The crown, which consists of the leaves and branches at the top of a tree, plays an important role in filtering dust and other particles from the air. It also helps cool the air by providing shade and reduces the impact of raindrops on the soil below.

The leaves are the food factories of a tree. They contain chlorophyll, which facilitates photosynthesis and gives leaves their green color. Through a process called photosynthesis, leaves use the sun’s energy to convert carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and water from the soil into sugar and oxygen. The sugar, which is the tree’s food, is either used or stored in the branches, trunk and roots. The oxygen is released into the atmosphere.

A tree’s roots absorb water and nutrients from the soil, store sugar and anchor the tree upright in the ground. All trees have lateral roots that branch into smaller and smaller roots and usually extend horizontally beyond the branch tips. Some trees have a tap root that reaches down as far as 15 feet. Each root is covered with thousands of root hairs that make it easier to soak up water and dissolved minerals from the soil. The majority of the root system is located in the upper 12 to 18 inches of soil because the oxygen that roots require to function properly is most abundant there.

The trunk, or stem, of a tree supports the crown and gives the tree its shape and strength. The trunk consists of four layers of tissue. These layers contain a network of tubes that runs between the roots and the leaves and acts as the central plumbing system for the tree. These tubes carry water and minerals up from the roots to the leaves, and they carry sugar down from the leaves to the branches, trunk and roots.

As a tree grows, older xylem cells in the center of the tree become inactive and die, forming heartwood. Because it is filled with stored sugar, dyes and oils, the heartwood is usually darker than the sapwood. The main function of the heartwood is to support the tree.

The xylem, or sapwood, comprises the youngest layers of wood. Its network of thick-walled cells brings water and nutrients up from the roots through tubes inside of the trunk to the leaves and other parts of the tree. As the tree grows, xylem cells in the central portion of the tree become inactive and die. These dead xylem cells form the tree’s heartwood.

The cambium is a very thin layer of growing tissue that produces new cells that become either xylem, phloem or more cambium. Every growing season, a tree’s cambium adds a new layer of xylem to its trunk, producing a visible growth ring in most trees. The cambium is what makes the trunk, branches and roots grow larger in diameter.

The phloem or inner bark, which is found between the cambium and the outer bark, acts as a food supply line by carrying sap (sugar and nutrients dissolved in water) from the leaves to the rest of the tree.

The trunk, branches and twigs of the tree are covered with bark. The outer bark, which originates from phloem cells that have worn out, died and been shed outward, acts as a suit of armor against the world by protecting the tree from insects, disease, storms and extreme temperatures. In certain species, the outer bark also protects the tree from fire.

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