Botany Photo of the Day

In the first few decades of the 20th century, much of what is now the University of British Columbia campus was clearcut. Evidence of “what once was” can be found throughout the David C. Lam Asian Garden, including dozens (if not hundreds) of decaying stumps and fallen logs.

Each of these remnants of former forest giants is unique – in my opinion, an artist could develop an intriguing portfolio using them as subjects. Some individuals are swathed in a coat of mosses and liverworts. Others bear scraggly crowns of huckleberry. To the careful observer, a few stumps reveal where small cuts were made for the feller to place his foot in. Many now host the next generation of trees, either by design or by natural happenstance. By design? On occasion, Peter Wharton mimicks the natural processes of seedling establishment and regeneration, but uses Asian plants instead of the native flora. It's an interesting horticultural technique not available in many other gardens.

Today's image, though, features a native tree. This grand fir likely established as a seedling on the decaying Western red cedar (Thuja plicata) stump somewhere between 70 and 100 years ago. Unfortunately, its life will almost certainly be abbreviated. You can easily imagine what the supporting base of the tree will look like once the stump fully decays – snake-like stems (previously roots) do not grant stability to the the tree in coastal windstorms. I'm not familiar enough with forestry terminology to know how to find a paper on the topic, but I imagine there have been studies examining how the height of remnant stumps affects mortality and length of life of second-generation trees.

B+W technique is the same one I've recently used – red-green channel screen, blue-alpha1 channels soft light.

Photography resource link: Photographing Snow, a quick tutorial from The Luminous Landscape.