Wednesday, December 05, 2012

Life is a Beech, and then You Die

This one toppled by a recent storm.
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2 comments:

PipedreamFarm said...

We have a beach tree of that size near our house; amazingly the trunk is free of carved initials.

PBurns said...

Yes, this was right along the path next to the creek, so it had found some fool's knife. Another one, just on the other side of the path, had also fallen, but it was unmarked. >> http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-WHZnO7ZLfjU/UL9XU3-_I9I/AAAAAAAAPJQ/-M_TZQD2cqE/s1600/beech-tree-down.jpg

Beech trees hold graffiti well due the the smooth bark, and can get pretty old. I like them because they are the sprouting ground for a partially toxic but pretty mushroom called Amanita Muscaria which was once boiled with sugar water or honey to make fly agaric for flypaper. Amanita Muscaria is the red or dark orange mushroom with white spots you so often see in children's fairy tales. The mushroom, in very small doses, can be a hallucinogenic, which may be why it is so often associated with fairy tails.