Bridge Root

> ***"The Bridge Root tree is a personal favorite of mine. During my trek across Haven, I cannot count the number of times I used their powerful bodies to walk across the many rivers during my trek around the world. It's given me a special sort of "kinship" with these trees as they assisted me greatly all those many years ago."** **-William Tancard's: Haveborne Flora illustrated.***
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## Bridge Root

A young Bridge Root tree growing across a small stream

## Biological

### Habitat:

* Temperate forests
* Taigas
* Rivers
* Lakes
* Streams
* Shorelines

## Physical

### Physical Description:

* Grey colored moss covered bark
* Smooth textured bark
* Long vertical trunk

### Weight:

16,000 pounds on average (7,257 kilograms)

## **Overview**

The **Bridge Root** trees are a fairly common species of tree on **Haven**, found exclusively near fresh water bodies such as rivers, lakes and streams with a global population of around ten billion individual trees across Haven. Their name comes from their unorthodox growing method, as they grow over the tops of the river they are located at, connecting itself across the two sections of land the river cuts through, creating a bridge between them.

## **Physical**

The Bridge Root tree's baseline physical appearance resembles that of a Haven Oak tree that has fallen over across a river, and like the Haven Oak, individual Bridge Root trees can vary widely from each other in size, length and appearance, as some have been known to grow up to three hundred feet in length. They are one of the most effective trees on Haven when it comes to absorbing water, as they have several long roots that extend down from the main tree trunk towards the bottom of the water below them, constantly gathering the endless water that surrounds them. As well as the bottom of the river, their roots are also embedded on the land across the river, meaning the Bridge Root is extremely sturdy, taking around thirty-eight thousand pounds per square inch to break their hold on the ground.

It will typically take a Bridge Root around fifty standard years to fully grow, though this can depend on the length of the river the respective tree is growing across. As a Bridge Root ages, it will grow wider and longer, as well as gaining a dirt like texture and coloring on top of its trunk and branches. Sometimes, a Bridge Root tree will grow in a winding and twisting pattern, depending on how the river they grow across flows throughout the land, tough in most cases it will grow in a flat horizontal line.

## **Usage**

Due to the nature in which Bridge Root trees grow, their wood is not commonly used in the construction of buildings or other items. Instead, larger Bridge Root trees are often times carved to form actual usable bridges to cross the respective rivers they grow across. These elaborately crafted bridges are often times extremely sturdy, allowing thousands of individuals and even several large vehicles to cross the bridge without fear of the wood they stand upon breaking beneath them. Often times, these examples of Bridge Root trees are used to link separate sections of settlements built across a river, or even completely different settlements.

Certain species of terrestrial fauna are also known to take advantage of a Bridge Root tree's advantageous position across a river, using it to safely guide themselves across to the other side and avoid would be predators in the waters below. Along with fauna, many species of flower, grass and moss grow on the tops of the Bridge Root tree's trunk as well, making older and larger Bridge Roots a small ecosystem in their own right.