Parts of a Tree and Their Functions
Trees Have Many Parts
Trees – one of Earth’s magnificent facets that make it different from all the other planets in our solar system. Aside from the beauty they portray, there is also their ability to provide humans with clean air and water while giving natural habitat to animals.
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 Oregon, you’ll find the best tree services. At Tree service Oregon, 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) 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.
2) Branches
Holding the leaves, as well as fruits, are the branches. Because they make up around 15% of an entire tree, branches are considered the major part of the crown, the top portion of trees.
You can see their obscure formations during winter and autumn when the leaves have fallen. In these times of the year, branches serve another purpose, to store backup energy for the tree.
3) 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. When a sapwood layer dies, it will transform into heartwood. It is the innermost and toughest layer that acts as the trunk’s skeletal system.
4) Roots
Roots are the hidden part of a tree, which you will never see unless you dig a hole on the ground. There are two primary functions of roots. First, they absorb nutrients from the earth. Second, they keep the tree anchored to where it stands.
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 30 miles underground, roots also stabilize the tree secure it from natural disasters, like storms and floods.