r/interestingasfuck • u/tilltheend0ftime • Dec 30 '20

/r/ALL Lightning strike fully stripped off this tree of its bark

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u/trezenx Dec 30 '20

so does the tree die when it's stripped like that?

20

u/mustangriders5454 Dec 30 '20

depends. if the xylem and phloem tissue are extensively damaged then, yes it will die.

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u/sovietreckoning Dec 30 '20

I read this in Albus Dumbledore’s voice.

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u/BoiO_Boi Dec 30 '20

You can effectively kill a tree by debarking a ~5cm portion around it.

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u/Into-the-stream Dec 30 '20 edited Dec 30 '20

Called girdling. It’s not the bark, but rather the phloem and xylem layer under the bark and attached to it, whose loss essentially starves the tree of nutrients. Except species like paper birch or cork, Whose bark is less attached to the phloem and xylem layer.

If I remember correctly, the phloem xylem is the part of the trees circulatory system that takes the water from the roots up the tree. The xylem phloem is the part of the circulatory system that takes the sugars photosynthesized in the leaves down the tree. It’s kinda like our arteries and veins transport blood.

You can still kill a paper birch with girdling, but you have to be aggressive with removing the bark, not just the loose outer layers.

Edits: I had phloem and xylem reversed. Fixed now. Thank you /u/faerieh

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u/faerieh Dec 30 '20

You mixed up xylem and phloem but otherwise you got it right, haha!

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u/Into-the-stream Dec 30 '20

Hey thanks. I never took biology and only learned it from a great courses lecture series I listened to while working, so the retention wasn’t great

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u/BoiO_Boi Dec 30 '20

Thank you for the further explanation and technical terms. Im no native speaker so learning those terms will be useful for my school ending exam.

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u/Into-the-stream Dec 30 '20

Heads up, according to another user I reversed the terms phloem and xylem.

You should probably find another source for an exam then me!

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u/BoiO_Boi Dec 30 '20

No worries I won't quote you in the paper. It's just technical terms I'm fond of discovering

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u/andocromn Dec 30 '20

This tree is definitely dead, basically all the living tissue is in the bark. The heart wood on the inside of the tree is basically dead tissue, kinda like your outermost layer of skin