Portal:Trees

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, e.g., including only woody plants with secondary growth, only plants that are usable as lumber, or only plants above a specified height. Wider definitions include taller palms, tree ferns, bananas, and bamboos.

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 trees reaching several thousand years old. Trees evolved around 400 million years ago, and it is estimated that there are around three trillion mature trees in the world currently.

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 the trunk 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. Flowering plants have their seeds inside fruits, while conifers carry their seeds in cones, and 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...)

Recognized content -

Entries here consist of Good and Featured articles, which meet a core set of high editorial standards.

Acer rubrum, the red maple, also known as swamp maple, water maple, or soft maple, is one of the most common and widespread deciduous trees of eastern and central North America. The U.S. Forest Service recognizes it as the most abundant native tree in eastern North America. The red maple ranges from southeastern Manitoba around the Lake of the Woods on the border with Ontario and Minnesota, east to Newfoundland, south to Florida, and southwest to East Texas. Many of its features, especially its leaves, are quite variable in form. At maturity, it often attains a height around 30 m (100 ft). Its flowers, petioles, twigs, and seeds are all red to varying degrees. Among these features, however, it is best known for its brilliant deep scarlet foliage in autumn.

Over most of its range, red maple is adaptable to a very wide range of site conditions, perhaps more so than any other tree in eastern North America. It can be found growing in swamps, on poor, dry soils, and almost anywhere in between. It grows well from sea level to about 900 m (3,000 ft). Due to its attractive fall foliage and pleasing form, it is often used as a shade tree for landscapes. It is used commercially on a small scale for maple syrup production and for its medium to high quality lumber. It is also the state tree of Rhode Island. The red maple can be considered weedy or even invasive in young, highly disturbed forests, especially frequently logged forests. In a mature or old-growth northern hardwood forest, red maple only has a sparse presence, while shade-tolerant trees such as sugar maples, beeches, and hemlocks thrive. By removing red maple from a young forest recovering from disturbance, the natural cycle of forest regeneration is altered, changing the diversity of the forest for centuries to come. (Full article...)

List of recognized articles

Did you know? -

... that the Easter egg tree (pictured) in Saalfeld, Thuringia, was decorated with 10,000 Easter eggs in 2012?
... that the most popular species for Christmas trees in Denmark and most of Europe is the Caucasian fir?
... that seed of the African teak tree is largely dispersed by fruit bats?
... that Trichia decipiens live on deadwood of conifers and leaf trees all year around?
... that Aecidium mori causes mulberry rust disease on the mulberry flowering plant, which decreases the quantity of leaves on the trees?
... that the satinleaf tree is endangered in its native Florida, but an invasive weed in Hawaii?
... that the Brown Treecreeper spirals up and down tree trunks while foraging?

Selected article -

The Fab Tree Hab is a hypothetical ecological home design developed at MIT in the early 2000s by Mitchell Joachim, Javier Arbona and Lara Greden. With the idea of easing the burden humanity places on the environment with conventional housing by growing "living, breathing" tree homes.

It would be built by allowing native trees to grow over a computer-designed (CNC) removable plywood scaffold. Once the plants are interconnected and stable, the plywood would be removed and reused. MIT is experimenting with trees that grow quickly and develop an interwoven root structure that's soft enough to "train" over the scaffold, but then hardens into a more durable structure. The inside walls would be conventional clay and plaster. (Full article...)

