secret LIve Of Trees by Peter Tompkins and Christopher Bird:

"From the time he was able to get about by himself in the countryside young Carver began to display an uncanny knowledge of all growing things. Local farmers in Diamond Grove, a tiny community in the foothills of the Ozarks in southwestern Missouri, remembered the weaklooking boy roving for hours through their holdings, examining plants and bringing back certain varieties with which he could miraculously heal sick animals. On his own, the child planted a private garden in a remote and unused bit of bottomland. With the remnants of coldframes and other stray material he built a secret greenhouse in the woods. Asked what he was forever doing all by himself so far from the farmyard, Carver replied firmly if enigmatically, "I go to my garden hospital and take care of hundreds of sick plants." Farmers' wives from all over the countryside began bringing him their ailing house plants, begging him to make them bloom. Gently caring for them in his own way, Carver often sang to them in the same squeaky voice which characterized him in manhood, put them in tin cans with special soil of his own concoction, tenderly covered them at night, and took them out to "play in the sun" during the day. When he returned the plants to their owners, and repeatedly was asked how he could work his miracles, Carver only said softly: "All flowers talk to me and so do hundreds of little living things in the woods. I learn what I know by watching and loving everything."

 

And one else: 

"Carver's students were greatly impressed that each morning he would rise at four 0' clock to walk in the woods before the start of the working day and bring back countless plants with which to illustrate his lectures. Explaining this habit to friends, Carver said, "Nature is the greatest teacher and I learn from her best when others are asleep. In the still dark hours before sunrise God tells me of the plans I am to fulfill."

 

 

Edited December 27, 2017 by Pavel Karavaev

[Geof Nanto]

Carver’s method (above), and Peter Wohlleben’s both show great sensitivity to the natural world, yet they also demonstrate fundamentally different approaches. I called Wolleben’s Daoist because an underlying theme of his is that, left to its own devices, the forest takes care of its self ‘self-so’ (ziran).  His attitude to managing the forest is characterised by minimal intervention, by non-doing (wu wei), because he realised that nature is far greater and wiser than us humans.

 

By way of contrast, from the above excerpt, I’d call Carver’s approach truly Christian.  His is an interventionist approach that puts us humans in a central role as carers and healers. His attitude is centred on compassion. 

 

(I present these two attitudes side by side merely by way of comparison. I’m not claiming one is better than the other – indeed, in my own life as a manager of a small private wilderness sanctuary, I practice both. But my natural inclination is towards the Daoist approach.) 
 

[Pavel Karavaev]

8 hours ago, Yueya said:

(I present these two attitudes side by side merely by way of comparison. I’m not claiming one is better than the other – indeed, in my own life as a manager of a small private wilderness sanctuary, I practice both. But my natural inclination is towards the Daoist approach.) 

 

Dear Yueya, thank You for your answer.
Yes, I agree with everything you said about Carver. And about Wolleben, I still know about him only from this topic. For me it is a good introduction, and I looking forward to read the book.

 

Thank You once again.

 

Sinserely, Pavel.

Edited December 28, 2017 by Pavel Karavaev

[redcairo]

I have a signature quote on another forum for 15 years now that says,

"If you love anything enough, it will talk with you." - George Washington Carver

 

The Secret Life of Plants really affected me a lot when I was younger.

 

Cleve Backster's experiments with polygraph and plants I find fascinating also.

 

Some little books like Behaving as if the God in All Life Matters and The Perelandra Garden Workbook I rather enjoyed about 20 years ago when I first moved to this house.

 

Had an interesting experience with the 'nature spirits' when rearranging a room that I still find difficult to believe. I've had a couple experiences where I was forced to experience and realize that 'space' is as subjective as 'time' which is... mind boggling.

 

I once fell in love with a tree. I'd had a kundalini experience not long before and from heart to crown was rather overstimulated at the time which is probably why. I used to look around furtively and hug her and tell her how beautiful she was. I mourned having to move away from her!

 

On that awesome Ayu... um, drug post that Taomeow posted (sorry it's on another page so I can't look up the spelling for either of those words) -- that was a really awesome description.

 

It's kind of funny, because I had a dream that was so odd once but that kind of tied into the total life in the earth (not just plants) and your detail really reminded me of it. Also, I wrote a beginner novel (never published, many many years ago, but I might stick it on amazon kindle for the heck of it this year) -- paranormal, it's silly in parts -- but that has a... being/creature and an experience that is very like that, which I thought at the time I might have gotten from the dream.

