You'd be forgiven for thinking trees are plotting against us to take over the world. These gentle giants seem to have developed a taste for the stranger things in life, and quite a massive appetite. The technical name for this "appetite" is edaphoecotropism, and it actually has nothing to do with eating as we know it.
Edaphoecotropism is when a woody plant engulfs an object in its path. Signs, bikes, fences, and even buildings aren't off-limits. Some trees will even devour more than one object that's in its way. And that's where those objects will stay for years to come.
Scotland's Bicycle Tree is a perfect example...
The Bicycle Tree was planted in the late 1800s near a blacksmith’s scrap heap. Over the years this giant sycamore tree has engulfed dozens of objects, including a ship's anchor, a horse's bridle, and of course, a bicycle.
Legend has it that the bicycle belonged to a villager, who was conscripted during World War One. He's said to have left it hanging on a branch before setting off to fight in the war. Today, visitors flock to see this "freak of nature," which has bicycle handlebars and part of a frame sticking out of its trunk.
So what causes trees to munch weird things for lunch? At its root, say experts, edaphoecotropism is a stress response.
"When the tree growth encounters an environment that obstructs its access to sunlight, water, air, or otherwise provides inhospitable conditions, the plant responds by growing in the direction of more favorable environmental conditions," explains the Carved By Curiosity site. "The phenomenon is well documented in plant roots. Sinuous roots exhibit knee-like bends while coursing through the soil avoiding obstacles in search of nutrients."
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Besides eating inanimate objects, trees have a lot more going for them than many people might realize. For example, many can outlive us and last forever. Some of the world’s oldest living trees are more than 4,000 years old.
Even when they appear to have withered away above ground, parts of a tree’s root system continue are still very much alive underground. They can even regenerate into a whole new tree. In the absence of disease, drought, and human interference, trees are the GOATs when it comes to survival.
If you thought that trees eating things was cool, get this: they talk, too!
"Trees actually communicate and share resources with one another through an underground fungal network often referred to as the Wood Wide Web,” explains the official Earth Day site. "This network is made up of mycorrhizal fungi that connect the roots of different trees and plants."
The Earth Day site explains that trees can send sugars, nitrogen, phosphorus, and even chemical warnings about environmental threats like pests or drought, to each other through these fungal threads. Almost like one, big family looking out for each other.
In fact, some very old and large trees, are even referred to as “mother trees.” This is because they support the younger or weaker ones by sending them nutrients through the Wood Wide Web.
