Evolutionary Adaptation: Herbaceous Monocotyledonous

Overview
The tree growth habit is an evolutionary adaptation found in different groups of plants: by growing

taller, trees are able to compete better for sunlight. [14] Trees tend to be tall and long-lived,[15] some
reaching several thousand years old. [16] Several trees are among the oldest organisms now living.
[17]
Trees have modified structures such as thicker stems composed of specialised cells that add
structural strength and durability, allowing them to grow taller than many other plants and to
spread out their foliage. They differ from shrubs, which have a similar growth form, by usually
growing larger and having a single main stem;[5] but there is no consistent distinction between a
tree and a shrub,[18] made more confusing by the fact that trees may be reduced in size under
harsher environmental conditions such as on mountains and subarctic areas. The tree form has
evolved separately in unrelated classes of plants in response to similar environmental
challenges, making it a classic example of parallel evolution. With an estimated 60,000-100,000
species, the number of trees worldwide might total twenty-five per cent of all living plant species.
[19][20]
The greatest number of these grow in tropical regions and many of these areas have not yet
been fully surveyed by botanists, making tree diversity and ranges poorly known.[21]
Tall herbaceous monocotyledonous plants such as banana lack secondary growth, but are trees under the
broadest definition.
The majority of tree species are angiosperms. There are about 1000 species
of gymnosperm trees,[22] including conifers, cycads, ginkgophytes and gnetales; they produce
seeds which are not enclosed in fruits, but in open structures such as pine cones, and many
have tough waxy leaves, such as pine needles.[23] Most angiosperm trees are eudicots, the "true
dicotyledons", so named because the seeds contain two cotyledons or seed leaves. There are
also some trees among the old lineages of flowering plants called basal angiosperms or
paleodicots; these include Amborella, Magnolia, nutmeg and avocado,[24] while trees such as
bamboo, palms and bananas are monocots.
Wood gives structural strength to the trunk of most types of tree; this supports the plant as it
grows larger. The vascular system of trees allows water, nutrients and other chemicals to be
distributed around the plant, and without it trees would not be able to grow as large as they do.
Trees, as relatively tall plants, need to draw water up the stem through the xylem from the roots
by the suction produced as water evaporates from the leaves. If insufficient water is available the
leaves will die.[25] The three main parts of trees include the root, stem, and leaves; they are
integral parts of the vascular system which interconnects all the living cells. In trees and other
plants that develop wood, the vascular cambium allows the expansion of vascular tissue that
produces woody growth. Because this growth ruptures the epidermis of the stem, woody plants
also have a cork cambium that develops among the phloem. The cork cambium gives rise to
thickened cork cells to protect the surface of the plant and reduce water loss. Both the production
of wood and the production of cork are forms of secondary growth. [26]
Trees are either evergreen, having foliage that persists and remains green throughout the year,
[27]
or deciduous, shedding their leaves at the end of the growing season and then having a
dormant period without foliage. [28] Most conifers are evergreens, but larches
(Larix and Pseudolarix) are deciduous, dropping their needles each autumn, and some species
of cypress (Glyptostrobus, Metasequoia and Taxodium) shed small leafy shoots annually in a
process known as cladoptosis.[5] The crown is the spreading top of a tree including the branches
and leaves,[29] while the uppermost layer in a forest, formed by the crowns of the trees, is known
as the canopy.[30] A sapling is a young tree.[31]
Many tall palms are herbaceous[32] monocots; these do not undergo secondary growth and never
produce wood.[9][10] In many tall palms, the terminal bud on the main stem is the only one to
develop, so they have unbranched trunks with large spirally arranged leaves. Some of the tree
ferns, order Cyatheales, have tall straight trunks, growing up to 20 metres (66 ft), but these are
composed not of wood but of rhizomes which grow vertically and are covered by
numerous adventitious roots.[33]
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Evolutionary Adaptation: Herbaceous Monocotyledonous

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Overview

The tree growth habit is an evolutionary adaptation found in different groups of plants: by growing

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