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What is a tree?

It’s planting season. And maybe you have considered planting a tree. But what is a tree?

But what is a tree?

Out of kindness for your brains still a little sleepy on this cold morning, I will give you the true definition of the tree. Take note, plug in your recorders, watch out for the scoop:a tree is a plant species that cannot move to feed itself, unlike animal species. That's it!

And for the purists, there are some I know of, I would add that the tree contains lignin, a component of wood, that the tree forms an axis, a trunk, an upward arrow, as if well the capital A, first letter of his word! (Tree in English, the capital T representing the trunk and the branches… it even works in Russian! дерево, a little less in Punjabi, though… ਰੁੱਖ ਨੂੰ )

Tree, where does it come from?

In Celtic, the root “ar” means earth. Armor indicates a land on the sea, Ardenne is the land of deep roots, Armenia is the land of stones, Arverne the land of Alders.

We can therefore be certain that the tree comes from the earth.

In Hebrew tree is called “ets” and bone is called “etsem” If I dared I would tell you that tree and bone have the same root… yes I dare.

In Greek tree is called "dendron". a rhododendron is a tree that bears roses, Philodendron, I like trees…

And in French tree comes from the Latin "arbor" from the root "arb" which expresses the idea of ​​growth. Arborer means to erect like a tree.

Are there many trees?

Trees occupy nearly 27% of submerged land, or 40 million km². In mainland France, about a third of the area is wooded.

In the time of Roman Gaul, trees populated 80% of the territory, that is to say 45 million hectares of forest. In 1820, France only had 6 million hectares left.

The wooded area in mainland France today is around 17 million hectares and in 2016, a record year, 17 million hectares of tropical forest were destroyed. In 2018 we are close to 12 million hectares.

This is to encourage you to plant trees, in your garden, in your neighbour's, by the roadside, in the scrubland, on the beach, on your balcony, in your dining room, plant trees! Now is the time!

What is a tree?

And to choose a tree, it's here