Gold at end of rainbow...

[timf67]

So it was a rainy/misty day in charlotte and I look up and see a rainbow. I followed it to the end and this is what I found:

Not sure what kind of tree it is, but unfortunately it is still healthy...:wink_smil

Okay, so I made up the rainbow part, but I want to be there the day this tree checks out! :gar-Bi

 

[Trent Mason]

WHOA!

"cough cough sneeze"

It looks a little sick to me. :rotflm:

 

[Matt Schnurbusch]

That is an awesome tree. What causes that to happen?

 

[Trent Mason]

I think DaveO told me once that a burl is basically the equivelant of cancer for a tree. :eusa_thin

 

[PChristy]

I think DaveO told me once that a burl is basically the equivelant of cancer for a tree. :eusa_thin

+1 - I believe it comes from where the tree has either been damaged through the years and it forms the burl to heal itself or it has some kind of disease (cancer so to speak) and it forma them to protect itself - put then again I could be wrong - DAVEO???

 

[CarvedTones]

Do a little googling and you will find that burls are so cancer like that there has even been suggestion that studying them may help in cancer research. There appears to be no definitive answer though (as far as what causes natural burls).

 

[Elmojo]

Yep, that's one sick tree, I say it must come down immediately if not sooner!
As for the species, I'm going to guess mulberry, based on the shape and bark, but without seeing leaves it's a total shot in the dark.
Congrats on the great find.
Let me know if you want help "disposing" of all that diseased wood! :gar-Bi

 

[timf67]

Yep, that's one sick tree, I say it must come down immediately if not sooner!
As for the species, I'm going to guess mulberry, based on the shape and bark, but without seeing leaves it's a total shot in the dark.
Congrats on the great find.
Let me know if you want help "disposing" of all that diseased wood! :gar-Bi

I am pretty sure you are correct with your Mulberry guess. When I asked if the tree was still healthy, the owner replied that it was still producing fruit. And I did see one yellow heart shaped leaf that looked like a mulberry leaf. The owner is not a woodworker, but has had several folks offer to take it down for him! :roll: I told him that someone should PAY him to take it down when the time comes...

 

[DaveO]

+1 on the Mulberry, that was my first impression. A nasty invasive tree whose fruit only really serves to color bird poop up well. The Asian species is the main food source for silk worms

Burls are like cancer in humans as they are a point of rapid cell growth and division. But unlike cancer in humans they are not harmful, more like an abnormality in growth. There are a lot of speculation to their causes, be it damage, injury or cultural stresses.


Dave

 

[flyrod444]

Pretty nice looking tree. My wife and I love eating mulberry's off the tree in our front yard. Every one should try them, I like them as much as blackberry's.
Jack

 

[Trent Mason]

Ever since I talked to Dave about it, I've been on the hunt for burls. I've seen several that looked like burl, that were a growth that surrounded a place where a limb had been cut off long ago. I didn't think those were burls though. Are they? The only one that I knew was a burl was at Lake Johnson in Raleigh. It was on a tree along that long bridge on the West side of the park. Tim, maybe you should ask the owner if you could saw off one of them..... :eusa_thin

 

[jerrye]

Sneak in and girdle it! :gar-Bi:wink_smil:eusa_naug:crossedlips::eusa_shhh