What is Tree ?

The blackest wood in the world is Ebony.

Up until a few years ago, the world’s oldest living tree, a Bristlecone Pine, named the Methuselah was located in the Great Basin National Park, California. It is approximately 4,844 years old. It is also the tallest living {55 foot} Bristlecone Pine.

On the other hand, some trees do extend remarkably deep underground. Certain types are more prone to grow a taproot — including hickory, oak, pine and walnut — especially in sandy, well-drained soils. Trees have been known to go more than 20 feet (6 meters) below the surface under ideal conditions, and a wild fig at South Africa's Echo Caves has reportedly reached a record root depth of 400 feet.

Trees can be evergreen (keep their leaves through the winter) or deciduous (lose their leaves in the winter). Most bear some sort of fruit, although many types are inedible or rarely used as food today.

Woody vines are plants that have perennial stems that cannot support themselves. Vines use other plants or objects to rise above the ground or they lie along the ground. Vines attach themselves to other objects with tendrils or by twining.

Three trees placed strategically around a single-family home can cut summer air conditioning needs by up to 50 percent. By reducing the energy demand for cooling our houses, we reduce carbon dioxide and other pollution emissions from power plants

Street trees bring a sense of order & beauty to a street as they draw the eye away from any differences and disarray in the buildings & bring a unifying element

With John White’s refined measurement techniques of today, The Lime in the Silkwood at Westonbirt Arboretum (Near Tetbury, Gloucester, U.K.) is probably around 6000 years old.

For instance, acorns were once a stable food, but are not eaten by many people in the developed world today. All trees reproduce with seeds, and most trees encase those seeds in some sort of fruit. Note that nuts are technically dry fruits.

The whitest wood in the world is Holly. The Silver Striped Holly seems to produce the whitest wood of all the species of Holly. To produce the whitest wood, the best time to cut down Holly trees is in the winter when the sap is lower, and then mill and kiln dry it before summer.

A large oak tree can consume about 100 gallons of water per day, and a giant sequoia can drink up to 500 gallons daily.

Though woody vines have perennial stems, these stems rarely get very large in diameter.

Trees, shrubs, and woody vines can be classified as deciduous or evergreen.

The Fortingall Yew, in Glen Lyon, Perthshire, Scotland, might be as much as 9000 years old. The usual way of calculating a trees age by counting the annual rings in the trunk or by carbon dating, are not accurate when it comes to Yews because a Yews trunk tends to hollow with age, while it continues to grow by rooting its branches and wrapping them around itself. There is even documentation of the formation of aerial roots growing inside the hollow trunk. Another reason are Yews have been known to stop growing for long periods of time, {documented 325 years}, thus having no growth rings for that period.

Street trees can make an area more human-scale, people-friendly & less dominating, particularly in industrial areas & streets with heavy traffic with lots of associated noise

The world’s longest solid wood/lumber board {no lamination}, is a piece of Ancient Kauri. It is approximately 40 foot in length and has an estimated worth of $100,000.00.

Shade from trees slows water evaporation from thirsty lawns. Most newly planted trees need only fifteen gallons of water a week. As trees transpire, they increase atmospheric moisture

Many mature trees require a huge amount of water, which may be bad for drought-stricken orchards but is often good for people in general. Thirsty trees can limit flooding from heavy rain, especially in low-lying areas like river plains. By helping the ground absorb more water, and by holding soil together with their roots, trees can reduce the risk of erosion and property damage from flash floods.

The bulk of most trees is the trunk, which actually consists mostly of dead material. The only living tissue on a tree’s trunk is a thin layer just under the bark. The interior of the trunk consists of hard, dead tissue that supports the tree’s vertical growth.

If a plant's leaves stay green and alive through the winter it is called an evergreen. Examples found in Utah are pines, spruces, and junipers.

John White’s method of estimating a tree’s age is by measuring its trunk circumference approximately 5 feet from ground level. He had access to and studied more than 100,000 tree measurements and multitudes of growth ring patterns from broken or cutoff stumps and concluded that growth rings are closer together on the outside portion of the stump. His technique shows that trees grow at different rates in the three phases of their lifetime, Formative, Middle Age and Senescence (Old Age}. With the evidence he has compiled, tables of expected growth, relative to trunk size have been made for numerous common trees.

Street trees provide spatial definition to the observer & are important to overall design to a locality

Trees reduce runoff by breaking rainfall thus allowing the water to flow down the trunk and into the earth below the tree

The world’s widest solid wood/lumber board {no lamination}, is a piece of Figured Claro Walnut. At its narrowest width, it is 56 inches and at its widest width, it is 74 inches. It is 3 3/16 inches thick, 12 foot 6 inches long and has an estimated worth of $10,500.00.

A single mature oak, for example, is able to transpire more than 40,000 gallons of water in a year — meaning that's how much flows from its roots to its leaves, which release water as vapor back into the air. The rate of transpiration varies during the year, but 40,000 gallons averages out to 109 gallons per day. Larger trees move even more water: A giant sequoia, whose trunk may be 300 tall, can transpire 500 gallons a day. And since trees emit water vapor, large forests also help make it rain.

There are two types of trees that it is impossible to tell how old they are by counting their growth rings. Trees produce growth rings because of the distinguishable temperature changes that occur over a yearly cycle causing their growth to slow down and speed up. Trees in certain tropical regions that have a consistent year round climate where growth is ongoing do not form pronounced growth rings. Trees that are endogenous, the majorities of which is some specie of Palm tree, which grow by adding new material inwards, do not produce growth rings.