High in the branches of trees, you may sometimes spot what looks like an abandoned bird’s nest—a dense, tangled mass of twigs clustered together in a tight ball. But look closer and you may find that no bird built it at all. The strange growth is known as a witches’ broom.
A witches’ broom forms when a tree’s normal growth pattern is disrupted, causing a dense cluster of shoots to sprout from a single point. Instead of growing outward in an orderly fashion, dozens or even hundreds of small branches crowd together, creating a broom-like shape. From a distance, these clumps often resemble large nests wedged in the crook of a tree.
A birch tree infected with Taphrina betulina causing witches' broom. Credit: Wikimedia Commons
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