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For other uses, see Tree (disambiguation).
The coniferous Coast Redwood is the tallest tree species on earth.
Trunk base of a Coast Redwood tree in Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park: Simpson Reed Discovery Trail, near Crescent City, California

A tree is a perennial woody plant. It is most often defined as a woody plant that has many secondary branches supported clear of the ground on a single main stem or trunk with clear apical dominance.[1] A minimum height specification at maturity is cited by some authors, varying from 3 m[2] to 6 m;[3] some authors set a minimum of 10 cm trunk diameter (30 cm girth).[4] Woody plants that do not meet these definitions by having multiple stems and/or small size, are called shrubs. Compared with most other plants, trees are long-lived, some reaching several thousand years old and growing to up to 115 m (379 ft) high.[5]

Trees are an important component of the natural landscape because of their prevention of erosion and the provision of a weather-sheltered ecosystem in and under their foliage. Trees also play an important role in producing oxygen and reducing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, as well as moderating ground temperatures. They are also elements in landscaping and agriculture, both for their aesthetic appeal and their orchard crops (such as apples). Wood from trees is a building material, as well as an energy source in third world countries. Trees also play a role in many of the world's mythologies (see trees in mythology).

Classification

A Sweet Chestnut tree in Ticino, Switzerland

A tree is a plant form that occurs in many different orders and families of plants. Trees show a variety of growth forms, leaf type and shape, bark characteristics, and reproductive organs.

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 estimate of 100,000 tree species, the number of tree species worldwide might total 25 percent of all living plant species.[6] The majority of tree species grow in tropical regions of the world and many of these areas have not been surveyed yet by botanists, making species diversity and ranges poorly understood.[7]

The earliest trees were tree ferns and horsetails, which grew in forests in the Carboniferous Period; tree ferns still survive, but the only surviving horsetails are not of tree form. Later, in the Triassic Period, conifers, ginkgos, cycads and other gymnosperms appeared, and subsequently flowering plants in the Cretaceous Period. Most species of trees today are flowering plants (Angiosperms) and conifers. The listing below gives examples of well-known trees and how they are classified.

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 young tree is called a sapling.

Morphology

Beech leaves.
Tree roots anchor the structure and provide water and nutrients. The ground has eroded away around the roots of this young pine tree.

The parts of a tree are the roots, trunk(s), branches, twigs and leaves. Tree stems consist mainly of support and transport tissues (xylem and phloem). Wood consists of xylem cells, and bark is made of phloem and other tissues external to the vascular cambium. Trees may be grouped into exogenous and endogenous trees according to the way in which their stem diameter increases. Exogenous trees, which comprise the great majority of trees (all conifers, and almost all broadleaf trees), grow by the addition of new wood outwards, immediately under the bark. Endogenous trees, mainly in the monocotyledons (e.g., palms and dragon trees), but also cacti, grow by addition of new material inwards.

As an exogenous tree grows, it creates growth rings as new wood is laid down concentrically over the old wood. In species growing in areas with seasonal climate changes, wood growth produced at different times of the year may be visible as alternating light and dark, or soft and hard, rings of wood.[3] 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; these are known as annual rings. 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.[8] In tropical rainforest regions with constant year-round climate, growth is continuous and the growth rings are not visible with no change in the wood texture. In species with annual rings, these rings can be counted to determine the age of the tree, and used to date cores or even wood taken from trees in the past, a practice is known as the science of dendrochronology. Very few tropical trees can be accurately aged in this manner. Age determination is also impossible in endogenous trees.

The roots of a tree are generally embedded in earth, providing anchorage for the above-ground biomass and absorbing water and nutrients from the soil. It should be noted, however, that while ground nutrients are essential to a tree's growth the majority of its biomass comes from carbon dioxide absorbed from the atmosphere (see photosynthesis). Above ground, the trunk gives height to the leaf-bearing branches, aiding in competition with other plant species for sunlight. In many trees, the arrangement of the branches optimizes exposure of the leaves to sunlight.

Not all trees have all the plant organs or parts 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. 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. However, 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.

Record breaking trees

The world's champion trees can be rated on height, trunk diameter or girth, total size, and age. It is significant that in each case, the top position is always held by a conifer, though a different species in each case; in most measures, the second to fourth places are also held by conifers.

