Just in time for Halloween

There is a witch’s broom located on a tall pine tree that stands in the north­east cor­ner of Fairview Ceme­tery. It looks like a small, bushy tree grow­ing hor­i­zon­tally from the pine.

Accord­ing to the Iowa State Uni­ver­sity Depart­ment of Ento­mol­ogy web­site, the witch’s broom is a tree dis­or­der that can appear on sev­eral tree species, includ­ing decid­u­ous trees (hack­berry, maple and wil­low) and conifers (pine and spruce). “The dis­or­der is char­ac­ter­ized by the growth of com­pact clus­ters of twigs grow­ing from a sin­gle point in the tree. This dense mass of stems cre­ates a broom-like look,” the site reports.

There are many causes for a witch’s broom but the dis­or­der is not typ­i­cally a seri­ous threat to the plant’s health. (Photo submitted)