ENTS, Where is the beginning of the limb? People have been avoiding this questions since we first discussed about whether for limb length it should be considered to be at the surface of the trunk or at the center of the tree.
The trunk of the tree for a short section may be thought of as a cylinder. When a limb sprouts from the trunk, a section of wood bulges outward from this idealized trunk shape forming a root collar. This root collar forms a buttress at the base of the limb. The limb itself extends outward from the center to upper portion of the root collar. I propose for measurement purposes that: "The base or start of the limb is considered to be where the center of the limb would intersect the regular surface of the trunk." As with the definition of the base of the tree on a slope, this definition would require a minor bit of extrapolation, but it would eliminate any variation in measurement points caused by different sized limb collars, and as a practical matter would mark the functional change between trunk and limb structures. Edward Frank "The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and all science." - Albert Einstein --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Eastern Native Tree Society http://www.nativetreesociety.org You are subscribed to the Google Groups "ENTSTrees" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/entstrees?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
