2/3/2005: Sign-swallowing trees
 

http://cellar.org/2004/signswallowingtrees.jpg

axlrosen via Boing Boing finds these trees in Spain which have swallowed the taxi stand signs tacked to them thirty years ago.

It lends much to think about. We could mention the basic entropy of the universe. Or the ways that plants consume even things they don't absorb, or how mother nature gets her revenge in the end. Or we could just say hey neat, the bark almost covers them now.

full story, in Spanish

i saw something like this in my parents yard when they were selling the house 2 years ago. as a kid i built the inevitable treehouses and tied ropes around some branches. i even built a most excellent rope bridge between two of the larger trees. that was all about 20 years ago. the ropes decayed and fell away, most of the treehouses were scrapped, but walking around memory lane i came upon their remains. the ropes from the rope bridge were still visible in some spots on the trees - the tree had grown around the rope and preserved it. the same had happened with some 2x4's from the tree house remains.

thanks for triggering the memories UT.

I've seen the same thing done with chain-link fence. Very science-fiction like. The tree oozes through the fence (at a very slow rate).

It happens with power lines, too. There are a couple of power lines in my neighborhood with blocks of wood hanging on them - the branch was cut above and below the line, leaving a short log hanging there.

After we bought our house, I cleaned up the jungle in the back yard. I cut one small tree whose trunk went through the chain link fence. As a sapling, the tree must have grown through a single open link. As an eight inch diameter trunk, it went through/around a couple of the links. I cut it on either side of the fence, and now there is no trace of the tree but a hunk of wood hanging from my fence.

Which you should carve into something decorative. ;)

Much to the surprise of a chainsaw operator, some friends of mine left a pipe or rod of some kind nestled in a notch of an oak tree that was in their backyard. (This is the killer baby carriage family. Which reminds me, if tonight doesn't suck, I'll try to work on another of those "My Friend's Father Absolutely True Adventure Stories."

Ya know what I like?? "...basic entropy of the universe".

V. cool.

I don't know, it looks like those signs are maybe being pooped out of the trees instead of being sucked in...

I'd love to see a time-lapse photography sequence of this happening... time-lapse footage of plants growing is freaky.

Trees will eat anything.....including each other and their young. The only reason we survive is Mother Nature moves slowly most of the time. :unsure:

I just got around to taking this picture today of a tree eating a speed limit sign right up the street from my house. The neighborhood has been here for about 40 years and I'm guessing the sign was tacked to a sapling nearly that long ago.

Keeping an eye on you. :eyeball:

I was cuttin down an oak tree a few years ago , i had topped it out and had the trunk (3-4 feet ) cut most of the way thru when all the sudden my chain saw chain started shooting sparks !!!!! I changed the chain and cut all around the offending spot and YANKED the trunk down with my F350 work truck . After it was down i found the remains of a "T" post in the center of the tree , as in the fucktards that owned the place had put a hard wood sapling in the ground and wired a "T" post to it to keep it streight , and fucking LEFT IT there !!!! AHHHHHHHH :(

:D is this the reason for your name ;)