Portal:Trees

The Trees Portal

Common ash (Fraxinus excelsior), a deciduous broad-leaved (angiosperm) tree

In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, including only woody plants with secondary growth, plants that are usable as lumber or plants above a specified height. In wider definitions, the taller palms, tree ferns, bananas, and bamboos are also trees.

Trees are not a monophyletic taxonomic group but consist of a wide variety of plant species that have independently evolved a trunk and branches as a way to tower above other plants to compete for sunlight. The majority of tree species are angiosperms or hardwoods; of the rest, many are gymnosperms or softwoods. Trees tend to be long-lived, some reaching several thousand years old. Trees have been in existence for 370 million years. It is estimated that there are around three trillion mature trees in the world.

A tree typically has many secondary branches supported clear of the ground by the trunk. This trunk typically contains woody tissue for strength, and vascular tissue to carry materials from one part of the tree to another. For most trees it is surrounded by a layer of bark which serves as a protective barrier. Below the ground, the roots branch and spread out widely; they serve to anchor the tree and extract moisture and nutrients from the soil. Above ground, the branches divide into smaller branches and shoots. The shoots typically bear leaves, which capture light energy and convert it into sugars by photosynthesis, providing the food for the tree's growth and development.

Trees usually reproduce using seeds. Flowers and fruit may be present, but some trees, such as conifers, instead have pollen cones and seed cones. Palms, bananas, and bamboos also produce seeds, but tree ferns produce spores instead.

Trees play a significant role in reducing erosion and moderating the climate. They remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and store large quantities of carbon in their tissues. Trees and forests provide a habitat for many species of animals and plants. Tropical rainforests are among the most biodiverse habitats in the world. Trees provide shade and shelter, timber for construction, fuel for cooking and heating, and fruit for food as well as having many other uses. In much of the world, forests are shrinking as trees are cleared to increase the amount of land available for agriculture. Because of their longevity and usefulness, trees have always been revered, with sacred groves in various cultures, and they play a role in many of the world's mythologies. (Full article...)

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Florida strangler fig in Deering Park, Florida

Ficus aurea, commonly known as the Florida strangler fig (or simply strangler fig), golden fig, or higuerón, is a tree in the family Moraceae that is native to the U.S. state of Florida, the northern and western Caribbean, southern Mexico and Central America south to Panama. The specific epithet aurea was applied by English botanist Thomas Nuttall who described the species in 1846.

Ficus aurea is a strangler fig. In figs of this group, seed germination usually takes place in the canopy of a host tree with the seedling living as an epiphyte until its roots establish contact with the ground. After that, it enlarges and strangles its host, eventually becoming a free-standing tree in its own right. Individuals may reach 30 m (100 ft) in height. Like all figs, it has an obligate mutualism with fig wasps: figs are only pollinated by fig wasps, and fig wasps can only reproduce in fig flowers. The tree provides habitat, food and shelter for a host of tropical lifeforms including epiphytes in cloud forests and birds, mammals, reptiles and invertebrates. F. aurea is used in traditional medicine, for live fencing, as an ornamental and as a bonsai. (Full article...)

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Did you know? -

Saalfeld Easter egg tree with 9200 eggs, taken March 24, 2009

... that the Easter egg tree (pictured) in Saalfeld, Thuringia, was decorated with 10,000 Easter eggs in 2012?
... that the Living Willow Theatre, an open air theatre constructed of living willow trees, is located near the village of Llanwrthwl and occasionally holds outdoor performances of Shakespeare?
... that Wollemi Stringybark, a tree that grows to 45 metres (148 ft) high northwest of Sydney, remains officially undescribed?
... that Linton Park in Kent, England, has an avenue of Giant Sequoia trees planted in 1864?
... that the Eduardo Avaroa Andean Fauna National Reserve contains a "stone tree"?
... that the scarlet honey myrtle, an ornamental garden shrub, is from the same genus as the punk tree?
... that the towers of architect Terunobu Fujimori's Lamune Onsen have pine trees planted on the apex of their roofs?

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Shortly after pollarding

Pollarding is a pruning system involving the removal of the upper branches of a tree, which promotes the growth of a dense head of foliage and branches. In ancient Rome, Propertius mentioned pollarding during the 1st century BC. The practice has occurred commonly in Europe since medieval times, and takes place today in urban areas worldwide, primarily to maintain trees at a determined height or to place new shoots out of the reach of grazing animals.

Traditionally, people pollarded trees for one of two reasons: for fodder to feed livestock or for wood. Fodder pollards produced "pollard hay" for livestock feed; they were pruned at intervals of two to six years so their leafy material would be most abundant. Wood pollards were pruned at longer intervals of eight to fifteen years, a pruning cycle tending to produce upright poles favored for fencing and boat construction. Supple young willow or hazel branches may be harvested as material for weaving baskets, fences, and garden constructions such as bowers. Nowadays, the practice is sometimes used for ornamental trees, such as crape myrtles in southern states of the US. (Full article...)

