Edaphoecotropism

Edaphoecotropism is a long and complex word to describe a common phenomenion. 

It's the ability of living tissue to engulf foreign objects, whether rocks, road signs, park benches, even bicycles. We see it most often with trees and, contrary to what you might think, this usually does no harm to to them.

I see several examples of this every day on my dog walks. One is a large flint nodule that has been captured by tree roots and another is a fence absorbed by a tree.

So now we all know a new word. 

Impress your friends!