Abstract : We characterize the asymptotics of heights of the trees of de la Briandais and the ternary search trees (TST) of Bentley and Sedgewick. Our proof is based on a new analysis of the structure of tries that distinguishes the bulk of the tree, called the $\textit{core}$, and the long trees hanging down the core, called the $\textit{spaghettis}$.