When two tree trunks or branches rub against one another long enough to wear away their bark and expose the cambium — the cellular plant tissue — they sometimes fuse into a single entity, forming what is charmingly called a natural graft. This process, termed “inosculation,” is derived from the Latin for “to kiss,” as the resulting shapes are said to resemble an embrace. Apparently, this sentimental display of arboreal affection earns them names like “kissing trees,” or in the case of separate but neighbouring trees, “husband and wife trees.”
This example in Newton Wood below Roseberry Topping, if memory serves, involves two trunks from the same root stock. Thus, they are denied the romantic title of “husband and wife.” Naturally, I am crestfallen that I failed to confirm this morning if this is indeed the case. I also think they are oaks but again cannot say for certain, despite walking or running past them a thousand times before. Oaks, it seems, are less prone to inosculation than the more obliging beech with its thinner bark, but who am I to judge?
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