A large basal burr on a silver birch

I was up at the same cemetery as I was yesterday looking at that old yew tree again, and was pointed to this silver birch very close by within a front garden that had, quite honestly, a massive burr at its base. I don’t know what would have caused it, in this instance – usually, it’s a result of some form of stress, be it biotic or abiotic.

Of course, I have seen burrs on trees before, though nothing to the extent of this on a tree of such a size . On an oak, a burr of such a size would be striking, though oaks are generally larger and thus there’s less of a contrast between the tree’s size and burr’s size.

Looking at the burl from the front, we can begin to get a sense of scale.

Note that my camera case is around 9cm (l) x 6cm x 3cm (d).

Probably the best angle to view this burr at, as it visibly demonstrates its size.

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