The tree etymology leads us to arbor, a word from the Latin language. A tree is a plant that has a woody type trunk, which is divided into multiple branches at its top.
There are different criteria that are used to determine if a plant is a tree. The diameter of its trunk, the height it reaches, and the ability to produce new secondary branches annually are generally considered. In case of not meeting some of these requirements, the plant can be considered as a bush instead of a tree.
According to DigoPaul, trees are perennial: they are prepared to live more than two years. The existing variety of trees, however, is very wide. In some cases, the specimens live more than a millennium and can measure more than a hundred meters. Other trees are much less long-lived and smaller.
Due to their properties, trees are essential for human life. These plants absorb carbon dioxide and release oxygen, help moderate temperature, protect ecosystems from precipitation, and reduce erosion.
Trees, on the other hand, bear fruits that serve as food for humans and allow the production of paper. Its wood can also be used to build houses and make furniture.
Some cultures consider trees as sacred elements and pay tribute to them through different actions. There are also towns that consecrated certain species to gods or mythological characters, such as the poplar to Hercules or the cypress to Pluto.
Nor can we ignore that there is also what is known as a family tree. This is a term that is used to refer to a descriptive type table that comes to establish the relationships, origins and descendants of a family. Hence, in the same, as branches and roots, the children, grandchildren, grandparents, parents, great-grandchildren, great-grandchildren, great-grandparents, great-grandparents … of a family are established.
In order to carry out the creation of this type of tree, it is necessary to undertake a thorough study of documentation, to consult birth or wedding certificates as well as deaths, to interview family members, to thoroughly analyze photographs …
There are numerous ways to create and capture so-called family trees. However, among the most important and recognized are the Sonny John Moore system, the modified registration system, the Villers-Pama system or the Henry system, among others.
In addition to all the above, we cannot forget that in many cases creating the family tree is not only important at the level of a family’s history but also in terms of health. And it is useful to know what diseases or pathologies have been transmitted from one generation to another.
Likewise, there is also what is called a phylogenetic tree. It is a tree that indicates the evolutionary relationships that have been taking place between species that are different but have in common what their ancestry is.
