What Are The Parts Of A Tree And How Do They Work?
Trees Are Made Up Of Many Parts
Trees are what make our Earth truly special. They are magnificent organisms that don’t only keep us alive, but they also hold the very balance of our environment. Without trees, the world would be a very different place.
There is no doubt that trees are an important aspect of our lives. That’s why learning about them can be very helpful. If you know what makes up a tree’s anatomy, you will understand how it’s able to bring so many benefits to the world around us. At DR Trees Redmond we regularly get asked about the different parts of a tree so we wanted to do a blog post to explain the different parts and how they work.
Parts of a Tree
1) Branches
Branches are like the hands of a tree, reaching wide and holding the parts of the tree that it needs to survive. Because they make up around 15% of an entire tree, branches are considered the major part of the crown, or the top portion of trees.
Branches also serve another purpose especially in winter and fall where most trees shed their leaves: they act as a sort of solar panel, storing energy and warmth from the sun as branches have a lot of surface area.
2) Leaves
Leaves are perhaps the most emphasized part. They are what give color to the trees. Often, they are green but with varied shades, smoothness, and sizes. Their form makes them useful when you need shade.
However, leaves can do more than just shield you from light, it absorbs light to create energy. This is called photosynthesis, the process responsible for trees making about 260 pounds of oxygen annually.
Trees consume carbon dioxide with the leaves and water from the ground. Sunlight is harnessed to generate this process, which discharges oxygen as a byproduct to give us fresh air. Carbohydrates are also formed along the way.
3) Roots
Roots are a part of the tree most people don’t really pay attention to, but these structures can grow even bigger than the actual tree itself.
Water and oxygen can be obtained from the soil, so the roots are the ones that supply them to the tree. Because they can reach as far as 6 meters underground, roots also stabilize the tree secure it from natural disasters, like storms and floods.
4) Tree Trunk
The thick part in the middle is the tree trunk. It keeps the upper and lower parts of a tree together. Depending on several factors, their appearances will vary in length and density.
Despite their external differences, they all look the same inside with their layers. It is composed of four parts: bark, the outer skin; cambium, the ring layers; sapwood, the main section; and heartwood, the strongest layer.
The first layer is bark, which defends the tree from harmful foreign elements. Then, there’s the cambium that reinforces the tree by forms ring-like layers. Sapwood is the significant component that spreads water and nutrients to all the other parts like a blood vessel. The heartwood is the innermost and toughest layer that acts as the trunk’s skeletal system.