Trees building a bridge between themselves by fusing branches isn’t unheard of and worth looking out for in Wyoming’s forests, tree experts said.
When they seem to connect themselves with a straight branch creating an “H” between the trees, that’s much less common and something to take note of if you ever see it in the wild. It also could mean someone helped connected the trees, they said.
Retired forester and wildland firefighter Karl Brauneis of Lander recalls seeing a few trees fused together with shared branches or trunks during his career.
But two large trees forming an “H” — with a single, huge branch between them, isn’t something he recalls ever seeing.
There are tales and photos circulated on social media of an such an H tree formed by two large ponderosa pines in Idaho during the 1970s, for instance.
Something like that would probably require human manipulation, horticulturalist Shane Smith told Cowboy State Daily.
He’s seen a few fused trees out in the wild, “but it’s usually not a straight-across pole,” he said.
“Usually, it’s more like two living trees that kind of leaned together and ended up becoming intertwined,” said Smith, the founder and former director of the Cheyenne Botanic Gardens.
Game Poles?
When trees suffer damage, a branch from a nearby healthy tree might grow into the “wound” or “crook,” Brauneis said.
But that generally happens in a haphazard pattern. A level, or near-level single branch forming a straight H between two massive pine tree trunks probably means somebody has messed around with the trees, he said.
Perhaps somebody tried to put a “game pole” between two trees, and they grew over it, eventually forming a layer of bark, he said.
Game poles are large, stout, horizontal poles that hunters will place between trees. They’re used to hoist game carcasses or carcass quarters into the air.
That helps the meat cool off, and offers some protection from it being gobbled by bears or other hungry critters.
Smith said that two trees growing over the top of an old game pole to form a bridge between them seemed less likely than people trying to manipulate branches to grow into a pole.
That could possibly be done by bending two branches together, and then perhaps tying them together, until they might eventually grow into one branch, he said.
That would be a long process though. It could take at least a year, Smith said.
He noted that he once tried bending two juniper trees together into an “arch” at the Botanic Gardens. But he got busy with other things and never finished that project.
Trees fused together in an “H” shape, with a single huge branch between them, are extremely rare, tree experts say — and perhaps the result of human meddling. (Robert Knapp via Alamy) 
Trees fused together in an “H” shape, with a single huge branch between them, are extremely rare, tree experts say — and perhaps the result of human meddling. (Panther Media via Alamy) 
Trees fused together in an “H” shape, with a single huge branch between them, are extremely rare, tree experts say — and perhaps the result of human meddling. (Bill Coster via Alamy)
Layering
Trees being grafted together, or growing together, is a matter of getting to the right layer, Smith said.
Branches covered with bark touching won’t do the trick, he said.
Something must happen to create direct contact between the cambium layers of the respective trees, he said.
The cambium lawyer is directly under the park, and is the “growing” part of the tree, where nutrients are transferred and new cells are formed, Smith said.
If there’s cambium-on-cambium contact, then there’s a chance of the two trees fusing into one system through conjoined branches.
Again recalling his attempt to form an arch between two juniper trees, Smith said, “I didn’t keep at it and keep enough steady pressure on the cambium layers. But it is doable.”
Brauneis said that significant fusing between ponderosa pine trees would almost certainly be a sign of human manipulation.
That’s because ponderosas have exceptionally thick, tough bark, so it’s unlikely that it could rub off between two trees through any natural process, he said.
Weird Stuff Gets Stuck In Trees
While Brauneis can’t recall seeing too many fused trees out in the wild, he can recall numerous examples of things getting stuck in trees, and the trees growing around them.
That included old hand saws and axe heads, he said.
There’s even a story of a Spanish Conquistador’s helmet being found embedded in a tree in southeastern Colorado decades ago, he added.
During a lull in fighting a remote wildfire in the mid-1970s, Brauneis said the crew he was with entertained themselves by throwing Pulaskis at trees.
A Pulaski is a firefighting hand tool with an axe blade on one side of the head and an adze (digging tool) on the other.
Somebody made an epic throw across a gorge, embedding a Pulaski about 20 feet up in a tree trunk, he said.
“I wonder if that tree grew around it or just eventually pushed it out,” he said. “Maybe that Pulaski is still out there, stuck way up in that tree.”
Mark Heinz can be reached at mark@cowboystatedaily.com.
