A vocabulary of landscape — a landscape of words
1068 entries
snag
A standing dead tree — still upright, bark peeling, branches dropping, heartwood softening. Snags are among the most ecologically valuable features in a forest. Woodpeckers excavate nesting cavities in them; owls, bats, and flying squirrels move in afterward. Insects colonize the decaying wood, feeding the birds that feed on them.
Etymology
Old Norse snagi, a peg or projection. The word originally meant a sharp stump or projecting branch. Its application to standing dead trees is North American forestry usage.