A form, not one family
“Tree” is a growth form shared by many unrelated plant lineages: a long-lived woody stem that elevates leaves into light.
A deep-time story
Before cities, before roads, there were forests.
For hundreds of millions of years, trees have reshaped the atmosphere, built soils, sheltered animals, fed civilizations, supplied ships and paper, and become symbols of ancestry, law, spirituality, and renewal.
Begin the journey →🌳
Five chapters. From the first tree-like plants to the forests of the future.
What counts as a tree?
Wood changed landscapes
Lignin-rich trunks let plants grow tall, transport water over long distances, and store huge quantities of carbon above ground.
Forests became ecosystems
As trees spread, they created layered habitats, altered rainfall and erosion, and helped produce complex soils.
A compressed timeline
Early forests
Tree-sized plants such as Archaeopteris helped establish some of the first complex forest ecosystems.
Coal forests
Vast swamp forests flourished in the Carboniferous, later contributing to major coal deposits.
Flowering trees diversify
Angiosperms spread and transformed terrestrial food webs with flowers, fruits, and new leaf strategies.
Humans transform forests
Agriculture, settlement, trade, shipbuilding, industry, and conservation all changed the geography of trees.