What modifications are needed to have tree that can create hurricane/cyclone around it?

Question

I don't know much about hurricane/cyclone and how to created it (nor know the difference much, so bear with me if i make mistake), so I want to know what kind of plant organs or ability need to achieve this without harming the tree itself.

So in one of the isolated island in my world, there's an endemic tree that can create hurricane/cyclone field as their way of eradicating their competitors and protect themselves from harm/animals, they live inside the hurricane/cyclone eye/core/center where its calmer, in the same time i think this wind also help to spread their seed/pollination, and monopolize the sun light.

• they grow pretty spread out from each other to be able to not compete with their own species and not disturbing their hurricane/cyclone field.

• the rest that unlucky to grow/sprout near other hurricane/cyclone field is more likely death or unable to grow properly.

• I don't know how strong the hurricane/cyclone need to be but at least achievable by this tree or enough to throw a cow out of the field.

• As I mention, this is real plant that performs photosynthesis, so fungus and such is not part of this.

• Carnivorous plants are also out of the question.

• Even better if they still can bear fruit and flower and can withstand this hurricane/cyclone (optional)

• I don't think the weather or climate in the island yet, since i think this will be related to create the hurricane/cyclone possible for this tree, but the planet itself is habitable planet like earth, originally i was thinking its around tropical or equator but feel free to suggest better climate/weather to achieve this.

• I originally think When the tree is death or the structure break, it stop creating hurricane/cyclone either it goes poof and gone or gradually calmed down or off to move around especially to outside the island.

• If possible would also help to know the lifespans of a tree like this can live, since i am not good with math.

I originally think the adult plant has spiral hollow tube around it where it accumulate slowly into stronger hurricane/cyclone with structure like bamboo or flexibility, where it can bend and sway around with strong roots when the hurricane/cyclone has become strong enough.

Feel free to edit my grammar or the tags to be appropriate for my question, since I am not sure which tags are most appropriate for my question.

Answer 1

As L.Dutch says, you need heat, but heat isn't incompatible with plantlife. Consider the eucalyptus. Now the eucalyptus isn't just a passive pyrophyte like some, no, it's an active pyrophyte. The eucalyptus pumps flammable oils into the air around it to make fires more common and bigger.

Pyromaniac trees

The right weather conditions, a dry thunderstorm would be perfect, matching alignment of the tree, and you have your tornado. Admittedly it's not a full tornado, just a little fire tornado, but that's going to be enough to suppress any other plantlife and any attempt to colonise.

Pyrophytes as a general rule use fire to germinate their seeds, the eucalyptus also uses fire to keep down the brush and give the seeds space to germinate. We're just taking it to an extreme.

Answer 2

To create a cyclone you need a source of heat to make air rise on a reasonable large area. Something akin to the storm of fires created by incendiary bombing in WWII.

This means that your tree has to:

• generate a significant amount of heat
• be spread on a rather large area

Normally generating heat above a certain extent is incompatible with life, so if your tree is "hot", that alone would ensure that its surrounding are kept clear of most competing species. If not killed by the heat, they would suffer from lack of water as a consequence of the increased evaporation.

However being "hot" requires quite some energy emission per unit surface, more than what a tree can harvest from the same surface in the same amount of time from the Sun. Therefore I think your tree cannot be continuously hot, but probably better have a switching behavior: normally cold with short bursts of heat.

This might be achieved with organs which stores large amounts of sugars (normally produced by any photosynthetic plant), and then burn them in short times to give a burst in temperature. These organs might be renewable, sort of a lizard tail which is sacrificed for the sake of the whole body.