Portal:Trees

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The Trees Portal

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, which 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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Division soldiers posing on a spruce stump

The Spruce Production Division was a unit of the United States Army established in 1917 to produce high-quality Sitka spruce timber and other wood products needed to make aircraft for the United States' efforts in World War I. The division was part of the Army Signal Corps's Aviation Section. Its headquarters were in Portland, Oregon, and its main operations center was at Vancouver Barracks in Vancouver, Washington. Workers in the division were members of the Loyal Legion of Loggers and Lumbermen, a union specifically established to support the army's wood production operations.

The division produced nearly 150 million board feet (350,000 m³) of spruce in just 15 months, halting work almost as soon as the war ended. Col. Brice Disque was then put on trial for accusations that he had wasted millions of tax dollars. He was found not guilty of malfeasance. (Full article...)

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... that a fellow artist said of Allen Butler Talcott that "no one was his peer in the knowledge of trees and how to paint them" (painting of oak pictured)?
... that sex scenes in the controversial 1967 film I Am Curious (Yellow) were shot inside the Rumskulla oak, an oak tree that is more than 1,000 years old?
... that the red nose-like structure of the cherrynose cicada contains muscles that help it suck xylem out of trees?
... that extracts from leaves of the mahogany tree suren toon are used as antibacterial poultices?
... that The Greening of Detroit has planted over 81,000 trees in the Michigan city since the organization's inception in 1989?
... that the vinhática tree, Plathymenia reticulata (pictured), provides the preferred timber for making dugout canoes in Brazil, because it is resistant to rotting?

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Taxus baccata (European yew) shoot with mature and immature cones

Taxus baccata is a species of evergreen tree in the family Taxaceae, native to Western Europe, Central Europe and Southern Europe, as well as Northwest Africa, northern Iran, and Southwest Asia. It is the tree originally known as yew, though with other related trees becoming known, it may be referred to as common yew, European yew, or in North America English yew.. It is a woodland tree in its native range, and it's also grown as an ornamental tree, hedge or topiary. Most parts of the plant are poisonous, with toxins that can be absorbed through inhalation, ingestion and through the skin; consumption of even a small amount of the foliage can result in death. (Full article...)

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General images

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

Image 1Olive trees in Pakistan (from Trees of Pakistan)
Image 2The Daintree Rainforest (from Tree)
Image 3Even, 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 4Alnus glutinosa (from List of trees of Great Britain and Ireland)
Image 5Forest in the Scottish Highlands (from Forest)
Image 6Trees in art: Weeping Willow, Claude Monet, 1918 (from Tree)
Image 7A young red pine (Pinus resinosa) with spread of roots visible, as a result of soil erosion (from Tree)
Image 8Buds, leaves, flowers and fruit of oak (Quercus robur) (from Tree)
Image 9Alleé of London plane trees (Platanus × acerifolia) in garden (from Tree)
Image 10Selling firewood at a market (from Tree)
Image 11Buds, leaves and reproductive structures of white fir (Abies alba) (from Tree)
Image 12Roof trusses made from softwood (from Tree)
Image 13Recently stripped cork oak (Quercus suber) (from Tree)
Image 14The General Sherman Tree, thought to be the world's largest by volume (from Tree)
Image 15Malus sylvestris (from List of trees of Great Britain and Ireland)
Image 16Latvian Pine Forest in Ķegums Municipality (from Forest)
Image 17Conifers in the Swabian alps (from Tree)
Image 18People trees, by Pooktre (from Tree)
Image 19A forest near Vinitsa, North Macedonia (from Forest)
Image 20Neem tree at Sant Nenuram Ashram (from Trees of Pakistan)
Image 21European larch (Larix decidua), a coniferous tree which is also deciduous (from Tree)
Image 22Burned forest on Thasos (from Forest)
Image 23Garibaldi Provincial Park, British Columbia (from Forest)
Image 24Buttress roots of the kapok tree (Ceiba pentandra) (from Tree)
Image 25World production of selected forest products (from Forest)
Image 26Priest 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 274000 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 28Yggdrasil, the World Ash of Norse mythology (from Tree)
Image 29Northern beech (Fagus sylvatica) trunk in autumn (from Tree)
Image 30Palms and cycads as they might have appeared in the middle Tertiary (from Tree)
Image 31A section of yew (Taxus baccata) showing 27 annual growth rings, pale sapwood and dark heartwood (from Tree)
Image 32Informal upright style of bonsai on a juniper tree (from Tree)
Image 33Fraxinus excelsior (from List of trees of Great Britain and Ireland)
Image 34Redwood 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 35Temperate rainforest in Tasmania's Hellyer Gorge (from Forest)
Image 36Proportion and distribution of global forest area by climatic domain, 2020 (from Forest)
Image 37Dormant Magnolia bud (from Tree)
Image 38Broadleaf forest in Bhutan (from Forest)
Image 39Spiny forest at Ifaty, Madagascar, featuring various Adansonia (baobab) species, Alluaudia procera (Madagascar ocotillo) and other vegetation (from Forest)
Image 40Share of land that is covered by forest (from Forest)
Image 41Common ash (Fraxinus excelsior), a deciduous broad-leaved (angiosperm) tree (from Tree)
Image 42Rowan tree in Wicklow, Ireland (from List of trees of Great Britain and Ireland)
Image 43Tall herbaceous monocotyledonous plants such as banana lack secondary growth, but are trees under the broadest definition. (from Tree)
Image 44Wind dispersed seed of elm (Ulmus), ash (Fraxinus) and maple (Acer) (from Tree)
Image 45Cracked thorny skin of a Aesculus tree seed (from Tree)
Image 46Since 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 47Share of forest area in total land area, top countries (2021) (from Forest)
Image 48Latex collecting from a rubber tree (Hevea brasiliensis) (from Tree)
Image 49Diagram 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 50Proportion of forest in protected areas, by region, 2020 (from Forest)
Image 51The Amazon rainforest alongside the Solimões River, a tropical rainforest. These forests are the most biodiverse and productive ecosystems in the world. (from Forest)
Image 52Sugar maple (Acer saccharum) tapped to collect sap for maple syrup (from Tree)
Image 53Lepidodendron, an extinct lycophyte tree (from Tree)
Image 54Form, leaves and reproductive structures of queen sago (Cycas circinalis) (from Tree)