David Rance wrote:

In message , sarah
writes

While out for a drive on Sunday in the beautiful Norman countryside we
came across an unusual oak quite close to the town of Bagnoles de
l'Orne. At about head height the main trunk splits into six and is known
as the Chêne des Six Frères. Struck by the strangeness of this
phenomenon we wondered whether it was a freak of nature or whether it
had been persuaded to grow in this way for some reason. ...

Can anyone tell me how it's possible to persuade an oak to divide its
main trunk in this way? It is certainly an arresting sight. Also are
there any similar examples in the UK? Third question: why do people do
it?

Some years ago I had the pleasure of producing illustrations for English
Nature's _Veteran Trees: a guide to good management_. The list of
veteran tree types includes 'bundle planting', trees grown from two or
more seedlings/plants (often, but not always, the same spp) grown in
very close proximity. What you describe could have developed from a
bundle of six -- apparently the trunks become semi-fused and it may be
very difficult indeed to work out precisely how many trees were in the
group to start with.

Thanks, Sarah, for your most interesting information. We went back to
see the oak again today and what you say about a bundle having been
planted appears to be correct. When you suggested that I thought that it
wasn't likely as one would expect to see some fluting of the main trunk
and I couldn't remember seeing that.

However, looking again at the tree, the main trunk *is* fluted and it
looks as though originally there may have been about eight
saplings/acorns in the bundle. I took several photographs and I've
uploaded one of them to my web site. It's about 100k but shows the tree
in some detail. Higher up there are branches sticking out at strange
angles and there is evidence of quite a bit of pruning back in order to
keep the unusual shape. Also we noticed that other trees growing in
front of it have been cut down recently which is why we have never
noticed it until this year. The URL for the photo is:

http://www.mesnil.demon.co.uk/photos/6_brothers_oak.JPG

It is impressive, isn't it? Very similar to one of the pictures I was
given to work from :-) I suspect the area's been cleared to ensure that
passers-by pay proper attention.

Also, I would mention that there are masses of saplings all around the
tree. Would the tree originally have grown from a bunch of acorns
(either planted by a human or a squirrel), or would they have been
planted as saplings?

Could be either, I think. If our squirrel had been more artistic, we'd
have a multi-stemmed hazel in our lawn this year!

regards
sarah


--
Think of it as evolution in action.