As some might remember I’ve had a fascination with trees in urban areas. Especially how they ensure the trees don’t get entangled in the power lines. But recently a new phenomena with trees has been happening. For people in Europe and North America the idea of leaves falling in autumn is quite normal. Much like everything else in Australia even the trees operate differently. Instead of shedding leaves in autumn the Gum tree sheds its bark in the spring.
Quick note: they do have trees in Australia that shed leaves in autumn, but these are not native. Not unsurprisingly settlers brought with them seeds to grow plants that they knew and so if you see a tree with falling leaves in autumn it’s a non-native species.
So what’s going on? How is peeling bark both similar to, and totally different from shedding leaves? Apparently, the bark peels because the tree is growing. So peeling bark is a sign of a healthy tree. As the Gum tree grows, new bark forms under the old and the old stuff just falls right off. But how is this similar to falling leaves? Well, much like the leaves, there is a lot of bark that falls off the tress in spring. And much like the leaves it covers the ground. Unlike leaves, bark is not a light, fluffy substance that blows around. You can’t just shuffle through it. It’s more like walking on giant pieces of corn flakes. It crunches, it sticks to things and it probably tastes as dry as corn flakes as well (so far I have not been tempted to taste it).
Just another curiosity that makes Australia special.