The oldest tree is 5000 years old & there’s a tree so toxic that standing under it can harm you! If that’s not much, there’re 18 more fun facts about trees in this article.
1. Trees Around the World
According to the Botanic Gardens Conservation International, there are around 60,065 species of trees around the world! The researchers also found that 300 of these varieties are on the verge of extinction. Here’s one variety you must read about.
2. Tree with Rainbow Shade
There is a tree called Rainbow Eucalyptus, with bark having blue, orange, and maroon colors. When the colors combine in sunlight, they give it a particular ‘Rainbow’ effect. This multi-colored tree grows in New Britain, New Guinea, Ceram, Sulawesi, and Mindanao.
3. Respiration Vs. Photosynthesis
We inhale oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide, while the plants do just the opposite; they inhale carbon dioxide and exhale oxygen. Trees utilize carbon dioxide persisting in the environment to produce sugar and oxygen during photosynthesis.
4. Tree With 4000+ Years of Age
The White Mountains of California attracted everyone’s attention with Great Basin Bristlecone Pine. The tree is over 4,845 years old, it is the longest living tree in the historical record.
5. A Poisonous Tree that Can Kill You
The Manchineel tree is considered to be the most poisonous tree in the world. All parts of this tree are toxic, and it can even poison the water through its leaves. Check out our article on Ginkgo Biloba Tree as well!
6. Trees Have Feelings Too!
Plants have sensory systems and they respond to external factors based on their epidermis. In research, it was found that trees straighten themselves to resist stress and relax to release.
7. Trees Work As a Noise Barrier
Trees are beneficial in reducing the sound waves. They absorb or scatter the sound waves, especially their leaves and branches, helping in masking the unwanted noise.
8. Plants Communicate!
Using Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) in the atmosphere, trees volatile signals for within-plant signaling. Using this, trees let neighbor trees know if there is any danger hovering upon them.
9. Fun Facts About Trees–A Hotel on Trees
There is a hotel in Sweden-Treehotel. It has all its rooms up on the trees to give its visitors the luxury of living in nature.
10. Fungi Establish the Network of Trees
There is a sophisticated underground network where all plants share nutrients. Fungi is responsible for moving carbon, water, and some other nutrients among the trees through this system, depending upon their requirements.
11. Rings of Trees Hides Tonnes of Information!
According to a report by NASA, the rings of the trees reveal more than their age. It also gives an idea about the climatic conditions of that area in the past like rain and temperature.
12. The Trees from the Moon
During the Apollo mission, astronaut Stuart Roosa had taken seeds of Loblolly Pine, Sycamore, Sweet Gum, Redwood, and Douglas Fir trees along with him. After returning, the seeds were germinated and were called Moon trees. These trees now grow at state capitols and university campuses across the nation. See the full report here.
13. Trees Accomplishing Human’s Needs
The majority of homes in the United States are made from wood. Interestingly 93% of American houses in 2018 were built using wooden materials. You can say that each person uses wood equivalent to one 100-foot tall, 16-inch diameter tree, for accomplishing the wooden needs.
14. Baby Grave Trees in Indonesia
In this list of fun facts about trees, this one is most interesting–In Indonesia’s Tana Toraja island, if a baby dies before the teeth appear, people place the body in a tree after drilling a big hole. The tree then regrows around the baby.
15. The Man Who Started an Entire Forest!
Jadav Molai Payeng, an Indian, started planting trees when he was 16 years old, on a barren sandbar. After 30 years, he is now living in a 1360-acre forest that goes by the name-Molai forest. Deers, tigers, and rhinoceroses inhabit it.
16. 99% of a Mature Tree is Dead
Interestingly, any dormant mature tree is 99% dead and only 1% part of the tree is biologically alive. Most of the living parts are the growing portions like leaves, buds, roots, and tissues. Learn more about it here.
17. Fruit that Can Explode
A tree named, Sandbox tree grows fruiting bodies like large capsules that explode at the rate of 70 meters per second. The force is so much that its seeds scatter up to a distance of 100-meters.
18. The Appreciable Trend of Planting Trees
According to the 1981 resolution made by China, every Chinese citizen who is more than 11-years old has a duty of planting three to five trees per year. Isn’t it amazing?
