The Tree: A Natural History of What Trees Are, How They Live, and Why They Matter

...but only an environment can make a tree. The necessary adaptation of plants to their environment, which makes some of them shape themselves as trees, is one of Colin Tudge's central points in this immense study of the evolutionary history of trees, of their fantastically complicated taxonomy, of their "life styles" as stationary but highly active organisms, and of their place in a world increasingly managed by a species of primate whose origins were arboreal.As other reviewers have noted, The Tree has three distinct trunks. The first 86 pages - What Is a Tree? - answers its own question by stating that "a tree is a big plant with a pole in the middle". Later the author continues: "...there are many lineages of trees--quite separate evolutionary lines that have nothing to do with each other except that they are all plants...'Tree' is not a distinct category like 'dog' or 'horse,' It's just a way of being a plant." Thus it seems, the concept of 'tree' is more of a Platonic form than a solid scientific classification. Tudge continues to discuss the convergent evolution of trees in terms of their competitive adaptation to specific environments. I believe he would agree with me that the 'specific' is most often the root of the 'species.'The second section of the book - All the Trees in the World, 160 pages - is an exhaustive and exhausting catalog of the families, genera, and species of trees world-wide. Unless you are the kind of reader who finds taxomony more entertaining than table tennis, this plethora of info may blur in your mind and you may abandon the book before the final section. That would be a shame, since the final section is by far the most interesting. The good news is that you can vault over the trees without losing your way in the forest. In other words, I recommend reading the first and last portions of the book, and saving the middle third for occasions when you want information about certain species.The third portion of the book - two sections, The Life of Trees & Trees and Us - is the most exciting and could effectively stand alone. No longer focusing on "what" a tree is, Prof. Tudge examines "how" a tree is - that is, how various species of trees sprout, grow, interact, and reproduce. What a wealth of observations he presents! This reader, for instance, has walked under kerchillions of tree without ever noting that conifers buttress their heavy limbs by adding wood from under the bough, while flowering trees buttress by adding wood above the fork. I rushed to the nearest mixed forest after reading that, and by Odin, it's true!The final chapter discusses the importance of trees to human societies, past, present, and future. Prof. Tudge correctly assumes that trees can and must play a major role in the approaching crisis of anthropogenic global warming. Not only are trees very effective sequesterers of carbon while living, and not only does the destruction of forest release huge volumes of carbon into the atmosphere, but also the main product of trees - wood - could with proper foresight play a huge role in managing and slowing down global warming. Wood used for construction sequesters carbon just as effectively as living wood in the forest. There is one tree or another, according to Tudge, that can produce practical materials for almost any construction need, even including modest skyscrapers, and can replace almost any plastic. Furthermore, cultivation of trees could beneficially replace sugar, tobacco, cotton, and other economically inefficient crops, especially in currently destitute regions like Cuba, North Dakota, and the Sahel. There is a tree that could thrive in nearly every environment, since diverse environments have already produced the fantastic diversity of trees.

Tudge writes much about the history of natural things. In the past I have read his books The Link and The Bird. Typically his books are well presented and with enough light humor to provide some whimsy while getting the facts and perspective that he offers.The Tree provided much of that but not without some consequences. The first half of the book is packed with details and minutae. At times his words shoot at the reader in a staccato sequence of Latin names, number of species, brief descriptions and often with the species former Latin name. For a general reader such as myself this is too much information. There is no way to catalogue all of the data in a usable fashion unless the reader carries the book with them into the field. At one point he cites a source who was guilty of much the same style and sarcastically suggested that the information was more than the reader needed to know. Apparently he was unaware of his own commission to the same. Unfortunately this style took about half the book to complete prior to getting to some meat that most readers could both enjoy and learn from.It was a well-researched book and it would seem that not only did he enhance his understanding of the vast scope of the world of trees but that he entered the project of writing this book already well armed. In a rather Humboldtian fashion he examined the flora called trees from many perspectives. That included the biology of reproduction. Not all trees sexually reproduce but most do. Of course that is with the mutual symbiosis that exists between trees and the fauna around them. Insects, birds and rodents all aid in the fertilization of seeds. Birds in particular but not solely aid in transporting fertilized seeds to spots sufficiently away from the parent tree in order for the latent sapling to grow with the sunlight and other natural resources whose access would be hindered under the canopy of the parent tree.There is a lot of physics involved. The system of rendering nourishment to these behemoths is critical. He discussed root structures and leaf construction for example, as methods of garnering enough water and sunlight to keep a tree healthy. He differentiated the different types of wood that each species lives with and how that affects their existence.He talked about genetics and described an event that occurs in plant life routinely (and rarely in fauna). That is double fertilization where a male sex cell from pollen, binds with a sex cell in the ovule in order to create an embryo. This sounds normal enough but in angiosperms another cell in the pollen fuses with another in the ovule. This creates a condition where the male is haploid and the female diploid thereby creating a triploid cell which divides to form an endosperm of the seed serving as food for the developing embryo.He also accounted for the cultural, economic and medicinal relationships trees have with the people that live with them. Often there is a religious context and symbolism surrounding the plant. They also provide wood for the needs of the locals for art, canoe making, furniture and house construction as well. Many woods provide believed or genuine health benefits. They are important to the locals and have an immense heritage in their lore. Unfortunately that is one of the venues for corporate exploitation.There is much exploitation of trees for the sake of short term profit. If it is not obvious, this causes problems at many levels. It moves natives off of their land, it upsets the land by removing renewable ways of replenishing the earth with the nutrients it needs and obviously both erosion is increased while simultaneously reducing the sequestering of carbon dioxide. All of this becomes a positive feedback loop accelerating the deleterious effects of man-made design.Tudge is pretty certain in his opinions about what is going on, what and how things should be done. He is a firm cladist in the midst of much controversy over that form of systematics. It is a method of categorizing by looking at common ancestors rather than other methodology such as DNA similarity.He is also earnest in his suggestions about global climate change, how it affects flora and how it is caused. He does not tread loosely in his opinions. They are firm. His final chapter is all about the problems caused by humans and what can be done to at least stem the perilous path we tread upon in an effort to make short term comfort for our species.He is a good writer and provides much information about whatever species he describes. I have already indicated my problems with the over detailed beginning of the book. The second half was more in keeping with his usual style. He also provided a lengthy glossary at the end of the book which is very helpful for understanding much of what he wrote about as well as for future reading.Ultimately it is not a field guide. The reader will read it at a desk or easy chair and glean information that is valuable to them.

Beware that this is a U.S.edition of previously published U.K. book under a different title by Colin Tudge. Great and definitive piece of work but you won’t want to end up with 2 copies of same book as I have through no fault of my own.

Amazingly knowledgeable and insightful book. Very comprehensive and thus not fast reading. Almost a philosophy book with conclusions for Homo sapiens viz their evolution as well. A science background helpful.

Good fast accurate