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Tree  [ Botany ]

Dictionary of botanic terminology - index of names

     
 
  1. A true  tree is a perennial woody plant of considerable size (generally at least 5- 6 m high at maturity), having a single main erect trunk with side branches and usually a distinct crown.
  2. The term tree is also used to indicate plant or shrub resembling a tree in form or size, a large shrub or a nonwoody plant that resembles a tree, for example, a palm tree or tree fern.
 
Compared with most other forms of plants, trees are long-lived. A few species of trees grow to 100 m tall, and some can live for several millennia. A plant form that is similar to a tree, but generally having smaller, multiple trunks and branches that arise near the ground, is called a shrub. However, no clear-cut differentiation between shrubs and trees is possible.

The component parts of a tree are the roots, trunk and crown (branches, twigs and leaves) The underground roots of a tree are generally fixed in earth, provide anchorage and absorb water and nutrients from the soil. Above ground, the trunk gives height to the leaf-bearing branches. Not all trees have all the plant organs mentioned above. For examples: Most palm trees are not branched, the saguaro cactus has no functional leaves, tree ferns do not have bark, etc.

Most species of trees today belongs to the flowering plants and conifers while the earliest species of trees were tree ferns, cycads, ginkgos and horsetails. Trees may be broadly grouped into exogenous and endogenous trees according to the way in which their stem diameter grows. Exogenous trees, which comprise the great majority of modern trees (all conifers, and all broadleaf trees), grow by the addition of new wood outwards, immediately under the bark. Endogenous trees, mainly in the monocotyledons (e.g. palms), grow by addition of new material inwards.
Most species of trees today belongs to the flowering plants and conifers while the earliest species of trees were tree ferns, cycads, ginkgos and horsetails.

Trees are important components of the natural landscape and significant elements in landscaping. A landscape covered by a large area of trees is called a forest.
Tree habit [ Botany ]

Dictionary of botanic terminology - index of names

      
         See: arborescent habit

 

 


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