Tallest trees

The heights of the tallest trees in the world have been the subject of considerable dispute and much exaggeration. Modern verified measurement with laser rangefinders combined with tape drop measurements made by tree climbers, carried out by the U.S. Eastern Native Tree Society has shown that some older measuring methods and measurements are often unreliable, sometimes producing exaggerations of 5% to 15% above the real height. Historical claims of trees of Template:M to ft, and even Template:M to ft, are now largely disregarded as unreliable, and attributed to human error. (however, see "Tallest specimens" chapter in Eucalyptus regnans article). Historical records of fallen trees measured prostrate on the ground are considered to be far more reliable. The following are now accepted as the top five tallest reliably measured species in recent years:

  1. Coast Redwood (Sequoia sempervirens): 115.55 m (379.1 ft), Redwood National Park, California, United States[9]
  2. Coast Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii): Template:M to ft, Brummit Creek, Coos County, Oregon, United States[10]
  3. Australian Mountain-ash (Eucalyptus regnans): Template:M to ft, Styx Valley, Tasmania, Australia[11]
  4. Sitka Spruce (Picea sitchensis): Template:M to ft, Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park, California, United States[12]
  5. Giant Sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum): Template:M to ft, Redwood Mountain Grove, Kings Canyon National Park, California, United States[13]
A view of a tree from below; this may exaggerate apparent height

Stoutest trees

The girth of a tree is much easier to measure than the height, as it is a simple matter of stretching a tape round the trunk, and pulling it taut to find the circumference. Despite this, UK tree author Alan Mitchell made the following comment about measurements of yew trees:

The aberrations of past measurements of yews are beyond belief. For example, the tree at Tisbury has a well-defined, clean, if irregular bole at least 1.5 m long. It has been found to have a girth which has dilated and shrunk in the following way: 11.28 m (1834 Loudon), 9.3 m (1892 Lowe), 10.67 m (1903 Elwes and Henry), 9.0 m (1924 E. Swanton), 9.45 m (1959 Mitchell) .... Earlier measurements have therefore been omitted."

— Alan Mitchell; in a handbook "Conifers in the British Isles".[14]

As a general standard, tree girth is taken at 'breast height'; this is defined differently in different situations, with most forestry measurements taking girth at 1.3 m above ground,[15] while those who measure ornamental trees usually measure at 1.5 m above ground;[3] in most cases this makes little difference to the measured girth. On sloping ground, the "above ground" reference point is usually taken as the highest point on the ground touching the trunk,[3][15] but some use the average between the highest and lowest points of ground[citation needed]. Some of the inflated old measurements may have been taken at ground level. Some past exaggerated measurements also result from measuring the complete next-to-bark measurement, pushing the tape in and out over every crevice and buttress.[14]

Modern trends are to cite the tree's diameter rather than the circumference; this is obtained by dividing the measured circumference by π; it assumes the trunk is circular in cross-section (an oval or irregular cross-section would result in a mean diameter slightly greater than the assumed circle). This is cited as dbh (diameter at breast height) in tree and forestry literature.[3][15]

One further problem with measuring baobabs Adansonia is that these trees store large amounts of water in the very soft wood in their trunks. This leads to marked variation in their girth over the year, swelling to a maximum at the end of the rainy season, minimum at the end of the dry season. Although baobabs have some of the highest girth measurements of any trees, no accurate measurements are available, but probably do not exceed 10-11 m (33–36 ft) diameter.

The stoutest living single-trunk species in diameter, excluding baobabs, are:

  1. Montezuma Cypress Taxodium mucronatum: Template:M to ft, Árbol del Tule, Santa Maria del Tule, Oaxaca, Mexico.[16] Note though that this diameter includes buttressing; the actual idealised diameter of the area of its wood is Template:M to ft.[16]
  2. Giant Sequoia Sequoiadendron giganteum: Template:M to ft, General Grant tree, Grant Grove, California, United States[17]
  3. Coast Redwood Sequoia sempervirens: Template:M to ft, Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park, California, United States.[citation needed]

Charles Darwin reported finding Fitzroya cupressoides with trunk circumferences of up to 40 m (130 ft)[18] implying a diameter of about 12 m (40 ft), but this may be an anomaly as the largest known measurements are about 5 m.[19]

An addition problem lies in cases where multiple trunks (whether from an individual tree or multiple trees) grow together. The Sacred Fig is a notable example of this, forming additional 'trunks' by growing adventitious roots down from the branches, which then thicken up when the root reaches the ground to form new trunks; a single Sacred Fig tree can have hundreds of such trunks.[1]

Occasionally, errors may occur due to confusion between girth (circumference) and diameter.[20]

Largest trees

The largest trees in total volume are those which are both tall and of large diameter, and in particular, which hold a large diameter high up the trunk. Measurement is very complex, particularly if branch volume is to be included as well as the trunk volume, so measurements have only been made for a small number of trees, and generally only for the trunk. No attempt has ever been made to include root volume. Measuring standards vary (for example, Del Norte Titan below, is listed as the largest coastal redwood, but the Lost Monarch in Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park is even larger at over 42,000 cubic feet).