List of selected articles

General images

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

Image 1A young red pine (Pinus resinosa) with spread of roots visible, as a result of soil erosion (from Tree)
Image 2Fraxinus excelsior (from List of trees of Great Britain and Ireland)
Image 3Form, leaves and reproductive structures of queen sago, Cycas circinalis (from Tree)
Image 4Casentinesi Forests, Italy (from Forest)
Image 5Conifers in the Swabian alps (from Tree)
Image 6Spiny forest at Ifaty, Madagascar, featuring various Adansonia (baobab) species, Alluaudia procera (Madagascar ocotillo) and other vegetation (from Forest)
Image 7Selling firewood at a market (from Tree)
Image 8Tall herbaceous monocotyledonous plants such as banana lack secondary growth, but are trees under the broadest definition. (from Tree)
Image 9The Amazon rainforest alongside the Solimões River, a tropical rainforest. These forests are the most biodiverse and productive ecosystems in the world. (from Forest)
Image 10Sugar maple (Acer saccharum) tapped to collect sap for maple syrup (from Tree)
Image 11Malus sylvestris (from List of trees of Great Britain and Ireland)
Image 12Lepidodendron, an extinct lycophyte tree (from Tree)
Image 13Forest in the Scottish Highlands (from Forest)
Image 14Priest 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 15Dormant buds of ash, Fraxinus excelsior (from Tree)
Image 16European larch (Larix decidua), a coniferous tree which is also deciduous (from Tree)
Image 17Latvian Pine Forest in Ķegums Municipality (from Forest)
Image 18Roof trusses made from softwood (from Tree)
Image 19Common ash (Fraxinus excelsior), a deciduous broad-leaved (angiosperm) tree (from Tree)
Image 20Broadleaf forest in Bhutan (from Forest)
Image 21Burned forest on Thasos (from Forest)
Image 22Palms and cycads as they might have appeared in the middle Tertiary (from Tree)
Image 23Proportion of forest in protected areas, by region, 2020 (from Forest)
Image 24Latex collecting from a rubber tree (Hevea brasiliensis) (from Tree)
Image 25Yggdrasil, the World Ash of Norse mythology (from Tree)
Image 26A forest near Vinitsa, North Macedonia (from Forest)
Image 27The General Sherman Tree, thought to be the world's largest by volume (from Tree)
Image 28Since 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 29Buttress roots of the kapok tree (Ceiba pentandra) (from Tree)
Image 30Wind dispersed seed of elm (Ulmus), ash (Fraxinus) and maple (Acer) (from Tree)
Image 31Even, 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 32Garibaldi Provincial Park, British Columbia (from Forest)
Image 33Buds, leaves and reproductive structures of white fir, Abies alba (from Tree)
Image 34The Daintree Rainforest (from Tree)
Image 35Olive trees in Pakistan (from Trees of Pakistan)
Image 36Trees in art: Weeping Willow, Claude Monet, 1918 (from Tree)
Image 37World production of selected forest products (from Forest)
Image 38Cracked thorny skin of a Aesculus tree seed (from Tree)
Image 39Northern beech (Fagus sylvatica) trunk in autumn (from Tree)
Image 40People trees, by Pooktre (from Tree)
Image 41Yellow cassia, an ornamental tree with yellow flowers (from Tree)
Image 42Rowan tree in Wicklow, Ireland (from List of trees of Great Britain and Ireland)
Image 43Diagram 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 444000 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 45An avenue of London planes (Platanus × hispanica) in a garden in Belgium. (from Tree)
Image 46Redwood 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 47Temperate rainforest in Tasmania's Hellyer Gorge (from Forest)
Image 48Share of forest area in total land area, top countries (2021) (from Forest)
Image 49Neem tree at Sant Nenuram Ashram (from Trees of Pakistan)
Image 50Proportion and distribution of global forest area by climatic domain, 2020 (from Forest)
Image 51Informal upright style of bonsai on a juniper tree (from Tree)
Image 52Buds, leaves, flowers and fruit of pedunculate oak, Quercus robur (from Tree)
Image 53Alnus glutinosa (from List of trees of Great Britain and Ireland)
Image 54Recently stripped cork oak (Quercus suber) (from Tree)
Image 55A section of yew (Taxus baccata) showing 27 annual growth rings, pale sapwood and dark heartwood (from Tree)
Image 56Share of land that is covered by forest (from Forest)

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Trees

Trees by climate

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Forests

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Trees and humans

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Artificial trees

Dendrology

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Fruit trees

Individual trees

Prehistoric trees

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