Hooker oak
The Hooker Oak (English Hooker Oak ) was a large Californian white oak ( Quercus lobata ) in Chico (California) .
It was named in 1887 by Annie Bidwell after the English botanist and director of the Royal Botanical Gardens , Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker . When it fell on May 1, 1977 , it was nearly one hundred feet tall (30 m) and 29 feet (8.8 m) in circumference at eight feet (2.4 m) from the ground. The largest branch measured 111 feet (33.6 m) from trunk to tip, and the circumference of the outer branches was approximately five hundred feet (150 m). Their age was estimated to be a thousand years, but when it died it was found that there were two trees, each 325 years old, that had grown together long ago.
For three years after the fall, the tree lay on the ground while city leaders struggled to determine its fate. In the spring of 1980, the city of Chico Cal Oak Lumber Company commissioned the healthy parts of the tree to be removed and the hard wood of Cal Oak in Oroville ( California ) bring. After the oak was sawed open, Cal Oak arranged for the timber to be dried in the Forest Products Laboratory at Berkeley University .
The staff at both Cal Oak and Berkeley University's Forestry Lab were fascinated by wood. The wood turned out to be as remarkable as the tree it was. To support its immense crown, the tree formed an unusual amount of support wood on the top of the branches and trunks. This type of wood is known as “ tension wood ” and helped the tree develop an incredibly high density (0.88 g / cm²): 50% denser than surrounding oaks. These and other features give the wood its unique grain and character, and the tree obviously its longevity.
Cal Oak set up a program to make a limited number of artistically designed items from their portion of the tree with the help of local artisans and work training centers for the disabled. Many of these were given to various institutions including the Royal Botanical Gardens in London , the Butte County Historical Society , Bidwell Mansion , the Sacramento Valley Museum, Butte College , California State University, Chico , and Berkeley University.
The hammer used by the Mayor of Chico during city council meetings is made from the wood of Hooker's oak. The public benches in the lobby of the Chico City Council Chamber were made from Hooker's oak by local artist Paul Atkins.
The Hooker Oak was made famous by the Warner Brothers Studio film The Adventures of Robin Hood . Errol Flynn as Robin Hood gathers his outlaws next to the tree (called "Gallows Oak" in the movie).
The site of the tree is registered as California Historical Landmark number 313 and is located in Bidwell Park . After a fire, the remaining stump was removed in March 2013.
Individual evidence
- ^ Butte County . In: California Historical Landmarks . Office of Historic Preservation. Retrieved January 8, 2011.
- ↑ chicoer.com: Hooker Oak's remains removed from Bidwell Park Article of March 22, 2013, updated April 21, 2018 (removal of the stump), accessed June 11, 2018
Web links
Coordinates: 39 ° 44 ′ 18 " N , 121 ° 49 ′ 31" W.