SCP-9261

SCP-92561 is an ombu bush1 of the species Phytolacca dioica 23 m in height, with a canopy roughly 16 m in diameter and a trunk 8.5 m in diameter at its widest point, and weighing 100 tons. The specimen was recovered on April 11, 1998 from unincorporated territory in the Municipality of General Enrique Martínez, Treinta y Tres Department, Uruguay when a local farmer attempted to chop it down while clearing the area to build a house. The Foundation became alerted of the instance after a call by the farmer to the local Intendant's office requesting permission to use explosives to remove it. After removing the subject from the site and interviewing the farmer about the encounter, Class B Amnestics were administered to purge all knowledge about the object and related events from the farmer. Government files regarding the request to use explosives were also removed.

The tree, except for its roots, is invincible to all forms of damage including fire, blunt force, cutting, sawing, shooting with an M1-Abrahams tank, wind speeds of 5000km/h for week-long periods (no wilting observed), conventional explosives with a yield of up to 500 tons of TNT and nuclear explosives with a yield of up to 750 tons of TNT. All artillery rounds bounce off of the specimen.

The roots cannot be harmed by anything except tools commonly used for cutting wood or woodworking, such as, axes, chainsaws, chisels, hand planes, wood chippers, routers, sanders, hand saws, table saws and miter saws. After being separated from the main body, the wooden material the roots are made out of exhibits the same characteristics as the rest of the roots but lose weight drastically with a density drop from 270 kg/m3 to 43 kg/m3. This characteristic has made the wood especially useful in construction and fireproofing of wooden structures within the Foundation.

When cut, the roots release a toxic gas that, when inhaled, can cause symptoms ranging from indigestion and vomiting to acute and chronic dehydration and death, depending on level of exposure. This gas, however, can be safely released into the atmosphere, causing no harm to either the environment or humans, and dissipates quickly.

Under regular circumstances, the roots grow at a rate of 12.4 m3/min and do not stop when faced with any barrier, digging their way through all known materials. However, testing has shown that growth speed can be reduced 45% to approximately 6.8 m3/min by depriving the specimen of all oxygen and eliminating natural light, replacing it with green single-spectrum LED lights. It is currently unknown why the object did not expand its roots to dangerous proportions in its original location, but it has been theorised that termite colonies (or other insects), kept the growth at bay.

The rate at which SCP-9261 grows its roots has made it useful for the Foundation to harvest its wood and use it for construction and other wood-related products, especially considering that the pruning is necessary as per the SCP, which avoids structural damage to the entire globe.

SCP-9261 is unable to reproduce as it does not produce seeds produces exactly one seed every 19 years, which, when germinated, does not grow. The seeds are just as indestructible as the trunk and canopy and have been classified SCP-9261-1 and SCP-9261-2 (only two have been produced since the specimen came into Foundation custody, the numbering convention should be followed for every subsequent seed).

Internal imaging of the trunk has revealed that there is a "core" present in its centre which changes shape every time it is observed. The nature of the wood makes direct examination of the core impossible. However, some recognisable shapes have been observed. The core has been classed as SCP-9261-α for the time being. This is subject to change (see Addendum 2). The imaging has also suggested with a high degree of certainty that SCP-9261-α is made of water with a relatively high concentration of Fe+2 ions. SCP-9261-α has been observed to take the form of small animals (including some not native to the region), animal organs, plant organs, Platonic solids, abstract shapes, and (only immediately after use), scaled down versions of whatever weapon attempted to penetrate it. The percentages of each can be seen in the following table.

Although the colour of the subject is no different to that of a non-anomalous individual of the species P. dioica, when the cut roots are placed in any liquid except for water, they display the characteristic blue glow of Cherenkov radiation. However, testing reveals little to no presence of radioactive materials, leading to the conclusion that the phenomenon is either not Cherenkov radiation, or is being produced by an unknown subatomic particle that cannot be detected with existing technology.

Radiocarbon dating has shown the entity to be between 13000 and 13500 years old.