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Thursday 15 November 2018

Tree

A tree is a tall plant with a trunk, supporting branches and leaves in most species. 

Trees are not a taxonomic group, but a variety of plants that independently evolved woody trunks. 

Frogner Park Trees Wikipedia

TREES IN HISTORY 

The oldest living human-planted tree in the world with a known planting date is the sacred fig tree "Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi", planted in 288 BC in the Mahamewna Gardens, Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka. It is said to be the southern branch from the historical Sri Maha Bodhi at Buddha Gaya in India under which Buddha attained Enlightenment.

Leonardo Da Vinci was the first to record that the number of rings in the cross section of a tree trunk reveals its age. He also discovered that the width between the rings indicated the annual moisture.

In 1964 American researcher Donald Currey had a bristlecone pine tree known as Prometheus cut down in the Wheeler Bristlecone Pine Grove at Great Basin National Park near Baker, Nevada. After studying the core of the tree, he found that he'd just cut down the oldest ever tree (at least 4862 years old) found to date.

The Ténéré Tree was a solitary acacia that was located in the Ténéré region of the Sahara Desert in northeast Niger. It was once considered the most isolated tree on Earth - the only one for over 400 kilometres (250 mi). It died when a drunk truck driver hit it in 1973.

Tree of Ténéré (1961)

TREE ANATOMY

90 percent of a tree is made up of air with the rest being made up of minerals from the soil.

The average tree is made up of about 99% dead cells, with only about 1% actually being alive at any given time.

Scientists have found that irrespective of diameter, height or species, most trees will snap if subjected to winds above 94 mph.

BEHAVIOR 

You can tell if trees need water by the sounds they make: the thirstier they are, the louder they get.

Each tree can absorb 4.8 pounds of CO2—in a year, an acre of trees absorbs equal the amount of CO2 produced by driving a car 26,000 miles.

Trees "sleep" at night, relaxing their branches after dawn and perking them up before sunrise.

Trees recognize their children, sending them more carbon below ground and reducing their own roots to make room for their kids.

Trees near rivers with salmon grow three times faster than trees without them - because bears leave their carcasses to decompose on the banks.

Every species of tree makes a particular sound as the wind blows through the branches. Firs sob and moan, hollies whistle and ash trees hiss. These noises are known as susurrations.

Trees have an underground communication and interaction system driven by fungal networks. They can trade resources, sabotage others or nurture their seedlings, and warn each other certain dangers.

"Mother trees" pass on information through the "wood wide net" of fungus. for best growth patterns and can divert nutrients to trees in need. They are more likely to give nutrients to trees of the same species.


POPULATION 

There are approximately 3.04 trillion trees in the world, or about 422 trees per person.

The total number of trees on Earth has dropped by almost 50 percent since human civilization began.

According to 2008 statistics, around 11% of the UK is covered by trees compared to 28% in France and 31% in Germany.

RECORDS 

Earth's oldest living organism is believed to be an 80,000-year-old colony of Aspen trees in Utah. The grove is made up of clones from a single tree and it covers 106 acres of ground.

The oldest living tree with a verified age is a Great Basin bristlecone pine (Pinus longaeva) growing in the White Mountains of eastern California. The tree was given the age of 5062 years in the growing season of 2012, (germination in 3050 BC). 

A large Great Basin Bristlecone Pine in the White Mountains by Dcrjsr

The tallest known tree, a coast redwood named Hyperion at Redwood National Park, California, stands 1379 ft high.

The largest cashew tree in the world covers an area of about 7,500 square meters (81,000 sq ft) and produces over 60,000 fruits each year.

According to Guinness World Records, the Machineel tree of the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico is the world's most dangerous tree. The sap that its trunk exudes is so poisonous that even standing under the tree in the rain is enough to cause blistering if the skin is wetted by raindrops containing any sap. Additionally, if one of these deadly trees is burned, the resulting smoke can cause blindness if it reaches a person's eyes.

Machineel Tree by Daniel Lobo

The record for most trees planted in 24 hrs by an individual is 23,060, set by Antoine Moses of Canada on July 17, 2021. Moses, who has been planting trees for six years, planted an average of 16 trees per minute during his record-breaking attempt. He was assisted by a team of volunteers, who helped to prepare the planting site and transport the trees.

The largest tree ever transplanted was a 108ft- wide, 95ft-tall, 750-year-old ginkgo biloba in South Korea. The listed tree, estimated to weigh 250 metric tons, was moved to stop it being submerged by the construction of a dam.

FUN TREE FACTS

A lover of trees is a dendrophile; the worship of trees is dendrolatry

The English city of Sheffield has the highest proportion of trees to people of any city in Europe.

One tree produces enough oxygen in a year to support two people. 

Some trees can survive temperatures as low as -269 degree Celsius (452.2 Fahrenheit). They have evolved a supercooling method where the insides of their cells turn into glass. Its a kind of suspended animation where the molecules don't really move.

Acorns don't appear on an oak tree until it is 40-50 years old.

A tree near a building raises its value by 14%.


Gerry Adams, Belfast-born president of Sinn Fein, has admitted that he is partial to hugging trees and has done so at Downing Street and at the White House.

In Germany there exists the only tree in the world with its own mailing address. The "matchmaking" tree receives about 1,000 letters per year from singles looking for love. Anyone can take letters from the tree and respond. It is estimated the tree is responsible for over 100 marriages.

Every US state has a state tree. Sugar Maple is the most popular being the state tree of New York, Vermont, West Virginia and Wisconsin.

According to the World Economic Forum, China planted 2.4 billion trees in 2021, more than any other country in the world.

Sources Daily Express, Daily Mail

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