Bark (botany) rope, used for example in the rigging of Viking age longships. Among the commercial products made from bark are cork, cinnamon, quinine (from the bark of Cinchona) and aspirin (from the bark of willow trees). The bark of some trees notably oak ("Quercus robur") is a source of tannic acid, which is used in tanning. Bark chips generated as a by-product of lumber production are often used in bark mulch in western North America. Bark is important to the horticultural industry since in shredded form it is used for plants that do not thrive in ordinary soil, such as epiphytes.
Bark pocket Bark pocket Bark pockets can be formed by inosculation, formation of a tree fork, encapsulation of a branch, joining together of an uneven trunk, or encapsulation of another object. During inosculation, the bark trapped between the two joining trunk becomes surrounded with wood once the trunks fuse. The resulting bark pocket formed during inosculation or in a tree fork is referred to as included bark. When a branch is encapsulated, the outer bark on the branch may remain inside the wood of the tree, as the trunk widens and grows around the branch. Bark pockets can be used as an