Weird tales: the tree that waters its owners
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The current heatwave leads many people to worry about newly planted trees – often rightly so. Should they be watered? There are two schools of thought. One says, water the trees and let them flourish – so long as you keep it up. The other says don’t water them because then they will either adapt to a low-water environment and survive, or not do so and die. The first option is more expensive, uses water, but guarantees you a live tree. The second is much cheaper, more sustainable, but means that inevitably some trees will die. But enough of that. Would you like to find out about the strange tree of San Antonio that turned the tables and is watering its owners? Sure you would! MySA.com tells us:
Lucille Pope’s red oak tree has baffled tree experts, water specialists and nursery professionals. The knotted, towering tree, more than 100 years old, has become the root of scrutiny in her East Side neighborhood. The tree has gurgled water from its trunk for the past three months… …Lloyd Pope, 47, said the water was cool, like it came from a faucet. The only damp spot around the tree trunk is where the water lands. The peculiar incident has the Popes wondering if the water has properties not found on tap. Pope said her insurance agent dabbed drops on a spider bite that went away after the application on the welt. Pope said she’s soaked her sore ankles in water from the tree and the pain has gone away. Now she wonders, is it a tree that heals or water that blesses?
What an intriguing tale. Could it be a broken main? An artesian aquifer? Some sort of sap rising? So far, nobody can say. The Ranger is mindful of the effect of felling birch trees in the spring – when the sap is rising the stumps literally pour thin, clear water-like sap for hours. This is the pressure from the roots that drives water up into the living tree. It’s probably not quite the same in this tree, but maybe some similar phenomenon is at work. Or just perhaps it really is some kind of Moses and his staff divine intervention.