The Tree that Bleeds

There are about 600 species and varieties of eucalyptus trees, all but six of which are native only to Australia and only one is not found there. These trees, which may reach 300 feet in height, grow as large forests only in a small area of Australia.
 

The trees have a number of ways to survive natural disasters such as fire, drought, and frost, but do not live as long as some of the oaks in the Northern Hemisphere. It might be because it is easier for them to become infested with fungus and termites. Their long branches tend to get caught in the wind, which breaks them and exposes the inner wood to the attacks of fungus and insects that sometimes kill the tree. Eucalyptus trees live an average of two to 400 hundred years, with old ones can reach 1,000 years of age.
 

Some species of eucalyptus, however, have a remarkable defense against insect and fungus invasions. As soon as an injury occurs to the tree, the injured area is flooded with a sticky red liquid called "kino." Bleeding TreeAs the kino comes in contact with air, it hardens to a bright-red mass that seals the wound off from the elements and attacking enemies.
 

The liquid sometimes pours forth with such force that attacking insects are literally washed away and may even become trapped in the substance as it hardens.
 

In the Northern Hemisphere we see much the same thing in cone-bearing trees when a wound causes the tree to seal the area with a sticky white sap.
 

One day a Man – Jesus by name – was hanging on a tree when a Roman soldier thrust a spear into His side. The power of the blood that was shed is unfathomable. It fights all the forces of sin that would invade the heart of even the weakest of God’s children. And it seals the life of those who accept Jesus, making it possible for them to grow up spiritually strong in Him.