Holding On By Its Roots
October 25, 2005
Provided by: Dale Hugo
Summary authors & editors: Dale Hugo
The root system of this living pine tree is developing above ground and has done so for perhaps scores of years. This photo was taken on August 13, 2005, near Manido Falls on the Upper Peninsula (UP) of Michigan's Porcupine Mountain State Park. A lucky alignment of a shaft of sunlight in the deep forest exposed the tree's struggle to maintain a foothold. The forlorn pine is leaning to the east (at approximately a 30 degree angle), slipping on the underlying rock. Note the large amount of undergrowth surviving beneath, around and on the root system.
Related Links: