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On a recent hike at the Audubon Wildlife Sanctuary in Princeton, Massachusetts, my husband came across this tree.
The trunk is twisted in a spiral/curly fashion. It was in a forest of many other trees, but this was the only one that looked like that.
What is the name of the tree? Is that just the way it grows, or an indication of something wrong with it?
I suspect that tree grew with something else twined around it. That something else has meanwhile died or been removed. Bittersweet is a likely candidate for what might have wound around the tree earlier in its life. There is more information on bittersweet in this question.
I can't tell exactly what type of tree it is without seeing the leaves. However, it is a hardwood. The leaves we can see appear to be maple, but it's hard to tell, and they don't look like they are from the tree in question.
