“If you know how to see, their storytelling goes deeper than the curve of a windward branch. Everything that affects the pine is expressed in its body. The tree is an integrator of all its experience and that of the surrounding community. When you have learned its lexicon, the story of the weevils, the drought, the fire, the blister rust, the wind, the canoe makers, and the maples are all plainly written. And more.”
- Robin Wall Kimmerer, Hearing the Language of Trees
It is common knowledge that if one wants to know how old the tree is, you count its rings. As the tree grows, a new layer forms with each year.
It’s possible to see the tree rings without harming or cutting the tree - a tool exists, known as an increment borer. A thin metal extractor enters the tree, and can extract a thin piece of tree core. Even if it doesn’t provide the full-on view of all the rings, the piece is enough for the tree to be examined and age determined.
Around this simple concept of counting tree rings is a whole science called dendrochronology. Dendrochronology also connects to dendroclimatology, where the rings can provide valuable information about climate and atmosphere conditions at a specific point in time.
dendrochrono takes into account these ideas and asks a question:
* dendrochrono uses a weather database that has 80 years of historical data. Dates with year of birth earlier than 1940 may not work with this app.