AZ's "Lightning" Trees..

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AZ's "Lightning" Trees..

Looking south from Brins Mesa, canyons filled with evergreens catch the eye. Many of the larger trees and bushes secrete acids from their roots which can eat through soft rock, and allow the tree to search for water in the porous rock. This is one reason that you may notice an abundance of bushes growing from the sides of some of the red rocks. In fact, the mesquite tree can have a taproot which extends almost 75 feet down into the ground! Many trees need high temperatures from fires to open up their seed cones, but the Arizona Cypress uses lightning. You will find these red-barked trees in low lying areas around washes as they need extra water. The red in the bark is due to iron content, which attracts lightning. As these trees get struck, the top will start on fire and the sap gets vaporized into steam which runs down to the root system. The roots are so deep and the ground so hard that the steam is forced back up the tree which puts the fire out and heats up the tree to open its seed cones. This prevents the tree from going "up, up, up in a puff of smoke." August 12, 2010