...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.
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Things I didn't know
I asked my daughter the conservationist, for a book about trees for the “non scientist” (me). She gave me this book and also “The Hidden Life of Trees” by Peter Wohlleben. I read Wohlleben’s book first, because it looked easier (and thinner) and it was.I nearly gave up on this book. What kept me going (besides Netflix) was the relentlessly welcoming informality and enthusiasm of Tudge. What almost did me in was the parade of maddeningly unintelligible (for me) formal Latin classifications that at times I simply had to ignore (which infuriated the small but active OCD gene in my brain).Now I’m glad I didn’t quit. Because after you get out of the weeds, you find out that trees are wonderful, diverse, adaptable and just might save the world if we let them. Great stuff.Misc. notes (spoiler alert!): Bananas we buy in the supermarket are engineered and can’t have babies. Taxonomy is the science of classification (and doesn’t involve deer hides). Bacteria and Ginkgo trees are primitive. Fig trees have their own wasps. Ironwood is really hard. There’s a guy named “Judd” who is mentioned throughout the book in sentences like “According to Judd . . . “ Tudge frequently mentions that science is innately limited and incomplete. We don’t even know all that we don’t know or can know. But we do know that cows and chickens prefer to live under trees. I didn’t know that. Politicians don’t think long term, it’s up to grassroots organizations to promote trees, which could save us all. I think I knew that.
