Wellingtonias don't grow burrs!

[Les Symonds]

'Wellingtonias don't grow burrs', said the tree surgeon, as he handed me a lump of burr and I braced myself to take the weight of it. When he handed it over, it felt so light that I overcompensated for its weight and my hand bobbed upwards. It was covered in typical wellingtonia bark, soft and spongy with flakes of it peeling away here and there. I took it home and pressure washed it, stripping the bulk of the bark away, and this is what I had left.



....it looks very typical of burr growth.....



.... but here's the strange thing, turn it over, and it's also a burr on the other side



....in fact, all that seems to have connected it to the host tree, were these two sawn-off twigs, each a little over an inch across.



It appears that the base of the entire trunk is surrounded by these growths. I had considered turning a half-round hollow into one face, but it's so light and soft that I don't think that it would survive the process....so I stuck it in the shop with some candle holders displayed on it.

Anyone ever seen anything like it before?

Les

[Bryan Milham]

Nope, never seen anything like that before.

I'd say don't try to turn it, use it as a stand, something to hold a piece up on, or just a backdrop in the shop.

[bodrighywood]

Make sure it is cleaned of any loose bits and give it a bit of a buff with some microcrystaline wax Les. Doubt you can improve on what nature has done.  If you can't think what to do with it I can happily take it off your hands LOL. Make a lovely contrasting piece with a hollow form or vase on a slate base.

pete

[Les Symonds]

........use it as a stand, something to hold a piece up on, or just a backdrop in the shop.

......Make a lovely contrasting piece with a hollow form or vase on a slate base.

.....didn't take long before Sally spotted it and did just that with it!

[Bryan Milham]

It was covered in typical wellingtonia bark, soft and spongy with flakes of it peeling away here and there.

.... but here's the strange thing, turn it over, and it's also a burr on the other side

From that description, and the look of it, it looks to me more like a root nodule.

[Les Symonds]

From that description, and the look of it, it looks to me more like a root nodule.

....never heard of that, Bryan. Do they normally grow on the surface?

Les

[bodrighywood]

They can do if the ground has subsided. You see them sometimes on the side of country roads that are below the level of the surrounding fields.

Pete