Trees are woody plants that are considered perennial. Any woody plant that grows to about 3 meters of height and has a diameter of at least ten centimeters is considered a tree. If it falls below those measurements, it is considered to be a shrub. They are what dominated the earth long before man, and they continue to reign over any area that is unaffected by human interference. A good example is the Amazonian rainforest which houses millions of acres of trees, numbering to thousands of different species.
Trees have been used for several purposes, but before getting to that, it would help if one understood a little biology about them. Like all other plants in the kingdom, trees are flowering green plants, which are autotrophic, manufacturing their own food via the process of photosynthesis. Anatomically trees consist of xylem and phloem vessels the cambia and heartwood. The vessels are used for transportation of water and mineral salts from the soil, while the heartwood is the woody part. Trees in the plant kingdom can employ different methods of classification following any observable characteristics. In this context, trees can be classified as deciduous or evergreen, depending on whether or not the tree sheds its leaves during the unfavorable climatic conditions such as during the winter when its simply too cold.
Trees employ different methods of seed dispersal, at least for the seed-bearing species. Those we know well about are those that produce fleshy fruits which contain seeds. In this case, mammals are the agents of dispersal. Apple trees, orange, avocado, mango trees are all great examples of seed bearing trees dispersed by animals. Other agents are water and wind.
Trees have various uses. They can act as sources of timber, windbreakers protecting other plants from the devastating effects of the wind. They also conserve the soil via the prevention of erosion, and enhance formation of rainfall via the process of evapotranspiration. To most homeowners, trees have ornamental value, and are mostly used in landscape architecture. The varieties of choice for giving color to a landscape are usually the deciduous varieties due to their color variations when nearing the season of fall.
An interesting tree fact is that trees do not actually die of old age. They are the longest living organisms in the earth, with records indicating some species living for over two millennia! Their life is cut short by damages that are of biotic and abiotic origin.
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