Ice pruning is the natural process of selective vegetative
pruning
Pruning is a horticultural, arboricultural, and silvicultural practice involving the selective removal of certain parts of a plant, such as branches, buds, or roots.
The practice entails the ''targeted'' removal of diseased, damaged, dead, ...
on the windward side of a plant, executed by the impact of
ice and snow particles driven by wind.
[William M. Marsh (1978) ''Environmental Analysis: For Land Use and Site Planning'', McGraw-Hill, 292 pages ] The process is sometimes termed snow pruning. The time scale required for this phenomenon is typically over several growing seasons. The characteristic asymmetry of an ice-pruned plant is achieved only if the prevailing winds during the snow season have a definite directional bias, as shown on a
wind rose
A wind rose is a graphic tool used by meteorologists to give a succinct view of how wind speed and direction are typically distributed at a particular location. Historically, wind roses were predecessors of the compass rose (found on charts), as ...
.
Ice pruning is seen in high latitudes and altitudes, such as high mountain slopes and locations more than 50 degrees of latitude from the
equator
The equator is a circle of latitude, about in circumference, that divides Earth into the Northern and Southern hemispheres. It is an imaginary line located at 0 degrees latitude, halfway between the North and South poles. The term can als ...
. In parts of northern Canada, forests dominated by
Black Spruce
''Picea mariana'', the black spruce, is a North American species of spruce tree in the pine family. It is widespread across Canada, found in all 10 provinces and all 3 territories. It is the official tree of the province of Newfoundland and Labra ...
have been noted for containing individual trees that are distinctively ice-pruned.
[C. Michael Hogan]
''Black Spruce: Picea mariana'', GlobalTwitcher.com, ed. Nicklas Stromberg, November, 2008
See also
*
Salt pruning
Salt pruning is the process by which saline mists generated by seawater are driven ashore by winds and thus over time alter the shape of trees or shrubs. The process degrades foliage and branches on the windward side of the plant that faces the bod ...
References
Physiological plant disorders
{{botany-stub