It’s only in the past couple of years that I saw how some trees foam when it rains. But it happens often enough, when it rains after a dry spell or when it rains a lot.
According to the Brandywine Conservancy…”The foam is a result of a crude soap, flowing and bubbling due to turbulence on tree bark furrows. Soap is basically a combination of an alkali metal, such as sodium or potassium, and a mixture of carboxylic acids.”
I would have put that in my own words if I could, but I don’t know enough about alkali metal and carboxylic acids to make sense of it.
I do get the idea of different substances mixing together on the bark of the tree when it rains and making a kind of soap that washes down the tree. And that the bubble are formed by the creases and crevasses of the trees bark.
Since spotting foam on trees, I’ve only seen it bubbling up by the roots of pine trees. Maybe it’s because of how dry it’s been the past few months that this maple had a stream of bubbles flowing down it.
When I showed Jon the video, he thought at first it was a bubbling stream. I saw the illusion too, the tree’s bark as rocks and the moss as vegetation growing on the banks.
Yes! I saw it as a bubbling stream at first too. I didn’t know that trees do that, create that foam. Lovely video, Maria.
Sandy, I just love being able to share something like this on my blog. Otherwise, it makes it more meaningful to be able to put it someplace where other people can see it. Thanks for your comment. :)