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) ...
.
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 also ...
. 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 Lab ...
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
References
Physiological plant disorders
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