This general category
includes all types of physical damage to trunks or stems
of trees. Other than the actual wounds, symptoms could
be wilting leaves and twigs due to the disruption of
water flow from the roots.
When major chunks are
taken from the trunk or the stem is cracked and broken,
the primary damage is the sensitive layer beneath the
bark called the
cambium. This is the growing point which
allows trunks and stems to grow in circumference. When
this layer of cells is disrupted, it causes a loss of
vascular tissue that carries water and nutrients up the
tree and carbohydrates and sugars down to the roots.
Lacking these tissues, all or part of the tree must die
depending on the amount of cambium lost.
