[Palifox]

I'm hoping this does not come across as woo-woo. I'm well aware of the dangers of spon. com. in coal and some other materials like linseed oil rags having worked in the coal industry.

Couple of years ago I glanced out the window to see a neighbour's "pencil pine" or "Roman pine" tree on fire on one side, the side away from the street as it happened. The flames had only just broken out and there was nobody about. By the time I got out of the front door the neighbour was dragging a garden hose toward the tree. As I recall the weather was cool rather than hot.

While mulch can show spon. com, there was no mulch about the area, the tree grew straight out of a well trimmed lawn. I decided that a butt flicked from a passing car might have been the cause and more or less forgot the incident.  But the other day on another site someone mentioned seeing a tree alight for no immediately apparent cause and another person came in with a remark about conifers. The pencil pine is of course a conifer.

In these trees the upthrust branches tend to retain fallen leaves in thick lumps but whether these could retain enough heat is doubtful. The Oxford University Press in their Notes and Queries internet pages has a 19th century article on spon. com in trees but it is a pay per view site.

Does anyone know anything reliable about this?   

Palifox