TDTCB, Inrau's POV, USA small edition, page 122
The idol was worked in white marble, eyes closed with the sunken look of the dead. At first glance she appeared to be the severed head of a woman, beautiful yet vaguely common, mounted on a pole. Anything more than a glance however, revealed the pole to be a miniature tree, like those cultivated by the ancient Norsirai, only worked in bronze. Branches poked through her parted lips and swetp across her face - nature reborn through human lips. Other branches reached behind to break through her frozen hair. Her image never failed to stir something within him, and this is why he always returned to her: she was this stirring, the dark place where the flurries of his though arose. She came before him.
my italics/bold
Ok sorry but i just have to point out a few things unrelated to trees:
"Her image never failed to stir something within him, and this is why he always returned to her: she was this stirring, the dark place where the flurries of his though arose. She came before him"
Almost a blatant reference to the Dunyain principle of the Logos, The Darkness that Comes Before, and an acknowledgement of Gods coming before men.
Also, on the page before (on page 121): "He sprinted up the broad steps, between the bronze serpents that graced the entrance"
Huh holy Serpent statues inside the "Irreuma", which is the building Inrau is running into and which is one of the Temples... odd.