Lignotubers

The largest known lignotubers (also called "root collar burls") are those of the coast redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) of central and northern California and extreme southwestern Oregon. A lignotuber washed into Big Lagoon, California, by the full gale storm of 1977 was 12 m (41 ft) in diameter and about half as tall and estimated to weigh 476 t (525 short tons). The largest dicot lignotubers are those of the Chinese camphor tree, or kusu (Cinnamomum camphora) of Japan, China and the Koreas. Ones at the Vergelegen Estate in Cape Town, South Africa, which were planted in the late 1600s, have muffin-shaped lignotubers up to two metres (7 ft) high and about 9 m (30 ft) in diameter. Perhaps the largest lignotuber in Australia would be that of "Old Bottle Butt", a red bloodwood tree (Corymbia gummifera) near Wauchope, New South Wales, that has a lignotuber about 2.5 m (8 ft 2 in) in height and 16.3 m (53 ft) in circumference at breast height. A lignotuber should not be confused with a xylopodium. Lignotubers are compact, even round. A xylopodium is diffuse and are sometimes called "underground trees".