How to describe trees with "two or more trunks"

For a Live Oak with a trunk such as your example I describe it as one tree with a double trunk and give the diameter at breast height.?ÿ
ƒ??DBL Oak 51-in ABHƒ?

Three trunks = TRI Oak 72-in ABH

More than three trunks = MULTI Oak 109-in ABH

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Thanks BushAxe

Describing the total or overall diameter makes sense, but I see lots of multi-trunk trees that are just not round, they're much more like a row of trunks like this -->?ÿ 0000. How do you describe the diameter of that?!

Regards, Andrew

Not sure of the "right" way but I've always averaged the dbh and stated how many trunks...Map would read "2 Bole 36" Oak"

24" & 32" twin white oak

24" & 32" & 36" triple white oak

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I've always used "8 8 12 Oak"?ÿ ?ÿ"24 20 Oak"

OAK2-12

OAK2-12-18

I like as few letters/words as possible.?ÿ So as long as it gets the message across...

Calling the tree a twin, trio, or multi-trunk seems to work best in my book. I notice those on the east coast use the term ABH and us with lots of Doug fir on the west coast use DBH (diameter breast high). Having attended college to be a forester so had classes in timber cruising and log scaling, I find that interesting about terms changing as we cross the nation.

School marm 24ƒ? 18ƒ?

@rankin_file?ÿ I have not heard that term in a long time; it brought a chuckle.

We do lots of tree surveys in this part of NY.?ÿ I use 12 10 6 6?ÿ tree, or 2-24 tree.?ÿ I never paid attention to the order, until the EIS folks wanted the trees tabulated by largest size first.?ÿ Since then, I have always used that format; 24 20 tree, not 20 24 tree.?ÿ?ÿ No inches on the map and descriptions are abbreviated, but described in a tree legend.

Ken

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Cluster F******

That would adequately describe the mess I found yesterday with a very old dead tree in the center of four 20" +/- trees spreading away from the dead tree with another dead tree that had fallen and somehow been rolled tightly against the east side of the Cluster F******.?ÿ Barbed wire of various indeterminate ages had been attached to various parts of the conglomeration to start fences in the four cardinal directions as that was an accepted property corner.?ÿ Our math put the corner roughly where the fallen dead tree was wedged tightly against the mess.?ÿ We put a witness corner 10 feet to the west which was about a foot west of a corner post of recent erection.

@rankin_file

I've got more than one PLSS corner record on record that references school marm bearing trees!?ÿ

@hi-staker

Found this:?ÿ Schoolmarm: an old loggers term for a?ÿtree?ÿstem that branches into two or more trunks or tops. The name comes from?ÿSchool?ÿMa'am's or Moms that were unmarried and were "pure" and wouldn't "roll over".

16" Oak

18" Oak

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@nate-the-surveyor

Agreed. I'd pick the canopy up as a separate foliage string line, since each bole will have a separate, interleaved (excvuse the pun!) non-circular canopy.

Actually, if the canopy is a way off circular on a single bole I'd also pick it separately.

We always record DBH and drip radius.

Species, DBH of all trunks, drip

I avoid such work like the plague.?ÿ Unless it drops an apple on my head it might be anything but an apple tree.?ÿ One surveyor says it's an elm and a different one says it's a hackberry and it is definitely the same tree.?ÿ I gave up on that years ago.

@bushaxe

Around here, municipalities provide guidance on how to measure and describe those sorts of things. Fortunately, they are all different and change every couple of years.

On a tree like that I'd probably just shoot them separately.?ÿ

Dang good question,?ÿ I have used all kinds of descriptions for these.

My toughest thing has been labels or do you give a written narrative with pictures, this has been my go-to way as of late. Show point numbers on drawing with some symbol and then include a written explanation with pictures for the client. Plats get so busy with notations. Required certifications.

Can the client actually figure out what parcel we actually have surveyed.