Trees

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.
Definition
 Diagram 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.
Although "tree" is a common word, there is no universally recognised precise
definition of what a tree is, either botanically or in common language.[1][2] In its
broadest sense, a tree is any plant with the general form of an elongated stem,
or trunk, which supports the photosynthetic leaves or branches at some distance
above the ground.[3] Trees are also typically defined by height, [4] with smaller
plants from 0.5 to 10 m (1.6 to 32.8 ft) being called shrubs,[5] so the minimum
height of a tree is only loosely defined. [4] Large herbaceous plants such
as papaya and bananas are trees in this broad sense. [2][6]
A commonly applied narrower definition is that a tree has a woody trunk formed
by secondary growth, meaning that the trunk thickens each year by growing
outwards, in addition to the primary upwards growth from the growing tip.[4]
[7]
Under such a definition, herbaceous plants such as palms, bananas and
papayas are not considered trees regardless of their height, growth form or stem
girth. Certain monocots may be considered trees under a slightly looser
definition;[8] while the Joshua tree, bamboos and palms do not have secondary
growth and never produce true wood with growth rings, [9][10] they may produce
"pseudo-wood" by lignifying cells formed by primary growth.[11] Tree species in
the genus Dracaena, despite also being monocots, do have secondary growth
caused by meristem in their trunk, but it is different from the thickening
meristem found in dicotyledonous trees. [12]
Aside from structural definitions, trees are commonly defined by use; for
instance, as those plants which yield lumber. [13]
Overview
"Saplings" redirects here. For the novel, see Saplings (novel). For the film,
see The Saplings. For the episode, see Saplings (Weeds).
The tree growth habit is an evolutionary adaptation found in different groups of
plants: by growing taller, trees are able to compete better for sunlight. [14] Trees
tend to be tall and long-lived,[15] some reaching several thousand years old.
[16]
Several trees are among the oldest organisms now living. [17] Trees have
modified structures such as thicker stems composed of specialised cells that add
structural strength and durability, allowing them to grow taller than many other
plants and to spread out their foliage. They differ from shrubs, which have a
similar growth form, by usually growing larger and having a single main stem;
[5]
but there is no consistent distinction between a tree and a shrub, [18] made
more confusing by the fact that trees may be reduced in size under harsher
environmental conditions such as on mountains and subarctic areas. The tree
form has evolved separately in unrelated classes of plants in response to similar
environmental challenges, making it a classic example of parallel evolution. With
an estimated 60,000-100,000 species, the number of trees worldwide might total
twenty-five per cent of all living plant species. [19][20] The greatest number of these
grow in tropical regions; many of these areas have not yet been fully surveyed
by botanists, making tree diversity and ranges poorly known. [21]

Tall herbaceous monocotyledonous plants such

as banana lack secondary growth, but are trees under the broadest definition.
The majority of tree species are angiosperms or hardwoods. Of the rest, many
are gymnosperms or softwood trees;[22] these
include conifers, cycads, ginkgophytes and gnetales, which produce seeds which
are not enclosed in fruits, but in open structures such as pine cones, and many
have tough waxy leaves, such as pine needles. [23] Most angiosperm trees
are eudicots, the "true dicotyledons", so named because the seeds contain
two cotyledons or seed leaves. There are also some trees among the old lineages
of flowering plants called basal angiosperms or paleodicots; these
include Amborella, Magnolia, nutmeg and avocado,[24] while trees such as
bamboo, palms and bananas are monocots.
Wood gives structural strength to the trunk of most types of tree; this supports
the plant as it grows larger. The vascular system of trees allows water, nutrients
and other chemicals to be distributed around the plant, and without it trees
would not be able to grow as large as they do. Trees need to draw water high up
the stem through the xylem from the roots by capillary action, as water
continually evaporates from the leaves in the process of transpiration. If
insufficient water is available the leaves will die. [25] The three main parts of trees
include the root, stem, and leaves; they are integral parts of the vascular system
which interconnects all the living cells. In trees and other plants that develop
wood, the vascular cambium allows the expansion of vascular tissue that
produces woody growth. Because this growth ruptures the epidermis of the stem,
woody plants also have a cork cambium that develops among the phloem. The
cork cambium gives rise to thickened cork cells to protect the surface of the
plant and reduce water loss. Both the production of wood and the production of
cork are forms of secondary growth.[26]
Trees are either evergreen, having foliage that persists and remains green
throughout the year,[27] or deciduous, shedding their leaves at the end of the
growing season and then having a dormant period without foliage. [28] Most
conifers are evergreens, but larches (Larix and Pseudolarix) are deciduous,
dropping their needles each autumn, and some species of cypress
(Glyptostrobus, Metasequoia and Taxodium) shed small leafy shoots annually in a
process known as cladoptosis.[5] The crown is the spreading top of a tree
including the branches and leaves, [29] while the uppermost layer in a forest,
formed by the crowns of the trees, is known as the canopy.[30] A sapling is a
young tree.[31]
Many tall palms are herbaceous[32] monocots, which do not undergo secondary
growth and never produce wood.[9][10] In many tall palms, the terminal bud on the
main stem is the only one to develop, so they have unbranched trunks with large
spirally arranged leaves. Some of the tree ferns, order Cyatheales, have tall
straight trunks, growing up to 20 metres (66 ft), but these are composed not of
wood but of rhizomes which grow vertically and are covered by
numerous adventitious roots.[33]
Distribution
Further information: Forest

