Trees: Roots of Intelligence

Purely as a novelty I invite you to listen to some of John Williams’ bassoon concerto The Five Sacred Trees as you read the article.  It’s not a foot tapper but if you can just imagine yourself walking through woodland as the music opens…..

0:00 – 6:54 I. Eo Mugna (The Enduring Oak)

6:54 – 10:46 II. Tortan (Witchcraft: the Ash)

10:46 – 14:52 III. Rossa (Destruction and Recreation: the Yew)

14:52 – 17:48 IV. Craeb Uisnig (A Source of Strife: the Ash)

17:48 – 25:57 V. Dathi (the Faery Ash)

My conscious appreciation of trees first occurred in the autumn of the late 1980’s. The European countryside somehow looked strangely different from its luxuriant summer green.   

It was the leaves – they’d mostly turned brown!  I have no understanding as to why I hadn’t noticed trees before in any fully conscious way,  yet they were there, like clouds; no longer an unappreciated part of the everyday scenery.

Many years later, I consider myself lucky to have been in the presence of such distinctive trees as the Pinocchio Oak in Tuscany, (pictured below), the Brimmon Oak in Wales, the Ankerwycke Yew at Runnymede (pictured below), the 800 year old ‘Major Oak’ in Sherwood Forest (where Robin Hood is said to have met with his Merry Men), the gnarled olive trees of Spain, and the Glastonbury Thorn.

At Kingley Vale, near West Stoke, West Sussex near where I lived some years ago is the 2000 year old Yew woodland. .The yews there comprise some of the oldest living organisms in Great Britain.  But what’s remarkable is that there are any yews left, as their wood was the preferred material for the staves of English longbows.

Having never seen the much-loved Sycamore Gap Tree in Northumberland, a landmark on Hadrian’s Wall, I still feel a sense of loss at its unconscionable “chopping down” in September 2023.

In reviewing Colin Tudge’s book “The Secret Lives of Trees”, The Independent wrote:  “There are ancient trees whose fruits were probably once nibbled by dinosaurs and ultra-modern ones like the willows, evolving in front of our noses. What they all share is lignin, the simple chemical that makes wood as tough as concrete, and enables a tree to suspend a ton of leaves high above the ground. And there are a lot of trees: 60,000 species is a rough guess.”

Unlike animals, which eat, breathe, sense and even think, trees seem to do only one thing: they grow. Their secret, Tudge reveals, is that they are more like animals than they appear. Hormones provide a kind of chemical intelligence. Trees have a memory. They can analyse problems and find solutions. A tree shaken by a gale puts on a spurt of growth and becomes slightly fatter and more wind-proof. It reacts to an invasion of caterpillars by producing smaller, less caterpillar-friendly leaves.

Shedding leaves takes weeks of preparation. An oak tree knows autumn is coming by measuring day-length with meteorological accuracy. In truth, trees are fighting for survival every day of their long lives, competing for water, nutrients, light and space, coping with cold, heat and drought as well as armies of leaf-guzzling insects.

There is an evolutionary intelligence that makes trees fit almost every circumstance. A mangrove can breathe in salty silt with the help of aerial roots. The baobab survives in near-waterless places by turning its trunk into a massive rain-water barrel. Pines can live on virtually bare rock by forming a mutually beneficial partnership with fungi.”

Spirits of the Forest

Trees are also filled with the essence and energy of the Elementals and Mother Earth.  They carry with them an aura of power that’s visible to those who are grounded, in total balance and in harmony. 

I defy anyone to walk (or “Forest Bathe”) in woodlands and not sense the energy of the trees, even if it’s only the timeless peace within its shade or the way its branches dance to the song of the breeze.  

For a comprehensive list of the symbolism associated with trees just search your browser.  The preferred wood of Druid Priests and Priestesses for casting spells was Holly.  It strikes me as more than coincidental that we watch films made in ‘Hollywood’.  

Trees don’t have to be wide, tall, strange in shape or gnarled to be interesting.  Their very ability to survive often against the odds makes them all remarkable. I now understand how trees interact with each other in a way I never previously understood or appreciated.

Like plants, trees connect and signal to each other using a complex internal analysis system to find and share nutrients, attract insects, spread their species and even defend themselves against predators.  

In his book ‘The Natural Explorer’, Natural Navigator Tristan Gooley writes: 

“Pliny tells us that gold and ivory were once worshipped less than the trees. We are fortunate to live in an age where this idea, although not prevalent, is at least understood once more. The trees have been dedicated to the gods; the laurel is sacred to Apollo, the Italian holm oak to Jupiter, the olive to Minerva, the myrtle to Venus and the poplar to Hercules. The gods also bestow their divine mercy by turning people into trees. Philemon and Baucis were granted their wish to remain together throughout eternity and when they died were turned into a pair of intertwining trees. Buddhists venerate the Bodhi tree, which sheltered the Buddha as he meditated.”

For anyone wanting to understand the Wood Element in Traditional Chinese Medicine, the extraordinary environmentalist and broadcaster Roger Deakin wrote in ‘Wildwood: A Journey Through Trees’:

“It is through trees that we see and hear the wind: woodland people can tell the species of a tree from the sound it makes in the wind…..Wildwood is about the element of wood as it exists in nature, in our souls, in our culture and in our lives.”

Environmental Note: The Impact of Christmas

Every year at Christmas millions of trees are needlessly cut down to temporarily decorate living rooms and offices before being dumped or burned. This year why don’t you consider decorating a living fir, pine or spruce tree in your garden or rent a potted Christmas tree with its roots intact?