Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Water Bob" data-source="post: 5661846" data-attributes="member: 92305">CIMMERIAN THICKET TREESThese large trees native to Cimmeria grow 80-220 feet tall. Their trunks average 10 feet in diameter, but longer diameters are not uncommon. The tree grows a light bark on its limbs that insulates it during the harsh Cimmerian winters, but this bark easily sloughs off--usually making the tree harder to climb--revealing a birch-like white surface below.At about 40 feet, large limbs--some 3 or 4 feet in diameter--break out radially from the tree to twist and turn in impossible directions. These heavy limbs would eventually pull themselves away from the tree's central trunk were it not for the fact that the thicket trees grow in close groves to where the limbs of one tree actually merges with the limbs of another, creating lattice-like network of limbs, the trees mutually supporting each other, throughout the entire grove. These trees are uncommon even in Cimmeria, but when encountered, a large thicket grove can take up an area of several square miles. It is usually possible to climb a thicket tree and travel a long distance just by transversing the inter-locking limbs.The trees attract parasitic vines that root into the thicket trees sloughing bark and wrap around the lattice-work limbs. The vines are typically thick enough to be used to swing from one limb to another.A very long breed of poisonous tree snake is sometimes mistaken for one of these vines. These strangely shaped snakes are typically 2-3 inches thick but average 40-80 feet in length. Many times, the snake will wrap its taile around the limbs of a thicket tree, hidden among the tree's vines, and dangle with its head close to the ground to catch prey. There are stories of Cimmerians traveling the limbs of a thicket grove, grabbing a vine snake by mistake in an attempt to swing to another limb, having the snake's head curl up and attack it's unwelcomed rider in mid-air.The wood of the thicket trees is very hard and dense, supported by the minerals in the typically rocky Cimmerian soil.</blockquote>

Verification