The Crooked Trees, Crooked Bush, Twisted Trees, or the Crooked Trees of Alticane are a grove of deformed trembling aspen trees of type '' Populus tremuloides Michx.'' found in the Canadian province of

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a province in western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North ...

. They are approximately north-northwest of the town of Hafford and just over south-west of Alticane in the

Rural Municipality of Douglas No. 436 The Rural Municipality of Douglas No. 436 ( 2016 population: ) is a rural municipality (RM) in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan within Census Division No. 16 and Division No. 6. History The RM of Douglas No. 436 incorporated as a rur ...

. The trees are on the southern slopes of the Thickwood Hills and within the Redberry Lake Biosphere Reserve.

Description

The Crooked Trees, prominent in Saskatchewan folklore, are dramatically different from the un-twisted aspens just across the road. Explanations have been offered which include various

paranormal Paranormal events are purported phenomena described in popular culture, folk, and other non-scientific bodies of knowledge, whose existence within these contexts is described as being beyond the scope of normal scientific understanding. No ...

factors. However, cuttings from these trees, propagated in Manitoba, exhibit the same pattern of twisted growth, suggesting that the cause is rooted in

genetics Genetics is the study of genes, genetic variation, and heredity in organisms.Hartl D, Jones E (2005) It is an important branch in biology because heredity is vital to organisms' evolution. Gregor Mendel, a Moravian Augustinian friar worki ...

, possibly the result of a

mutation In biology, a mutation is an alteration in the nucleic acid sequence of the genome of an organism, virus, or extrachromosomal DNA. Viral genomes contain either DNA or RNA. Mutations result from errors during DNA or viral replication, m ...

. The trees' unusual appearance was noticed in the 1940s and has attracted the attention of tourists for decades, but more so since the proliferation of websites and blogs that mention them. A wooden walkway was constructed through the grove to keep visitors from trampling any new growth. Because the deformity is likely genetic and aspens propagate by root suckers, it is likely that all the crooked trees in the grove are clones that originated from a single mutated tree. The grove is currently bounded on all sides by the grid road and a perimeter access road, so the size of the grove is static and is unlikely to continue spreading. The grove can be seen in the Disney true life adventure/fantasy film ''

Perri Perri may refer to: * ''Perri'' (novel) or ''The Youth of a Squirrel'', a 1938 novel by Felix Salten * ''Perri'' (film), a 1957 Disney film *Perri (name), a surname and given name * Perri (surname) See also * Peri (disambiguation) * Perry (disamb ...

'' (1957).

Gallery

File:Crooked Bush Sign.JPG, Sign at the site of the Crooked Trees File:Crooked Trees 1 (16110700003).jpg File:Crooked Trees 4 (15321981941).jpg

References

External links

*
Twisted Trees

{{Authority control Canadian folklore Culture of Saskatchewan Douglas No. 436, Saskatchewan Division No. 16, Saskatchewan