Tuesday 3 June 2014

What causes this?

On one of our local walks we spotted this situated quite high up...

First thoughts was "Is it an Asian Hornet nest?" Unfortunately my zoomed in photo was a tad blurred.

However on our return visit, doing the walk again with friends Gaynor and Tim, I took a better zoomed shot...

This looks very much like a tree growth...

The $64,000 question is... Is it? And, if so, what causes it?


1 comment:

Tim said...

It certainly looks like a tree growth...
it looks similar to ones that can be found on beech trees....
and to a much lesser extent hornbeam.
But this looks like acacia...
not a tree I know much about...
other than if you have one...
you have a problem.

On the beech it is caused by very minor damage, usually by insects, that results in the xylem [wood*] and cambium [bark*] growing both ways...
on a beech it results in a growth that can be broken away from the tree...
and then stripped of the bark...
leaving a wonderful hunk of decorative wood.
Turners seem to love them as much as knotty boles...
I have a very small one from a beech tree attached to the keyring of the '56 2CV...
ask me next time you are over here.
I have had that little ball of wood since 1969!!!
Susan will probably know the insect/insects...
over to you, Susan...

* to be over simple about it!