Greenpoint’s most seductive tree has given itself to the wrath of Hurricane Irene.
The so-called “Vagina Tree,” a decades-old London Plane in McCarren Park, toppled from the high winds of this weekend’s tropical storm, damaging an iron fence and a lampost as it fell.
The tree’s distinctive trunk, which looks like it has been around the block a few times, fully lived up to its nickname last April when someone anonymously pierced it with a five-inch metal ring.
The sexy neighborhood curiosity near Bedford Avenue and the McCarren Park tennis courts has attracted a Foursquare page and even hosts its own Twitter feed, @TheVaginaTree.
But Irene’s furiously swirling winds licked the tree forcefully enough to snap it just above its waist on Sunday. All that remains is a spent stump.
The Foursquare’s account is now “closed.” On Monday night, the tree Tweeted what might be its last message: “I am the stump formerly known as Vagina Tree.”
Parks officials said that it was unlikely that another tree would be planted in its place due to its expansive root system. But a new dogwood will be added to a triangular field near Lorimer Street, and a group of volunteers would tend to the park’s garden and plant several trees next month. though none resembling a Georgia O’Keefe painting.
