Friday, October 19, 2012

Krummholz und Knieholz

In the Great Basin, plateaus and rim-rock crests can be ruthless places, where harsh winds lash back-and-forth in a daily rhythm that's not unlike the coming and going of tides.

For perennial plants to live there, they must stay low, hide in cracks, and/or be very tough.

And for trees - surviving in these wind-whipped exposures is even harder.

But there are species adapted to the wind's sometimes relentless charms. Pines, spruce and cypress, for example. With the all-time world-wide wower being the Methuselah tree - one of the Great Basin Bristlecone Pines - and the oldest living organism on Earth.

But Jeffrey Pines, Pinus jeffreyi, and Single-leaf Pinyon Pines, Pinus monophylla, are also trees with such toughness. And both can be found to almost 10,000 feet above sea level, with lifespans of over 500 years. Some pinyons have even approached 1,000 years in age.

sentinel pine
Jeffrey pine growing out of rim rocks on edge of 7,400-foot Mono Lake Basin plateau

sentinel pine
Same tree at eye-level - check out that sideways trunk (and the view, too)

sentinel pine
Also note the wind & cold denuded branches

The Germans coined a couple of terms for wind and cold stunted and shaped trees such as these - Krummholz and Knieholz - meaning "crooked wood" and "knee wood."

The Brits tried to translate this to "Elfin-wood," but it just doesn't capture the same image. It's a concept that definitely requires more hard consonants.

A big part of the reason these pines can survive such harsh conditions is an inherit propensity they have for their trunk and branches to both grow with a spiral grain twist, and to slowly grow even more twisted as torsion from wind stresses the asymmetrical shape.

Why twist? Think rope. Twisting creates strength and flexibility.

In death, the deep beauty and functionality of these wind-induced adaptations become fully exposed - like the cords and sinews of a weight-lifter's muscles at the moment of the jerk...

pinyon art
Pinyon pine snag on plateau top

pinyon art
With a wind-shaped Krummholz form

pinyon art
Note how the branches grow swept back away from the windward side

pinyon art
And the grains spiral and branches are twisting away from the wind as well

pinyon art
My knees sometimes feel like that after long hikes

Unfortunately, Krummholz trees aren't as easy to collect as Hummel figurines. But here's another one in pinyon pine, complete with cavity nest:

pinyon art
Another fine piece of wind-sculpted pinyon pine art

This post is for my friend and mentor Chris - a true lover of old snags, and a man definitely holding up well against life's headwinds.

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7 comments:

  1. If there were trees on Mars...

    Very nice post. I love the pictures of the torsion.

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  2. I enjoyed the photos and awesome display of living things in Nature being able to survive harsh conditions. Incredibly those Bristle Cones do well in some garden conditions if you can find them in a Native Plants Nursery. When you've gone up there, have you found or even ever looked for signs they are reproducing themselves, even over the past few decades ? Most photos I've seen don't often show this. Just curious. I look at and observe everything.

    For example most all plants exhibit that spiraled growth phenomena. I even wrote a piece recently about the underground rotting networks and their ability to spiral allows deep root penetration into difficult layers of soil. something I'm sure your photographed examples did when they were younger. If I may, it was a recent report that I created a side page for:

    Plant Root Spiraling Mechanisms: Ability to Bore Through Earth's Toughest Soil Structure

    Once again I enjoyed the post and pics. These are places I've never been to though I am a southern Cal Native. Most of my time was spent in San Diego, Riverside and Imperial Counties. And I still didn't see everything. Through in Arizona and life just isn't long enough.



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  3. Thanks, me mann! A great post that struck a respondent chord. You are definitely doing justice to the lonesome beauty of the east slope. Keep at it.

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    1. Thanks much Codge. And thanks for the inquiry that inspired this post.

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  4. Wonderful. I'm homesick. One of my favourite places.
    D

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    1. Get on a plane and come join us for the next visit Dr. Rentz! The whole time we were discussing how you should be there with us schooling us on insects.

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  5. Gorgeous photos! Makes me a little cold & lonesome & awestruck to look at them.

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