XPost: alt.fan.tolkien, rec.arts.books.tolkien   
   From: no.spam@no.spam   
      
   Öjevind Lång wrote:   
      
    >> 1. It is a live tree.   
    >   
    > Well - yes and no. OK, call me an Elf if you wish!   
      
   Uh oh. My 1st Q and your A was...   
      
    >> Is it a complete, living tree/shrub/vine/bush/reed/tussock/   
    >> shoot/sprout/frond/grass/whatever?   
    >   
    > Yes.   
    >   
    > Öjevind   
      
   (?)   
      
   >> By the same reasoning we can eliminate any other tree of unknown type,   
   >> unless it explicitly appears at least twice in the story, of which once   
   >> is in a forest and once isn't.   
      
   > Hm. It could be a tree of unknown type. That is to say, Tolkien never   
   > tells us what species it belongs to.   
      
   Here following is a tree which is located in tree-sprinkled grassland,   
   not forest (those few trees that are present being outliers which lie   
   outside the approaching woods):   
      
      They had been jogging along again for an hour or more when Sam stopped   
      a moment as if listening. They were now on level ground, and the road   
      after much winding lay straight ahead through grass-land sprinkled   
      with tall trees, outliers of the approaching woods.   
      
      Frodo hesitated for a second: curiosity or some other feeling was   
      struggling with his desire to hide. The sound of hoofs drew   
      nearer. Just in time he threw himself down in a patch of long grass   
      behind a tree that overshadowed the road. Then he lifted his head   
      and peered cautiously above one of the great roots.   
      
   Well I am saying that our objective could not be this particular tree,   
   whose species (although tall) is unknown and for all we know might not   
   ever be found in a forest.   
      
   In fact it might be of a particularly anti-social type which stubbornly   
   refuses to grow anywhere else but in grass-lands with an absolute   
   maximum tree sprinkling density and prefers at the very most to be an   
   outlier. Plant another tree within the radius of its comfort zone and   
   it either expires from overcrowding, fights the new tree or indignantly   
   gathers up its roots and stalks off in a huff when no one is watching.   
      
   I'm not saying for certain that it is of this unsociable type. However   
   it *could* be, because the author doesn't say otherwise. So we can't say   
   with absolute certainty that this type can be found in a forest.   
      
   SQ   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)