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There are numerous historical reports of a
tree unusually capable of growing live birds. The tree was aptly named as it possessed barnacles
(or shells) that were white in colour, that opened and contained geese. Although
no recent sightings have been reported, the myth was popular until the the 18th
Century and as early as the 13th Century, it was dismissed Albert Magnus as
being false, although Magnus was unable to backup this claim. John Gerard's Historical Accounts
of the Barncale Tree: In 1597, Gerard published the book Herball,
or Generall Historie of Plantes, which described an area of Lancashire,
England called the Pile of Foulders, as well as north areas Scotland,
where these trees existed. Geese would grow on Barnacle Trees hanging by their beaks,
forcing the shell in which they grew to open, and eventually fall from the tree.
The tree would often grow near to water, by the edge of rivers, and geese falling
into the water would become fowls of Barnacle Geese. If, however, a goose should
hit land, it was said that it would perish.
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