Why do some trees grow in spirals? Local hiker solves mystery [View all]

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Washington is full of beauty — summits, mountain lakes, shrub-steppe, coulees, the Salish Sea, the Pacific Ocean and forests — that beckons us outdoors. Along with this pronounced beauty comes a plethora of natural oddities.

I found one such oddity when I tripped over it. Once I was on the ground, I noticed that the log that had tripped me up had a beautiful corkscrew pattern. I wanted to know why.

Because the cover photo on the Washington Department of Natural Resources guide titled “Identifying Old Trees and Forests in Eastern Washington” shows the spiral pattern on a tree, I began my research there.

I then contacted Kevin James, ecologist and botany program manager with the Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest. James was happy to share a peer-reviewed article, “Function of Spiral Grain in Trees” by Hans Kubler, about spiral grain in trees. Though dated, this article is cited in many newer publications and websites.

Here’s what I learned:

This spiral pattern is a clever adaptation for survival. Because the bark and wood of trees do not grow together, the spiral pattern is not usually evident until bark drops off the tree.

The wood cells in trees growing in a windy area or on an unusually uneven substrate — such as shore pines that grow in both windy and sandy areas — can begin to grow in a spiral pattern to give the tree and branches more strength. A spiral pattern can also develop to strengthen tree trunks tasked with supporting an unusually heavy or uneven canopy.

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