 

But hearing you describe that I suspect that is just the way it is. Lovely, thanks for sharing that.

 

RC

 

Edited January 22, 2019 by redcairo

[silent thunder]

This is akin to how it feels when my awareness is co=opted utterly by the presence of some magnificent trees.

I gasp audibly, sometimes stunning and alerting folks I'm walking with not accustomed to me. 

 

It's not a passive thing... it's visceral.  active.  and soooo deeply appreciated.

 

[rocala]

On 5/5/2017 at 5:37 PM, Taomeow said:

I saved my first tree when I just turned four.

What a beautiful and inspiring story. Thank you for posting this.

[gendao]

[zerostao]

If a Tree falls in the Forest---Other Trees are listening

[Nungali]

A huge one did yesterday , near by. A friend was here and first we heard this huge groaning creaking splitting noise, we looked at each other ...... then  the sound of branches smashing, other trees being squashed,  ripped,  etc . We both winced waiting  for the huge WHUMP as it it hit the ground but ...... nothing  .....    gave each other a curious look .....   nothing .

 

That means somewhere out there is a huge tree half suspended by the canopy that could come down any other time .

 

I am reminded of two other occasions ,   one across the road nearby last week , it had split vertically nearly 3/4  of the way down with half a tree lying across the road and the other half still standing . Another time , fine day, no wind at all , I hear a huge crash , go out and look down the little hill from my yard to the road and there is a huge  crown of a tree on the road .  About 20 metres into the forest is a tall trunk broken off at the top  -  whaaaa  ? ? ?

 

I posted about this some time back ; another time I hear a huge devastation, again, no wind , forest being smashed , tees coming down - EXACTLY the same as the noise a dozer makes when it is clearing forest , but without the dozer or any other mechanical noise  ? ? ?  I went for a walk, could not find any sign of that noise , no dinosaur tracks , nothing !

 

One more :  This time it HAD been windy , VERY windy , dangerously windy .  After wards I went up on top of the escarpment  to the Never Never    ( a small cleared patch at the end of a  dirt road, with a picnic / emergency shelter ,  a set off point for adventurous bush walkers that want to go 'over the edge' )

 

 

The small parkland around it has some HUGE old  Hoop Pines around it .

 

                  

 

So I am walking across this small 'park' and there is a HUGE crater in the  middle of the grass , then another one  ????  I went to go beyond the shed to get a view over the edge of the escarpment  and there is  line of trees , similar size that are snapped off 3 or 4 metres above the ground  !  WTF is going on ?   I walk to the other end of the clearing , around some bushes and there  on the other side of the park is a whole huge hoop pine , on its side ,  tap root and root ball still attached- 'plucked' out of the ground   . Then I find another one , the tops of the broken trees scattered about , some 50 metres into the forest .    It gets 'windy' up there  !

 

Part of the local forest looking down from the escarpment  ;

 

 

Inside the forest ;

 

                      

 

 

 

 

Edited January 30, 2022 by Nungali

[zerostao]

 

[Nungali]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Illawarra Flame Tree - Brachychiton acerifolius - native to

tropical / subtropical regions on the east coast of Australia.

 

[Geof Nanto]

The large tree in the foreground is one of my favourite tree species here. Locally, we call them Applebox trees but the botanical name is Angophora subvelutina.  

 

 

The photo is taken from near my house looking down my driveway. (The roof you can see on the left is my studio, located about 200 metres from my house.) Looking at this photo, you wouldn’t know that a little over two years ago there was not a green leaf in sight after the devastating forest fires of Nov 2019. All the landscape for tens of kilometres in all directions was charred black. On my whole property which covers 75 acres I lost many, many trees including several which I dearly valued near my house and studio. For instance, before the fire there were another three large Applebox trees that grew near the one in the photo. 

 

 

I love the way Applebox trees grow such twisty branches. They also produce prolific amounts of flowers in late spring / early summer. The bees go crazy harvesting their aromatic pollen. They get to grow old and large even in areas that are selectively logged because their twisty branches and crazily grained wood make them unsuitable for milling. They are the epitome of Zhuangzi's useless tree.   

