Apricot Sprites, aka ‘the anthropomorphic heart wood critters’ my Dad unearthed
A week ago, my dad was pruning one of the many stone fruit trees in his yard in Los Angeles and came upon an eery woodland lady (click for full size):
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- The branch
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- Cross section of the twins
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- Detail (with large thumb for scale)
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- A bit closer
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- (Enhanced color)
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- Other parts of the same branch, cut later
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- One part of the second batch of cuts
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- Detail of the tall one.
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- Other critters
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- Youth.
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- More creatures. I think my dad calls them “anthropomorphic heart wood critters”
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- “anthropomorphic heart wood critters”
My dad is coating the slices in acrylic for preservation, and keeping an unperturbed sample under lock and key in preparation for a visit from the SEG (Search for Extraterrestrial Gnomes).
Has anyone seen anything like this in tree cuts? I was pretty freaked. The first lady may resemble my mom if I squint. Perhaps her spirit animal entered the tree during a watering one afternoon. BTW: of course mum has a garden-themed blog avantgarden.org and she helped start the Santa Monica College organic garden.
From a brief search, I found a spotting of Jesus in a cabinet at the Church of the Good Shepherd in Wareham, Massachusetts, but nothing like this. Post your wood creatures in the comments!
A knowledgeable plant dude writes:
The discoloration in the heartwood is caused by a systemic fungal infection called Verticillium wilt. You can read more about it here:
http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/r5101111.html
The “normal” colorization is from the tree’s attempt to compartmentalize the damage and grow healthy tissue within it.
I’ve also heard back from the Internet in the form of a moose posted in the comments:
Pretty spooky.
