The Joyful Botanist: Skeleton Trees
A tree's branches and limbs can resemble a human skeleton, hence the name.
Adam Bigelow photo
As the fall winds blow the remaining leaves from deciduous trees and the plants have gone dormant for the season, the bones of the mountains and skeletal shapes of the trees come into view. Especially on snowy days, when the fallen snow lays on both forest floor and the branches of trees and shrubs, creating a stark outline of the forms of both hills and limbs.
A tree’s skeleton is a reference to the branches and limbs denuded of leaves and their resemblance to our skeletons without skin. While a more correct analogy would be to compare tree bark with skin, the look of leafless trees speaks to the spooky skeleton decorations still hanging from Halloween revels.
These cold weather costumes will haunt the hillsides all winter long. Not only are the trees laid bare, but the hillsides stand exposed; their spines and folds stand out without the blanketing quilt of leaves that cover them for most of the year. I love the look of the mountainsides when you can see every fold and outcrop, ancient signs of water and erosion usually masked by the forest’s vegetal growth.
In the parlance of landscape design, trees that have colorful or patterned bark or twisting and twirling branch shapes are said to have “four-season appeal” or “winter interest” and often are used in a design to be aesthetically pleasing in wintertime. In horticulture school at Haywood Community College years ago, I learned about two cool and spooky cultivated trees with twisty, curling branches: Harry Lauder’s walking stick (Corylus avellana ‘Contorta’) from Europe and the dragon’s claw willow from China that has one of my all-time favorite botanical Latin names, Salix matsudana ‘Tortuosa’.
Some examples from the woods around us of trees with good bones include the platy bark of flowering dogwood (Benthamidia florida) or a mature sassafras (Sassafras albidum) and the gorgeous peeling bark of mountain sweet pepper bush (Clethra acuminata), which is also known as cinnamon-bark clethra. Its bark is peely and the color of cinnamon. It doesn’t taste like cinnamon, however. I did that work for you. You’re welcome.
The tree’s winter form can also be helpful when trying to identify trees to species during the dormant season. A lot can be told from reading their bones. It is easy to make out whether the branching and leaf arrangement is alternate or opposite, which is a key first step in plant identification, especially of trees.
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If you observe opposite branching in trees while walking the winter woods of Southern Appalachia, then you can be sure that it is a member of what we call MADCap Buck which stands for Maple, Ash, Dogwood, Caprifoliaceae family (Hydrangeas, Viburnums, etc.) and Buckeye. If you see trees with alternate branching, then your work of identification has just begun. But the naked branches can certainly aid you in figuring out the species, by showing diagnostic leaf scars left behind on the twig. You can also use dormant leaf and flower buds to aid in identification.
While the flowers of spring are a long way off and the colors of fall have faded, don’t think that the leafless trees offer no wonder or beauty in the cold months. Winter winds will rattle the bones and make the skeletal trees dance all season long. Might as well dance with them.
(The Joyful Botanist leads weekly wildflower walks most Fridays and offers consultations and private group tours through Bigelow’s Botanical Excursions. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..)
