Trees: Their Natural HistoryTrees are familiar components of many landscapes, vital to the healthy functioning of the global ecosystem and unparalled in the range of materials which they provide for human use. Yet how much do we really understand about how they work? This 2000 book provides a comprehensive introduction to the natural history of trees, presenting information on all aspects of tree biology and ecology in an easy to read and concise text. Fascinating insights into the workings of these everyday plants are uncovered throughout the book, with questions such as how are trees designed, how do they grow and reproduce, and why do they eventually die tackled in an illuminating way. Written for a non-technical audience, the book is nonetheless rigorous in its treatment and will therefore provide a valuable source of reference for beginning students as well as those with a less formal interest in this fascinating group of plants. |
Contents
An overview | 1 |
Leaves the food producers | 9 |
Trunk and branches more than a connecting drainpipe | 36 |
Roots the hidden tree | 72 |
The growing tree | 157 |
The shape of trees | 187 |
The next generation new trees from old | 213 |
Health damage and death living in a hostile world | 231 |
| 269 | |
| 271 | |
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Common terms and phrases
acacia Acer acorns alder areas birch branches cambium canopy catkins cedar cells centimetres Chapter cherries coastal redwood cones conifers cork cork cambium cotyledons cypress damage deciduous defences diameter dioecious dormant Drupe Ecology ectomycorrhizal eucalypts evergreen example female Figure flowers forests fruit germinate giant sequoia ginkgo grafts grow growth hardwoods heartwood Hermaphrodite hornbeam horse chestnut Insects layer leaf leaves less light living male maple mast metre Monoecious mycorrhiza nectar needles normal nutrients oak Quercus phloem photosynthesis pine Pinus plants pollen poplars produce resin ring-porous trees rings root plate sapwood Scots pine seedlings seeds seen serotiny shade shape shed shoots shrubs soil species spring spruce stem stomata stored sugars survive Taxus baccata temperate trees temperature tend thick tissue tracheids tree's tropical trees trunk tubes twig usually water loss willow wind winter wood woody xylem young