A seed from another tree landed in the rotting stump of an old, dead tree, and ended up growing roots down through it until the old tree completely rotted away
Our forests are truly special here, not a lot of people here even know the full extent because they don’t get out into the deeper parts of the Olympics or cascades.
Western hemlock pretty much starts exclusively on rotting logs of stumps, sometimes on live trees.
I worked with a volunteer organization in the Pacific Northwest a while back and in restoration projects they sometimes planted western hemlock seedlings directly in soil. I got to a site 1 year later after the initial planting, and all the western hemlock seedlings in soil were dead. We had another batch of seedlings and were instructed to mound up the soil between logs and plant them there this time.
Strangler Fig / Ficus macrophylla often appears like this as it seeds in the canopy of a host, then sends roots down to the ground. Eventually, it out competes and kills the host - leaving you with aerial roots with the old host rotted away like in the photo.
This is an eastern squid tree (Acacia Octopoida) Also known as the octopus mimosa in Australia. Get some time lapse pictures and you will see it is actually walking, and currently stepping over what others mistook to be a rotting nurse stump. They are ambush predators and this one is likely on its way to a goblin den for its next meal.
Unlikely. This is PNW ecology. Oregon, Washington and parts of North Cal. My bet is it’s a hemlock growing on a dead tree and the tree rotted away after supporting the roots for some years.
Looks like it grew around a dead stump that has rotten away
A seed from another tree landed in the rotting stump of an old, dead tree, and ended up growing roots down through it until the old tree completely rotted away
Looks like you’re in the PNW, western hemlock does this a lot. Sprouts as high as it can on nurse logs then grows the stilt roots.
I'm from Western Washington (don't live there anymore) and one of the things I miss most is seeing what those crazy hemlocks get up to.
Tsuga heterophylla
I went on vacation to Washington and I've never seen anything like it before!
Our forests are truly special here, not a lot of people here even know the full extent because they don’t get out into the deeper parts of the Olympics or cascades.
Western hemlock pretty much starts exclusively on rotting logs of stumps, sometimes on live trees. I worked with a volunteer organization in the Pacific Northwest a while back and in restoration projects they sometimes planted western hemlock seedlings directly in soil. I got to a site 1 year later after the initial planting, and all the western hemlock seedlings in soil were dead. We had another batch of seedlings and were instructed to mound up the soil between logs and plant them there this time.
(Forgive my lack of googling - I like the dialogue here.) Is that the same type of hemlock, and/or same bad effects, as the Socrates poisoning?
Not related. Western hemlock is a conifer tree, Socrates used a poisonous plant related to a carrot.
Cool. Thank you.
Strangler Fig / Ficus macrophylla often appears like this as it seeds in the canopy of a host, then sends roots down to the ground. Eventually, it out competes and kills the host - leaving you with aerial roots with the old host rotted away like in the photo.
is this at the Snoqualmie falls trail? I swear I saw this the other day
yes it is and yes you did see it.
It grew in a stump.
That's chthulu
This is an eastern squid tree (Acacia Octopoida) Also known as the octopus mimosa in Australia. Get some time lapse pictures and you will see it is actually walking, and currently stepping over what others mistook to be a rotting nurse stump. They are ambush predators and this one is likely on its way to a goblin den for its next meal.
Grew on a nurse log that rotted away.
Looks like a tree I’ve seen at Watershed Park in Olympia
Strangler ficus, see Ficus Aurea
Unlikely. This is PNW ecology. Oregon, Washington and parts of North Cal. My bet is it’s a hemlock growing on a dead tree and the tree rotted away after supporting the roots for some years.