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Canon DSLR Challenge | all galleries >> Challenge 29: Imagine (Hosted by Olaf.dk) >> Eligible > ... a place where trees grow upside down
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11/25/04 Ann Chaikin

... a place where trees grow upside down

Anacortes, WA

This tree really is growing upside down. Its roots are in the air and its branches are under ground. They come up from around the tree in a circle after having traveled some distance from the trunk. You can see some of the branches behind the curling roots. The mossy area is on a flat part of the branch and then it heads up towards the sky. I've never seen anything like it. My nephew showed me this tree. Nobody knows how it got this way.


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Canon DSLR Challenge30-Nov-2004 23:38
Olaf,

I like Ann's version better. I find myself wishing it weren't cropped so much at the right.

Ann, I also have an idea about what's going on here. The main trunk of the tree goes up until it reaches a place where there is a burl. The weird roots or branches or whatever they are, are coming out of the burl from the looks of it. I think burls are viral infections. They usually just make the fibers of the wood swirl around in random directions. It makes for some very interesting wood patterns. In this case, what we see here is branching coming out of it.

Regarding the branches, what you describe is similar to a tree here in Austin. I've taken some pictures of it, but I don't think they're good enough to post. Essentially what happened was that a fairly large tree was growing along the bank of the Colorado River. The tree fell over, and new trunks grew up periodically from the old trunk.

That gives me another idea. Maybe originally there was a single tree that blew over to the left and away from the camera. A new trunk grew up partway up the trunk from the original ground level. This tree also eventually blew over in the same direction. This now resulted in the original part of the tree being turned up-side down. Meanwhile, the tree continues to sprout and grow out of the fallen trunk.

I'd really like to see this tree in person. I am always fascinated by oddities like this, particularly in plants. -- Victor
Canon DSLR Challenge28-Nov-2004 22:15
Ann, I was thinking that this could be a more interesting image had the lighting been more special. To test my theory I played with the image a bit in Photoshop - aiming for more drama. You can see the result here. --Olaf
Canon DSLR Challenge27-Nov-2004 21:46
Imagine that! Maybe it got its genes crossed with a ostrich somehow? --Olaf
Guest 27-Nov-2004 15:17
Now that's curious.