 

Although I lament the destruction of flora and fauna caused by the fire, the landscape is recovering well with a lush understory of new growth. Sadly, the forest canopy is still sparse, as is what was once abundant native wildlife. But plenty of birds; birdsong all day.  

 

 

Edited February 9, 2022 by Yueya

[zerostao]

[-ꦥꦏ꧀ ꦱꦠꦿꦶꦪꦺꦴ-]

In Bali (and other parts of Indonesia) they believe the banyan tree is home to spirits: 

 

"Banyan Trees and the Cult of Ancestors

Cultural Observer June 8, 2019 by Jean Couteau

 

Indonesia is home to one of the most fantastic trees in the world, the banyan tree, locally known as waringin, a kind of ficus. Apart from its size and surface, the most extraordinary aspect of the banyan is its resilience. When its vines touch the ground, they grow into new roots and trunks, spreading out in a tormented encounter of trunks and leaves. The banyan has become a favourite symbol of Indonesian political lore. On account of its multitudinous roots growing into a single trunk, it symbolises the unity of the Indonesian nation. As a shady and cool shelter, it also symbolises the protection of the state.

 

 

In Bali, keen-eyed visitors will no doubt notice the cloth wrapped around its lower trunk as well, sometimes, as the altars scattered among its branches. What does it mean? Why do banyans warrant such attention?

 

Banyans can indeed grow naturally, but most of them are planted for religious purposes in the vicinity of the main village temples, in particular near the temple of the dead, thus in the lowest part of any village. These banyans are the custodians of powerful gods “installed” there after the planting of the tree, through a pangurip-urip (bringing to life) ceremony.

 

In some villages, I was told, the tree has a female “dweller”. But in other places it is said to host no other than the fanged monster Jero Gede Mecaling and his mate, Jero Nyoman. The checkered black and white cloth around the trunk account for the famous deity, while the white and yellow for his mate. Jero Gede Mecaling is the principal cause of grubug, or diseases that used to sweep through Bali at the end of the dry season . But Jero Nyoman, the monster’s mate, is no less dangerous. She is said to hold sway over the gamangs, human-like monsters that make their dwelling in remote trees and bushes. Since they look human, in spite of a harelip and deformed feet, these gamangs like to goad humans into their realm beyond the trees. Stories abound of seduced men and especially women who have children by these lovers from the trees. It is used to explain the weird behaviour of some children.

 

There are ways indeed to avoid both the trouble and the scare: that is to propitiate or placate the banyan dwellers. Here lies the function of the altars and small temple found near the trees. The higher shrine is addressed to the gods, while the lower one for the gamangs, although there might be additional shrines for visiting gods and for some unknown deity who asked for attention in a recent temple trance. Lest a mishap happens, the local people are indeed wary not to forget any of the tree residents, known and unknown, including of course the demonic bhuta at the ground level.

 

Illustration by Wayan Sadha

 

The rites above can be construed as corresponding to the animistic side of Balinese culture. There is also a more noble, and more “Hindu” interpretation. The banyan is construed symbolising the junction between the chthonian (earthly) world, the bhurloka world of Hindu lore, where reside the bhuta, and the upper world where reside the heavenly forces, the swahloka, passing through the world of humans, the bhwahloka. 

 

Therefore it binds and at once separates the tangible sekala world and the intangible niskala world. Going back to the pre-Hindu indigenous tradition, this junction role might well account for the role played by the banyan in the post-cremation ceremony called “ngangget don bingin” (the collection of the banyan leaves).

 

It takes place as part of the nyekah post-cremation ceremony, a few weeks after the corpse has been burned and its ashes dispersed into the sea. The purpose of the nyekah ceremony is to send the soul ‘back home’, to the ‘Old Country’ of the origin, above the mountains. For this ceremony, effigies are needed, which are made from banyan leaves. Using  a long pole, the leaves are made to fall on a spread-out white sheet. If a leaf fall on its ‘back’, it must be used for a woman’s effigy; if it falls on its ‘belly’, it is for a man’s effigy. The leaves are then sewed together into a sekah effigy, male or female according to the need. This effigy will then be symbolically ‘brought to life’, thus reawakening the soul of the dead, meaning that the cremation has not fully eradicated all signs of life. In the following nyekah ceremony, the effigy will be burned in a simile cremation, complete with a mini cremation tower, and its ashes dispersed into the sea.  At the end of the rites, the soul will have become a deified ancestor (dewahyang) residing above the mountain, and also ritually seated in the ancestral family shrine, where its descendants will address it through their daily prayers. 

