Portal:Trees

Portal topics: Activities; Culture; Geography; Health; History; Mathematics; Nature; People; Philosophy; Religion; Society; Technology; Random portal

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...)

Refresh with new selections below (purge)

Recognized content - show another

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

Kauri gum is resin from kauri trees (Agathis australis), which historically had several important industrial uses. It can also be used to make crafts such as jewellery. Kauri forests once covered much of the North Island of New Zealand, before early settlers caused the forests to retreat, causing several areas to revert to weeds, scrubs, and swamps. Even afterwards, ancient kauri fields and the remaining forests continued to provide a source for the gum. Between 1820 and 1900, over 90% of Kauri forests were logged or burnt by Europeans.

Kauri gum forms when resin from kauri trees leaks out through fractures or cracks in the bark, hardening upon exposure to air. Lumps commonly fall to the ground and can be covered with soil and forest litter, eventually fossilising. Other lumps form as branches forked or trees are damaged, releasing the resin. (Full article...)

List of recognized articles

Did you know? - show different entries

... that veneration of the Amla tree (pictured), in particular on Amalaka Ekadashi, is due to the belief that the god Vishnu resides in and near the tree?
... that the future of the tropical tree Milicia regia for timber production is threatened by a gall fly, Phytolyma lata?
... that the churchyard of All Saints Church, Ulcombe in England contains a yew tree claimed to be more than 2,000 years old?
... that seeds of the extinct tree Eucommia eocenica have been found with latex covered fossils?
... that the fruits of the Lecythis ampla tree resemble little wooden pots with lids?
... that fossilized seeds of the extinct tree Eucommia montana are found from British Columbia to Colorado?
... that the Australian tree Agathis atropurpurea is known as the black kauri or the blue kauri because of the colour of its bark?

Start a new article

Selected article - show another

Vachellia erioloba camel thorn

Vachellia erioloba, the camel thorn, also known as the giraffe thorn, mokala tree, or Kameeldoring in Afrikaans, still more commonly known as Acacia erioloba, is a tree of southern Africa in the family Fabaceae. Its preferred habitat is the deep dry sandy soils in parts of South Africa, Botswana, the western areas of Zimbabwe and Namibia. It is also native to Angola, south-west Mozambique, Zambia and Eswatini. The tree was first described by Ernst Heinrich Friedrich Meyer and Johann Franz Drège in 1836. The camel thorn is a protected tree in South Africa.

The tree can grow up to 20 metres high. It is slow-growing, very hardy to drought and fairly frost-resistant. The light-grey colored thorns reflect sunlight, and the bipinnate leaves close when it is hot. The wood is dark reddish-brown in colour and extremely dense and strong. It is good for fires, which leads to widespread clearing of dead trees and the felling of healthy trees. It produces ear-shaped pods, favoured by many herbivores including cattle. The seeds can be roasted and used as a substitute for coffee beans. (Full article...)

List of selected articles

General images

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

Image 1Burned forest on Thasos (from Forest)
Image 2Proportion of forest in protected areas, by region, 2020 (from Forest)
Image 3Proportion and distribution of global forest area by climatic domain, 2020 (from Forest)
Image 4Olive trees in Pakistan (from Trees of Pakistan)
Image 5Conifers in the Swabian alps (from Tree)
Image 6Broadleaf forest in Bhutan (from Forest)
Image 7A section of yew (Taxus baccata) showing 27 annual growth rings, pale sapwood and dark heartwood (from Tree)
Image 8Informal upright style of bonsai on a juniper tree (from Tree)
Image 9Dormant Magnolia bud (from Tree)
Image 10Trees in art: Weeping Willow, Claude Monet, 1918 (from Tree)
Image 11Fraxinus excelsior (from List of trees of Great Britain and Ireland)
Image 12Buttress roots of the kapok tree (Ceiba pentandra) (from Tree)
Image 13Roof trusses made from softwood (from Tree)
Image 14Garibaldi Provincial Park, British Columbia (from Forest)
Image 15Sugar maple (Acer saccharum) tapped to collect sap for maple syrup (from Tree)
Image 16Wind dispersed seed of elm (Ulmus), ash (Fraxinus) and maple (Acer) (from Tree)
Image 17People trees, by Pooktre (from Tree)
Image 18Cracked thorny skin of a Aesculus tree seed (from Tree)
Image 19Forest in the Scottish Highlands (from Forest)
Image 20Alleé of London plane trees (Platanus × acerifolia) in garden (from Tree)
Image 21Even, 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 22Diagram 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 23Share of forest area in total land area, top countries (2021) (from Forest)
Image 24Temperate rainforest in Tasmania's Hellyer Gorge (from Forest)
Image 25Yggdrasil, the World Ash of Norse mythology (from Tree)
Image 26Selling firewood at a market (from Tree)
Image 27A young red pine (Pinus resinosa) with spread of roots visible, as a result of soil erosion (from Tree)
Image 28Recently stripped cork oak (Quercus suber) (from Tree)
Image 29Neem tree at Sant Nenuram Ashram (from Trees of Pakistan)
Image 30Northern beech (Fagus sylvatica) trunk in autumn (from Tree)
Image 31Malus sylvestris (from List of trees of Great Britain and Ireland)
Image 32Share of land that is covered by forest (from Forest)
Image 33Alnus glutinosa (from List of trees of Great Britain and Ireland)
Image 34Since 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 35The Daintree Rainforest (from Tree)
Image 364000 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 37Spiny forest at Ifaty, Madagascar, featuring various Adansonia (baobab) species, Alluaudia procera (Madagascar ocotillo) and other vegetation (from Forest)
Image 38Common ash (Fraxinus excelsior), a deciduous broad-leaved (angiosperm) tree (from Tree)
Image 39Buds, leaves and reproductive structures of white fir (Abies alba) (from Tree)
Image 40Lepidodendron, an extinct lycophyte tree (from Tree)
Image 41Redwood 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 42Latex collecting from a rubber tree (Hevea brasiliensis) (from Tree)
Image 43Latvian Pine Forest in Ķegums Municipality (from Forest)
Image 44Rowan tree in Wicklow, Ireland (from List of trees of Great Britain and Ireland)
Image 45World production of selected forest products (from Forest)
Image 46European larch (Larix decidua), a coniferous tree which is also deciduous (from Tree)
Image 47The General Sherman Tree, thought to be the world's largest by volume (from Tree)
Image 48Buds, leaves, flowers and fruit of oak (Quercus robur) (from Tree)
Image 49Tall herbaceous monocotyledonous plants such as banana lack secondary growth, but are trees under the broadest definition. (from Tree)
Image 50Palms and cycads as they might have appeared in the middle Tertiary (from Tree)
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 52A forest near Vinitsa, North Macedonia (from Forest)
Image 53Form, leaves and reproductive structures of queen sago (Cycas circinalis) (from Tree)
Image 54Priest 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)