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General images

The following are images from various tree-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1Priest River winding through Whitetail Butte with lots of forestry to the east—these lot patterns have existed since the mid-19th century. The white patches reflect areas with younger, smaller trees, where winter snow cover shows up brightly to the astronauts. Dark green-brown squares are parcels (from Forest)
Image 2Alnus glutinosa (from List of trees of Great Britain and Ireland)
Image 3European larch (Larix decidua), a coniferous tree which is also deciduous (from Tree)
Image 4Forest in the Scottish Highlands (from Forest)
Image 5Trees in art: Weeping Willow, Claude Monet, 1918 (from Tree)
Image 6Even, dense old-growth stand of beech trees (Fagus sylvatica) prepared to be regenerated by their saplings in the understory, in the Brussels part of the Sonian Forest. (from Forest)
Image 7Form, leaves and reproductive structures of queen sago (Cycas circinalis) (from Tree)
Image 8A section of yew (Taxus baccata) showing 27 annual growth rings, pale sapwood and dark heartwood (from Tree)
Image 9Tall herbaceous monocotyledonous plants such as banana lack secondary growth, but are trees under the broadest definition. (from Tree)
Image 10Neem tree at Sant Nenuram Ashram (from Trees of Pakistan)
Image 11The Daintree Rainforest (from Tree)
Image 12Alleé of London plane trees (Platanus × acerifolia) in garden (from Tree)
Image 13Sugar maple (Acer saccharum) tapped to collect sap for maple syrup (from Tree)
Image 14Rowan tree in Wicklow, Ireland (from List of trees of Great Britain and Ireland)
Image 15Informal upright style of bonsai on a juniper tree (from Tree)
Image 16Yggdrasil, the World Ash of Norse mythology (from Tree)
Image 17Buttress roots of the kapok tree (Ceiba pentandra) (from Tree)
Image 18Latex collecting from a rubber tree (Hevea brasiliensis) (from Tree)
Image 19People trees, by Pooktre (from Tree)
Image 20Garibaldi Provincial Park, British Columbia (from Forest)
Image 21Burned forest on Thasos (from Forest)
Image 22Dormant Magnolia bud (from Tree)
Image 23Redwood tree in northern California redwood forest, where many redwood trees are managed for preservation and longevity, rather than being harvested for wood production (from Forest)
Image 24Temperate rainforest in Tasmania's Hellyer Gorge (from Forest)
Image 25A young red pine (Pinus resinosa) with spread of roots visible, as a result of soil erosion (from Tree)
Image 26Broadleaf forest in Bhutan (from Forest)
Image 27Malus sylvestris (from List of trees of Great Britain and Ireland)
Image 28Proportion and distribution of global forest area by climatic domain, 2020 (from Forest)
Image 29Selling firewood at a market (from Tree)
Image 30Latvian Pine Forest in Ķegums Municipality (from Forest)
Image 31Diagram of secondary growth in a eudicot or coniferous tree showing idealised vertical and horizontal sections. A new layer of wood is added in each growing season, thickening the stem, existing branches and roots. (from Tree)
Image 32The General Sherman Tree, thought to be the world's largest by volume (from Tree)
Image 33The Olive Tree in Pakistan. (from Trees of Pakistan)
Image 34Recently stripped cork oak (Quercus suber) (from Tree)
Image 35Conifers in the Swabian alps (from Tree)
Image 36Share of land that is covered by forest (from Forest)
Image 37Cracked thorny skin of a Aesculus tree seed (from Tree)
Image 38Proportion of forest in protected areas, by region, 2020 (from Forest)
Image 39Fraxinus excelsior (from List of trees of Great Britain and Ireland)
Image 40Roof trusses made from softwood (from Tree)
Image 41Northern beech (Fagus sylvatica) trunk in autumn (from Tree)
Image 42Palms and cycads as they might have appeared in the middle Tertiary (from Tree)
Image 43Wind dispersed seed of elm (Ulmus), ash (Fraxinus) and maple (Acer) (from Tree)
Image 44Lepidodendron, an extinct lycophyte tree (from Tree)
Image 45Buds, leaves, flowers and fruit of oak (Quercus robur) (from Tree)
Image 46Common ash (Fraxinus excelsior), a deciduous broad-leaved (angiosperm) tree (from Tree)
Image 47A forest near Vinitsa, North Macedonia (from Forest)
Image 48The Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York form the southernmost part of the Eastern forest-boreal transition ecoregion. (from Forest)
Image 494000 years old Cypress of Abarqu is the oldest tree in Iran and the second oldest tree in the world. (from List of trees of Iran)
Image 50Since the 13th century, the Niepołomice Forest in Poland has had special use and protection. In this view from space, different coloration can indicate different functions. (from Forest)
Image 51Spiny forest at Ifaty, Madagascar, featuring various Adansonia (baobab) species, Alluaudia procera (Madagascar ocotillo) and other vegetation (from Forest)
Image 52Buds, leaves and reproductive structures of white fir (Abies alba) (from Tree)

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