 

Yet, the leaves of the banyan do have another function. They are also used to make an offering presented to the Goddess of knowledge Saraswati on the last day of 210 day Pawukon calendar. The resilience of the rites held around the banyan tree clearly show that Balinese are much more than simply Hindu. The envelope may be Hindu, but to this day the content remains indigenous, with dominance of the cult of ancestors and of the forces of nature."

 

From: https://www.nowbali.co.id/banyan-trees-and-the-cult-of-ancestors/

[Nungali]

14 hours ago, Yueya said:

The large tree in the foreground is one of my favourite tree species here. Locally, we call them Applebox trees but the botanical name is Angophora subvelutina.  

 

 

The photo is taken from near my house looking down my driveway. (The roof you can see on the left is my studio, located about 200 metres from my house.) Looking at this photo, you wouldn’t know that a little over two years ago there was not a green leaf in sight after the devastating forest fires of Nov 2019. All the landscape for tens of kilometres in all directions was charred black. On my whole property which covers 75 acres I lost many, many trees including several which I dearly valued near my house and studio. For instance, before the fire there were another three large Applebox trees that grew near the one in the photo. 

 

 

I love the way Applebox trees grow such twisty branches. They also produce prolific amounts of flowers in late spring / early summer. The bees go crazy harvesting their aromatic pollen. They get to grow old and large even in areas that are selectively logged because their twisty branches and crazily grained wood make them unsuitable for milling. They are the epitome of Zhuangzi's useless tree.   

 

Although I lament the destruction of flora and fauna caused by the fire, the landscape is recovering well with a lush understory of new growth. Sadly, the forest canopy is still sparse, as is what was once abundant native wildlife. But plenty of birds; birdsong all day.  

 

 

 

It has that 'extra leafy trunk /branch look of fire regrowth .    That view looks familiar 

 

Lovely tree , although I am not familiar with them by name .   The twisted branches and form remind me of some fav trees that grow in my 'indigenous area '  - 'Hawksbury Basin ' , sandstone regolith .

 

- I always feel very 'at home' when I go back to that  environemt .  Huge trees seem to be able to grow out of the rocks and the little cracks between them. ( One day I am going to  rent / get a house boat and just float endlessly up and down the Hawsbury River ) 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Nungali]

6 hours ago, zerostao said:

 

Do you know what type of tree it is ?     I have a similar one in my yard but no where as big of course.  As far as I know ( as its been wrongly identified before ) it is a ' Queensland bottle tree ' which I think is more of a description than a name .   have only ever seen one  other around here - in town in the church yard .

 

Its semi- deciduous ; drops all its leaves at once and then reshoots straight away - which it is doing right now in a spray of  reddish leaves  which will soon turn green .

 

- looking them up , they really have a great variety of size and shape ; this one is fairly close to mine ;

 

 

But elsewhere ;

 

 

 

 

https://australiantrees.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/DSCF0996.jpg

 

 

( damn computer just decided to NOT paste pics    )

 

 

[-ꦥꦏ꧀ ꦱꦠꦿꦶꦪꦺꦴ-]

24 minutes ago, Nungali said:

 

Do you know what type of tree it is ?     I have a similar one in my yard but no where as big of course.  As far as I know ( as its been wrongly identified before ) it is a ' Queensland bottle tree ' which I think is more of a description than a name .   have only ever seen one  other around here - in town in the church yard .

 

Its semi- deciduous ; drops all its leaves at once and then reshoots straight away - which it is doing right now in a spray of  reddish leaves  which will soon turn green .

 

- looking them up , they really have a great variety of size and shape ; this one is fairly close to mine ;

 

 

But elsewhere ;

 

 

 

 

 

https://australiantrees.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/DSCF0996.jpg

 

 

( damn computer just decided to NOT paste pics    )

 

 

I did a reverse image search on it and it seems to be a baobab tree from Madagascar

 

source: 

 

[Lairg]

Locally some of the larger trees spend most of their time looking at/for starlight.

[zerostao]

a boabab tree ?!

well that makes sense.

i thought it was a carrot