Ice pruning is the natural process of selective vegetative
pruning 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.
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 the circle of latitude that divides Earth into the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Southern Hemisphere, Southern Hemispheres of Earth, hemispheres. It is an imaginary line located at 0 degrees latitude, about in circumferen ...
. 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 Newfoundland and Labrador and is tha ...
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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