Three about trees.

Still enjoying Colin Tudge's book The Tree: A Natural History of What Trees Are, How They Live, and Why They Matter. Three things I've learned:

1. When I went to New Zealand, I took a tour at the Christchurch Botanical Gardens. On that tour, the guide explained that many of New Zealand's native trees have distinct juvenile and adult phases. In other words, some trees there start out looking one way and then look totally different after they grew up. Tudge explains that these trees come from the family Proteaceae. (When I start a band, I think I'll call it “Proteaceae.” It's a sign of aging that this no longer seems like a serious plan.) Too bad there aren't any native Proteaceae species in North America. (Reference: pp. 156-7)
   
2. Tudge discusses a species he calls “plane trees,” explaining that in North America, plane trees are known as “sycamores” or “buttonwoods.” And he adds: “the ‘sycamore’ referred to in the Bible is a species of fig, in the genus Ficus.” This is good to know. I was always a little bit confused about how Zacchaeus climbed the sorts of gigantic, peely-barked trees I was familiar with, and was tempted to view that bit of the story as mytho-poetic. (Reference: p. 157)
   
3. Tree vengeance: “Limes [these, not these] put up with heavy pruning and thus are often butchered as street trees (though they get their own back by attracting aphids, which secrete gum, which in turn attracts fungi, and so coat the cars parked beneath with what seems like tacky soot)…” I like to think that if trees really were mad at us, they'd be tricky pranksters rather than The-Happening-style crazy murderers. (Reference: p. 212)