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 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]