Wednesday, 15 January 2014

Tree quandary...

Following on yesterday's woody theme, we noticed this tree (not sure what species) in the Bois du Temple adjacent to our Salle de Fete.

Whilst there are several of the same species in the wood only a couple of them appear to have this spikey growth on them.

Is this part of the tree or is it a parasite? We would like to know so any thoughts would be appreciated.

2 comments:

Tim said...

It is a Robinia pseudoacacia...
and is the tree that has the lovely tassles of white flowers in the Spring...
commonly called Acacia, it is in fact Black Locust or False Acacia...
and those spikes are a protection against grazing animals...
or us hoomanz foolish enough to try and grab them...
if you look carefully...
the bleedin' [and I use that word advisedly] trunk has shorter, spikier ones...
not so bleedin' obvious!!
And the damn thing spreads by underground shoots!!

That said, the timber outlasts oak or chestnut in the ground...
this is the source of the "acacia" poteaux you can buy from the garden centers!!

Colin and Elizabeth said...

Thanks Tim.. we did not realise they grew that large...