The Peeling Bark of the Arbutus Tree, February’s Plant of the Month

My friend has an arbutus tree in her backyard and as she says, “They’re always dropping something.”

I’m going to focus on the way the bark peels leaving behind fascinating patterns.

Arbutus bark patterns in orange and dark red (Vancouver Island, BC, Canada).The bark appears in three levels, a dark burnt-looking bark that flakes away with an intense orange bark underneath that turns dark red and then peels away to reveal the third level of bark.
The freshly peeling dark red revealing the young green bark underneath. The green eventually turns orange and I think it peels again.
I’ve always been fascinated with how the tree heals after it has had graffiti carved into its bark.
The Canadian ones only seem to grow on Pacific coast by the water.
There are straighter ones in Arizona called Madrones from the Spanish for ‘Strawberry tree’, named because their fruit, which they also drop, resemble strawberries.