Sycamore has bark that peels off and becomes white near the upper portion of the tree. What evolutionary advantage is it for a tree to shed it's bark the way
Shedding or peeling bark is characteristic of trees such as the sycamore, redbud, silver maple, shagbark hickory, birch, and Scotch pine.
Apparently, the outer bark isn't able to expand as the tree grows and is cast off. But why? One theory is that the white bark makes a surface against which caterpillars and other insects are easily picked off by birds, thereby protecting the tree's leaves.
White Flux or Alcoholic flux, is a stress-related disease that affects sweet gum, oak, elm and willow trees. The disease is caused by a microorganism that ferments the sap that seeps or bleeds from cracks and wounds in the bark. The result is a white, frothy ooze that has a fermenting odor similar to beer.
Some gardeners are concerned that the trees are dying. But losing bark is normal for sycamores as they age. The bark exfoliates on the upper trunk and large limbs.
But those trees are actually London planetrees (Platanus x acerifolia), sycamore lookalikes native to Europe. Planetrees are incredibly hardy, grow fast, and can handle most kinds of pollution, so they've been planted in many cities.
The bark is dark grey/brown and furrowed, with broad intersecting ridges and has a rough flaky appearance. In cross-section, the bark has alternating brown and white layers.
What trees have white bark? The weeping cherry tree, Japanese white birch, gum trees, Himalayan birch, Paper Bark birch and Aspen are all trees that have white bark. All of these trees have the classic white trunk that appears to glow in the sunlight and catches the eye on a frosty morning.
A downy white fungal growth, powdery mildew attacks a wide variety of trees and shrubs as well as ornamental plants, indoors or out. Although any tree can get this common disease, the ones that are most commonly affected are oak, maple, dogwood, magnolia, catalpa, and crabapple.
Those white paint-like bands across the bark are lichens, and they are as normal and natural a part of healthy forests as are warblers. There are several others present on this tree and throughout the woods. Lichens exist in beautiful diversity, and the vast majority of them do absolutely no harm to trees.
When a tree has been damaged by removing a ring of bark, the tree may die depending on how completely it was girdled. Removal of even a vertical strip of bark less than one-fourth the circumference of the tree will harm the tree, but not kill the tree.
Shedding bark is a means of divesting the host of moss, lichen, fungi and parasites. Scribbly gums are plagued with larvae of the Australian Scribbly gum Moth doodling crazy calligraphy on the trunks (you couldn't make this stuff up!).
Trees that Naturally Shed Bark
Although it seems like a bad sign, shedding bark doesn't always indicate a problem. In fact, a tree shedding its bark is a natural part of the growing process. As a tree matures, its bark thickens and falls off. For most trees, shedding isn't noticeable because it happens quickly.
also known as white birch, is truly a tree for all seas.
Most everyone has some recognition of the birch tree, a tree with light-colored white, yellow, or grayish bark that often separates into thin papery plates and is characteristically marked with long horizontal dark raised lines (also known as lenticils).
The bark of an oak is very rough and thick, with deep fissures running vertically along the trunk, where a maple is much smoother and delicate to the eye. The coloration of oak bark is often a grey-brown shade (White Oak), with Red Oaks having a brown-brick reddish hue. Another telltale sign of an oak is the foliage.
Oozing sap may be frothy and white at the point of exit. Airborne bacteria, yeasts, and fungi often colonize the wet oozing material, which ferments and releases a foul odor.
Answer: The white, fuzzy objects on the branches of your maple tree are wooly alder aphids. (The insect is also known as the maple blight aphid.) Wooly alder aphids feed on the sap of maple trees from bud-break until late June.
Powdery mildew is a white, powdery growth on the upper side of leaves (Figure 15). Tiny black fruiting bodies are usually present in late summer or fall. Infection may also occur in the buds and shoots causing a witches' broom as in the case of live oaks.
Eucalyptus apodophylla, commonly known as whitebark, is a small to medium-sized tree that is endemic to northern Australia. It has smooth, powdery white bark, broadly lance-shaped to egg-shaped adult leaves, flower buds in groups of seven, white flowers and hemispherical to conical fruit.
Populus alba, commonly called silver poplar, silverleaf poplar, or white poplar, is a species of poplar, most closely related to the aspens (Populus sect. Populus).
White poplar is a deciduous broadleaf tree which can grow to 20m. The bark is pale grey with lines of black diamond-shaped pores, called lenticels. Twigs are white, and young twigs have a covering of dense white hair that lasts until their second year.
Elms can be recognised by their asymmetrical, oval leaves that are toothed around the edges and have very short stalks. Wych elm leaves are larger than those of other elms, taper to a sudden point at the tip, and are hairy on both sides.
The American elm, also called white elm, is easily identified by its simple doubly-serrated oval leaves, which feature a large tooth with small teeth like edges on top that. The leaves are held on fine twigs, which turn a medium brown over the summer.
The leaf has double-serrated leaf margins (meaning the 'teeth' have 'teeth'). The leaf base where it connects to the stem is asymmetrical. Elm leaves are dark green, up to 9 centimetres (3.5 inches) long and 2.5 to 5 cm (1 to 2 inches) wide. The underside of the leaf is rough because of raised veins.