The base of a Mountain Ash tree (Eucalyptus regnans) in the Dandenong Ranges, Victoria, Australia. The base of the tree is unusually forked at less th
The base of a Mountain Ash tree (Eucalyptus regnans) in the Dandenong Ranges, Victoria, Australia. The base of the tree is unusually forked at less than a metre of the ground; E. regnans usually has a clean trunk for tens of metres above soil level. The fork has collected long ribbons of decorticating bark shed from the higher reaches of the trunk, 30-40m above. Accumulations of shed bark represent a fuel source for bushfires. While very hot fires may kill many trees within a forest, they are also a trigger for seed release and germination for some eucalyptus species. The near ground-level branching of the tree here was more probably caused by wounding when it was a sapling, that resulted in the development of an epicormic shoot from the trunk.
Size: 3468px × 5212px
Photo credit: © DR JEREMY BURGESS/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: -, ash, australia, australian, bark, biological, biology, botanical, botany, bushfire, dandenong, decorticating, epicormic, eucalyptus, flora, mountain, nature, plant, ranges, regnans, shed, shoot, victoria, wounding
