Sitka spruce burls

Description:

Some of these burls where 2 meters in diameter. Many of the Sitka Spruce that I saw had multiple burls. According to a guidebook entitled Olympic Peninsula, "Damage to the tip or the bud of a Sitka spruce causes the growth cells to divide more rapidly than normal to form this swelling or burl. Even though the burls may look menacing, they do not affect the overall tree growth."

Habitat:

I found several these Spruce trees with burls. A Spruce dominate forest near the Kalaloch Beach, Olympic National Park. Sitka spruce grows in the cool, moist maritime climate with abundant moisture of coastal areas—from Kodiak Island south through southeast Alaska, through British Columbia and the inside passage, to Puget Sound, the Olympic Peninsula, and coastal Washington, Oregon, and northern California.

Notes:

Sitka spruce assumes growth forms from low, twisted, gnarled headland scrub that is deformed by wind-blown sand and salt spray to trees of impressive size.