The Daintree Rainforest

The number of trees in the world, according to a 2015 estimate, is 3.04 trillion, of
which 1.39 trillion (46%) are in the tropics or sub-tropics, 0.61 trillion (20%) in
the temperate zones, and 0.74 trillion (24%) in the coniferous boreal forests. The
estimate is about eight times higher than previous estimates, and is based on
tree densities measured on over 400,000 plots. It remains subject to a wide
margin of error, not least because the samples are mainly from Europe and North
America. The estimate suggests that about 15 billion trees are cut down annually
and about 5 billion are planted. In the 12,000 years since the start of human
agriculture, the number of trees worldwide has decreased by 46%. [34][35][36]
[37]
There are approximately 64,100 known tree species in the world. With 43% of
all tree species, South America has the highest biodiversity, followed by Eurasia
(22%), Africa (16%), North America (15%), and Oceania (11%). [38]
In suitable environments, such as the Daintree Rainforest in Queensland, or the
mixed podocarp and broadleaf forest of Ulva Island, New Zealand, forest is the
more-or-less stable climatic climax community at the end of a plant succession,
where open areas such as grassland are colonised by taller plants, which in turn
give way to trees that eventually form a forest canopy. [39][40]

Conifers in the Swabian alps

In cool temperate regions, conifers often predominate; a widely distributed
climax community in the far north of the northern hemisphere is moist taiga or
northern coniferous forest (also called boreal forest). [41][42] Taiga is the world's
largest land biome, forming 29% of the world's forest cover. [43] The long cold
winter of the far north is unsuitable for plant growth and trees must grow rapidly
in the short summer season when the temperature rises and the days are long.
Light is very limited under their dense cover and there may be little plant life on
the forest floor, although fungi may abound. [44] Similar woodland is found on
mountains where the altitude causes the average temperature to be lower thus
reducing the length of the growing season. [45]
Where rainfall is relatively evenly spread across the seasons in temperate
regions, temperate broadleaf and mixed forest typified by species like
oak, beech, birch and maple is found.[46] Temperate forest is also found in the
southern hemisphere, as for example in the Eastern Australia temperate forest,
characterised by Eucalyptus forest and open acacia woodland.[47]
In tropical regions with a monsoon or monsoon-like climate, where a drier part of
the year alternates with a wet period as in the Amazon rainforest, different
species of broad-leaved trees dominate the forest, some of them being
deciduous.[48] In tropical regions with a drier savanna climate and insufficient
rainfall to support dense forests, the canopy is not closed, and plenty of sunshine
reaches the ground which is covered with grass and
scrub. Acacia and baobab are well adapted to living in such areas. [49]
Parts
Roots
Main article: Root
 A young red pine (Pinus resinosa) with spread
of roots visible, as a result of soil erosion
The roots of a tree serve to anchor it to the ground and gather water and
nutrients to transfer to all parts of the tree. They are also used for reproduction,
defence, survival, energy storage and many other purposes. The radicle or
embryonic root is the first part of a seedling to emerge from the seed during the
process of germination. This develops into a taproot which goes straight
downwards. Within a few weeks lateral roots branch out of the side of this and
grow horizontally through the upper layers of the soil. In most trees, the taproot
eventually withers away and the wide-spreading laterals remain. Near the tip of
the finer roots are single cell root hairs. These are in immediate contact with the
soil particles and can absorb water and nutrients such as potassium in solution.
The roots require oxygen to respire and only a few species such
as mangroves and the pond cypress (Taxodium ascendens) can live in
permanently waterlogged soil.[50]
In the soil, the roots encounter the hyphae of fungi. Many of these are known
as mycorrhiza and form a mutualistic relationship with the tree roots. Some are
specific to a single tree species, which will not flourish in the absence of its
mycorrhizal associate. Others are generalists and associate with many species.
The tree acquires minerals such as phosphorus from the fungus, while the fungus
obtains the carbohydrate products of photosynthesis from the tree. [51] The
hyphae of the fungus can link different trees and a network is formed,
transferring nutrients and signals from one place to another. [52] The fungus
promotes growth of the roots and helps protect the trees against predators and
pathogens. It can also limit damage done to a tree by pollution as the fungus
accumulate heavy metals within its tissues.[53] Fossil evidence shows that roots
have been associated with mycorrhizal fungi since the early Paleozoic, four
hundred million years ago, when the first vascular plants colonised dry land.[54]
 Buttress roots of the kapok tree (Ceiba
pentandra)
Some trees such as Alder (Alnus species) have a symbiotic relationship
with Frankia species, a filamentous bacterium that can fix nitrogen from the air,
converting it into ammonia. They have actinorhizal root nodules on their roots in
which the bacteria live. This process enables the tree to live in low nitrogen
habitats where they would otherwise be unable to thrive. [55] The plant hormones
called cytokinins initiate root nodule formation, in a process closely related to
mycorrhizal association.[56]
It has been demonstrated that some trees are interconnected through their root
system, forming a colony. The interconnections are made by
the inosculation process, a kind of natural grafting or welding of vegetal tissues.
The tests to demonstrate this networking are performed by injecting chemicals,
sometimes radioactive, into a tree, and then checking for its presence in
neighbouring trees.[57]
The roots are, generally, an underground part of the tree, but some tree species
have evolved roots that are aerial. The common purposes for aerial roots may be
of two kinds, to contribute to the mechanical stability of the tree, and to obtain
oxygen from air. An instance of mechanical stability enhancement is the red
mangrove that develops prop roots that loop out of the trunk and branches and
descend vertically into the mud.[58] A similar structure is developed by the Indian
banyan.[59] Many large trees have buttress roots which flare out from the lower
part of the trunk. These brace the tree rather like angle brackets and provide
stability, reducing sway in high winds. They are particularly prevalent in tropical
rainforests where the soil is poor and the roots are close to the surface. [60]
Some tree species have developed root extensions that pop out of soil, in order
to get oxygen, when it is not available in the soil because of excess water. These
root extensions are called pneumatophores, and are present, among others,
in black mangrove and pond cypress.[58]
Trunk