Wednesday, January 18, 2012

The tree with bloody bark


Arbutus andrachne (Eastern strwaberry tree)
Tel Aviv University Botanic Garden. source: Eytan Chamovitz  
This evergreen is found in countries bordering the Eastern Mediterranean. It has a distinctive bark that peals off and renews each year, turning from greenish brown for the new bark to a bright red in mature bark. This blood-red color has spurned many legends and in Arabic and Hebrew, the tree is called "killed father". The tree's fruit is edible. Arbutus was mentioned by Virgil, Horace and Ovid.

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4 comments:

  1. Paul MooreFebruary 5, 2012 at 8:14 AM

    Plenty of these rare trees in Harashim to grow well they need to live with oak , i had to replant 5 of these while building the house and they are hard to transplant , so far 4 have suceeded. still have 3 on the plot.

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  2. Daniel ChamovitzFebruary 5, 2012 at 8:16 AM

    Replanting trees is hard - you have to take the "bonzai" approach. This means there's always an equilibrium between roots and branches. When you uproot a tree you break and loose most of the roots. Therefore you also need to cut back most of the branches when transplanting a tree.

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  3. Daniel L. LevyMarch 9, 2012 at 10:34 AM

    These Arbutus andrachne fruits are not only edible, they're excellent! Moreover, we don't have too many wild edible fruits in Israel, and these are a readily available late Autumn treat in our Mediterranean woods, at this time of the year when the vegetation is at its driest and saddest.

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  4. Daniel ChamovitzMarch 9, 2012 at 2:17 PM

    Thanks Daniel for the comment. You are correct. In the absence of blueberries, Arbutus andrachne fruits are a treat!

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