Posts Tagged "winter trees"

Branching Out

Posted by on Jan 5, 2014 in adaptations, Unmowed Blog, winter | 2 comments

Branching Out

The only thing more beautiful than a tree in full leaf is a tree with bare branches. The branching pattern of this tree—of any tree—is beautiful, complex, and anything but accidental. There’s a reason for every twist and turn in every smallest twig. It’s all driven by the search for sunlight. Each leaf has to maximize the amount of sun it receives in order to make food for the tree, and therefore the tree has to spread out as much as possible so the leaves don’t shade each other. But spread too wide and the branches will bend and break. The tree also has to grow upwards, to get above any...

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