A vocabulary of landscape — a landscape of words
975 entries
stag-headed
An ancient tree whose upper crown has died back, leaving bare, antler-like dead branches projecting above the living canopy below. Not necessarily dying — stag-heading can be a tree’s strategy for reducing its crown to match declining root capacity. The tree retreats into a smaller version of itself.
Etymology
Stag from Old English stagga (a male deer), of uncertain origin, possibly from Old Norse. Headed from Old English hēafod (head), from Proto-Germanic haubudą. A tree gone stag-headed has bare, antler-like branches at its crown — the dead limbs reaching up like a stag’s rack.