Whomping Willow = Hornbeam Tree

[dungrollin]

"Steve" <bboyminn@> wrote:
> > This hornbeam had short extremely
> > thick trunk and short thick main branches, but then instead of
> > sub-branches, it had clusters of thin willow like branches 
> sprouting
> > from the main heavy branches. In other words exactly as you see 
the Whomping Willow in the movies.
> > 

Annemehr:
> It didn't grow that way naturally, it's been trimmed at the same 
> spot every year (or maybe two).  That's why the trunk keeps 
growing thicker as it normally would, but then the branches are 
alway young and slim.
> 
> I saw a lot of trees like that in Britain; I guess they do that to 
> keep the tree to a smaller size.
> 

Dungrollin:
It's a technique called pollarding. It's similar to coppicing, but 
coppicing is where the tree is cut close to the ground, and 
pollarding is higher up. 

Simple explanation here:
http://www.maryrose.org/lcity/woodwork/woods-and-forests2.htm
More details here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pollarding
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coppicing

Or just do a google image search for 'pollarding' or 'coppicing' to 
see some pictures. Coppicing is (supposedly) a good management 
technique for increasing woodland biodiversity, particulary used for 
trees like Hazel.

Dung