The Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wohlleben -- a review by Susan Price
The Hidden Life of Trees I think this book has blown my mind. I'll give you a quote. Wohlleben is discussing coppiced trees: that is, trees that have been felled, or partially felled, so new trunks sprout from the root. It was commonly done in the past to trees such as hazel and yew, to 'farm' trees by producing a continuous growth of new wood. But how to measure the age of these coppiced trees? Are they as old as the new growth? In which case, they're just a few years old, since coppicing is done roughly every eight to ten years. Or, are these coppiced trees as old as the roots they re-grow from? In which case, they may be hundreds of years old. Peter Wohlleben tells us that scientists investigated this question by: '...researching ancient spruce in Dalarna province in Sweden. The oldest spruce in Dalarna has grown a carpet of flat shrubby growth around its single small trunk. All this growth belongs to one tree, and its roots were tested using carbon 14 dating.....