Trees

Trees are among the longest-living things on Earth, and you can read a tree’s age by counting the growth rings inside its trunk. Broadleaf trees such as the oak, elm and chestnut usually drop their leaves in fall, while conifers like fir, cedar and yew keep their needles all year. The ginkgo is a living fossil, part of a family that has survived since the age of the dinosaurs.

Explore profiles of trees found in parks, gardens and forests, from weeping willows to flowering magnolias and fruiting fig trees. Each guide covers how to identify the tree, where it grows and the ways people and wildlife use it.