The top four species measured[21] so far are:

  1. Giant Sequoia Sequoiadendron giganteum: 1,489 m³ (55,040 cu ft), General Sherman[21]
  2. Coast Redwood Sequoia sempervirens: 1,045 m³ (36,890 cu ft), Del Norte Titan tree[21]
  3. Western Redcedar Thuja plicata: 500 m³ (17,650 cu ft ), Quinault Lake Redcedar[21]
  4. Kauri Agathis australis: circa 400 m³ (15,000 cu ft), Tane Mahuta tree[21] (total volume, including branches, 516.7 m³/18,247 cu ft)[21]

However, the Alerce Fitzroya cupressoides, as yet un-measured, may well slot in at third or fourth place, and Montezuma Cypress Taxodium mucronatum and other giants are also likely to be high in the list. The largest angiosperm tree is a Australian Mountain-ash (Eucalyptus regnans) in Tasmania, known as the 'Two Towers' tree, with a volume of 430 m³ (15,185 cu ft).[22]

Oldest trees

The oldest trees are determined by growth rings, which can be seen if the tree is cut down or in cores taken from the edge to the center of the tree. Accurate determination is only possible for trees which produce growth rings, generally those which occur in seasonal climates; trees in uniform non-seasonal tropical climates grow continuously and do not have distinct growth rings. It is also only possible for trees which are solid to the center of the tree; many very old trees become hollow as the dead heartwood decays away. For some of these species, age estimates have been made on the basis of extrapolating current growth rates, but the results are usually little better than guesswork or wild speculation. White (1998)[23] proposes a method of estimating the age of large and veteran trees in the United Kingdom through the correlation between a tree's stem diameter, growth character and age.

The verified oldest measured ages are:

  1. Norway Spruce Picea abies: 9,550 years[24]
  2. Baobab "Digitata Adansonia": 6,000 years according to carbon dating [25]
  3. Great Basin Bristlecone Pine (Methuselah) Pinus longaeva: 4,844 years[26]
  4. Alerce Fitzroya cupressoides: 3,622 years[26]
  5. Giant Sequoia Sequoiadendron giganteum: 3,266 years[26]
  6. Huon-pine Lagarostrobos franklinii: 2,500 years[26]
  7. Rocky Mountains Bristlecone Pine Pinus aristata: 2,435 years[26]

Other species suspected of reaching exceptional age include European Yew Taxus baccata (probably over 2,000 years[27][28]) and Western Redcedar Thuja plicata.

The oldest reported age for an angiosperm tree is 2293 years for the Sri Maha Bodhi Sacred Fig (Ficus religiosa) planted in 288 BC at Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka; this is also the oldest human-planted tree with a known planting date.

Trees in culture

Main article: Tree (mythology)

The tree has always been a cultural symbol. Common icons are the World tree, for instance Yggdrasil, and the tree of life. The tree is often used to represent nature or the environment itself.

