Mar 7, 2025 · A tree's age can be easily determined by counting its growth rings, as any Boy or Girl Scout knows. Annually, the tree adds new layers of wood which thicken during the growing season and thin during the winter. These annual growth rings are easily discernible (and countable) in cross-sections of the tree's trunk.

Mar 7, 2025 · One tree, of course, proves nothing. "But why should the tree spiral? More speculation here: Foliage tends to be thicker on the south side of the tree because of better sunlight. Prevailing winds, in most of the tree-growing northern hemisphere, are from the west.

Feb 6, 2008 · The gradual change in tree line is one of many that people have noticed on the Kenai Peninsula in recent years. The most obvious is the 1980s-to-1990s Spruce bark beetle invasion, during which the insects killed 30 million mature spruce trees on the Kenai and a wide swath of southern Alaska.

Aug 8, 2019 · But geography defines species. The team found trees like the Flame of the Forest, Indian laburnum, Pongam, the Indian coral tree widely spread in dry regions of the state, along with the Gulmohar which has adapted to different climates. Whereas, in the wetter regions they documented trees like Champaca, varieties of Bauhinias and Bakula pushpa.

Apr 1, 1993 · Back on the ground, I did a little research on why so few tree types grow naturally in the neighborhood. Winter's extreme cold easily eliminates some tree species hardy elsewhere. Oak, ash, and elm endure occasional severely cold temperatures in the contiguous forty-eight states because they can produce chemicals that serve as natural antifreeze.

Feb 27, 2025 · Since the hardness of the wood is related to the rate of growth, the wood inside a rapidly growing burl is softer than the wood elsewhere in the tree. Nevertheless, it is hard enough to be sanded and finished into an attractive surface. An affected tree may grow a single burl or many; trees with multiple burls on both trunk and limbs have been ...

May 25, 2023 · The most plentiful moose food in the state — and probably Alaska’s most numerous tree — is the feltleaf willow, which was once called the Alaska willow. As its name implies, the feltleaf sprouts canoe-shaped green leaves that feel fuzzy on the underside.

Feb 27, 2025 · Photograph of a section cut from a tree with 5 burls that simultaneously grew at the same level on the tree. Annual growth rings can be followed around the tree trunk at center and into each of the burls. The rings show that the growth of …

Mar 7, 2025 · In interior Alaska and some parts of Canada, witches' broom (an abnormal outgrowth of branches of the tree resembling the sweeping end of a broom), is commonly seen on black and white spruce trees. From late fall through the winter, the brooms are dark brown or "dead"looking and are often mistaken for birds' and squirrels' nests.

Aug 16, 2010 · The tree leans uphill, and its trunk is 45 inches around. When I hugged it, I could barely clasp my hands together. The largest black spruce in Alaska is a lucky tree, because its neighbors to the north are gone, removed in the mid-1990s during the installation of a power line.