A tree is a tall plant with a trunk and branches made of wood.

It can live for many

years. The four main parts of a tree are the roots, thetrunk, the branches, and
the leaves.
The roots of a tree are usually under the ground. One case for which this is not true
are the roots of the mangrove tree.[1] A single tree has many roots. The roots carry
food and water from the ground through the trunk and branches to the leaves of the
tree. They can also breathe in air.[1] Sometimes, roots are specialized into aerial
roots, which can also provide support, as is the case with the Banyan tree.
The trunk is the main body of the tree. The trunk is covered with bark which
protects it from damage. Branches grow from the trunk. They spread out so that the
leaves can get more sunlight.
The leaves of a tree are green most of the time, but they can come in many colours,
shapes and sizes. The leaves take in sunlight and use water and food from the roots
to make the tree grow, and to reproduce.
Trees and shrubs take in water and carbon dioxide and give out oxygen with
sunlight to form sugars. This is the opposite of what animals do in respiration. Plants
also do some respiration using oxygen the way animals do. They need oxygen as
well as carbon dioxide to live.
Contents
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1 Parts of trees
o

1.1 Growth of the trunk

1.2 Roots

1.3 Exceptions

2 Classification

3 Records
o

3.1 Height

3.2 Stoutest trees

3.3 Age of trees

4 Tree value estimation

5 Tree climbing

6 Damage

7 Trees in culture
o

7.1 Wishing trees

7.2 Tree worship

7.2.1 World tree

7.3 In literature

8 List of trees

9 Related pages

10 References

11 Other websites

Parts of trees[change | change source]

Beech leaves.

Tree roots anchor the structure and provide water and nutrients. The ground
has eroded away around the roots of this young pinetree.

The dark lines between the centre and the bark are medullary rays, which allow
nutrients to flow across the tree trunk.
The parts of a tree are the roots, trunk(s), branches, twigs and leaves. Tree stems
are mainly made of support and transport tissues
(xylemand phloem). Wood consists of xylem cells, and bark is made of phloem and
other tissues external to the vascular cambium.
Growth of the trunk[change | change source]
As a tree grows, it may produce growth rings as new wood is laid down around the
old wood.It may live to be a thousand years old. In areas with seasonal climate,
wood produced at different times of the year may alternate light and dark rings. In
temperate climates, and tropical climates with a single wet-dry season alternation,
the growth rings are annual, each pair of light and dark rings being one year of
growth. In areas with two wet and dry seasons each year, there may be two pairs of
light and dark rings each year; and in some (mainly semi-desert regions with
irregular rainfall), there may be a new growth ring with each rainfall.[2]
In tropical rainforest regions, with constant year-round climate, growth is
continuous. Growth rings are not visible and there is no change in the wood texture.
In species with annual rings, these rings can be counted to find the age of the tree.
This way, wood taken from trees in the past can be dated, because the patterns of
ring thickness are very distinctive. This is dendrochronology. Very few tropical trees
can be accurately dated in this manner.

Roots[change | change source]

The roots of a tree are generally down in earth, providing anchorage for the parts
above ground, and taking in water and nutrients from thesoil. Most trees need help
from a fungus for better uptake of nutriens: this is mycorrhiza. Most of a
tree's biomass comes from carbon dioxide absorbed from the atmosphere
(see photosynthesis). Above ground, the trunk gives height to the leaf-bearing
branches, competing with other plant species for sunlight. In many trees, the order
of the branches makes exposure of the leaves to sunlight better.
Exceptions[change | change source]
Not all trees have all the organs or parts as mentioned above. For example, most
palm trees are not branched, the saguaro cactus of North America has no functional
leaves, tree ferns do not produce bark, etc. Based on their general shape and size,
all of these are nonetheless generally regarded as trees. Trees can vary very much.
A plant form that is similar to a tree, but generally having smaller, multiple trunks
and/or branches that arise near the ground, is called a shrub (or a bush). Even
though that is true, no precise differentiation between shrubs and trees is possible.
Given their small size, bonsai plants would not technically be 'trees', but one should
not confuse reference to the form of a species with the size or shape of individual
specimens. A spruce seedling does not fit the definition of a tree, but all spruces are
trees.
Classification[change | change source]

A Sweet Chestnut tree in Ticino,Switzerland

A tree is a plant form that can be found in many different orders and families of
plants. Trees show many growth forms, leaf type and shape, bark traits and organs.
The tree form has changed separately in classes of plants that are not related, in
response to similar problems (for the tree). With about 100,000 types of trees, the
number of tree types in the whole world might be one fourth of all living plant types.
[3]
Most tree species grow intropical parts of the world and many of these areas have
not been surveyed yet by botanists (they study plants), making species difference
and ranges not well understood.[4]

The earliest trees were tree ferns, horsetails and lycophytes, which grew
in forests in the Carboniferous period; tree ferns still survive, but the only surviving
horsetails and lycophytes are not of tree form. Later, in
the Triassic Period, conifers, ginkgos, cycads and other gymnospermsappeared, and
subsequently flowering plants in the Cretaceous period. Most species of trees today
are flowering plants (Angiosperms) andconifers.
A small group of trees growing together is called a grove or copse, and a landscape
covered by a dense growth of trees is called a forest. Several biotopes are defined
largely by the trees that inhabit them; examples
are rainforest and taiga (see ecozones). A landscape of trees scattered or spaced
across grassland (usually grazed or burned over periodically) is called a savanna. A
forest of great age is called old growth forest or ancient woodland (in the UK). A
very young tree is called a sapling.