See also

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References

  1. ^ a b Huxley, A., ed. (1992). New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. Macmillan ISBN 0-333-47494-5.
  2. ^ Rushforth, K. (1999). Trees of Britain and Europe. Collins ISBN 0-00-220013-9.
  3. ^ a b c d e Mitchell, A. F. (1974). A Field Guide to the Trees of Britain and Northern Europe. Collins ISBN 0-00-212035-6
  4. ^ Utkarsh Ghate. "Field Guide to Indian Trees, introductory chapter: Introduction to Common Indian Trees" (RTF). Retrieved 2007-07-25.
  5. ^ Gymnosperm Database: Sequoia sempervirens
  6. ^ "TreeBOL project". Retrieved 2008-07-11.
  7. ^ Friis, Ib, and Henrik Balslev. 2005. Plant diversity and complexity patterns: local, regional, and global dimensions : proceedings of an international symposium held at the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters in Copenhagen, Denmark, 25-28 May, 2003. Biologiske skrifter, 55. Copenhagen: Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters. pp 57-59.
  8. ^ Mirov, N. T. (1967). The Genus Pinus. Ronald Press.
  9. ^ "Gymnosperm Database: Sequoia sempervirens". Retrieved 2007-06-10. Hyperion, Redwood National Park, CA, 115.55 m {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameters: |month= and |coauthors= (help)
  10. ^ "Gymnosperm Database: Pseudotsuga menziesii". Retrieved 2007-06-10. The Brummit Fir: Height 99.4 m, dbh 354 cm, on E. Fork Brummit Creek in Coos County, Oregon; in 1998 {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameters: |month= and |coauthors= (help)
  11. ^ "Ten Tallest Trees (of Tasmania)". Tasmanian Giant Trees. Retrieved 2007-06-10. Height (m): 97; Diameter (cm): 290; Volume (m³): 164; Species: E.regnans; Tree identification: TT326; Name: Icarus Dream; Location: Andromeda; Year last measured: 2005 {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameters: |month= and |coauthors= (help)
  12. ^ "Gymnosperm Database: Picea sitchensis". Retrieved 2007-06-10. This tree also has a sign nearby proclaiming it to be 'the world's largest spruce'. The two tallest on record, 96.7 m and 96.4 m, are in Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park, California {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameters: |month= and |coauthors= (help)
  13. ^ "Gymnosperm Database: Sequoiadendron giganteum". Retrieved 2007-06-10. The tallest known giant sequoia is a specimen 94.9 m tall, first measured August 1998 in the Redwood Mountain Grove, California {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameters: |month= and |coauthors= (help)
  14. ^ a b Mitchell, A. F. (1972). Conifers in the British Isles. Forestry Commission Booklet 33.
  15. ^ a b c Hamilton, G. J. (1975). Forest Mensuration Handbook. Forestry Commission Booklet 39. ISBN 0-11-710023-4.
  16. ^ a b Gymnosperm Database: Taxodium mucronatum
  17. ^ "Gymnosperm Database: Sequoiadendron giganteum". Retrieved 2007-06-10. the General Grant tree in Kings Canyon National Park, CA, which is 885 cm dbh and 81.1 m tall {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameters: |month= and |coauthors= (help)
  18. ^ Gymnosperm Database: Fitzroya
  19. ^ Golte, W. (1996). Exploitation and conservation of Fitzroya cupressoides in southern Chile. Pp. 133–150 in: Hunt, D., ed. Temperate Trees under Threat. International Dendrology Society ISBN 0-9504544-6-X.
  20. ^ See e.g. the uncertainty over the size of the largest Abies nordmanniana at the Gymnosperm Database: Abies nordmanniana page
  21. ^ a b c d e f "Gymnosperm Database: A Tale of Big Tree Hunting In California". Retrieved 2007-06-10. Sequoiadendron giganteum is 1489 m³, Sequoia sempervirens 1045 m³, Thuja plicata 500 m³, Agathis australis ca. 400 m³ {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameters: |month= and |coauthors= (help)
  22. ^ "Tasmania's ten most massive giants". Tasmanian Giant Trees. Retrieved 2007-06-10. Height (m): 75; Diameter (cm): 580; Volume (m³): 430; Species: E.regnans; Tree identification: TT38; Name:Two Towers; Location: Jacques Road; Year last measured: 2006 {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameters: |month= and |coauthors= (help)
  23. ^ White, J. (1990). Estimating the Age of Large and Veteran Trees in Britain. Forestry Commission Edinburgh.
  24. ^ Umeå University Press Release: World’s oldest living tree discovered in Sweden. April 16, 2008.
  25. ^ [1].
  26. ^ a b c d e Gymnosperm Database: How Old Is That Tree?. Retrieved on 2008-04-17.
  27. ^ Harte, J. (1996). How old is that old yew? At the Edge 4: 1-9. Available online
  28. ^ Kinmonth, F. (2006). Ageing the yew - no core, no curve? International Dendrology Society Yearbook 2005: 41-46 ISSN 0307-332X

Bibliography

  • Pakenham, T. (2002). Remarkable Trees of the World. ISBN 0-297-84300-1
  • Pakenham, T. (1996). Meetings with Remarkable Trees. ISBN 0-297-83255-7
  • Tudge, C. (2005). The Secret Life of Trees. How They Live and Why They Matter. Allen Lane. London. ISBN 0-713-99698-6
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