Trees have been grouped in various ways, some of which more or less parallel their scientific classification: softwoods are conifers, and hardwoods are dicotyledons. Hardwoods are also known as broadleaf trees. The designations softwood, hardwood, and broadleaf, however, are often imprecise. The wood of some hardwoods—for example, certain willows and poplars and the softest of all woods, balsa—is softer than that of some softwoods—e.g., the longleaf pine (Pinus palustris). Similarly, some broadleaf trees (tree heaths, Erica arborea, and some tamarisks) have narrower leaves than do those of certain conifers (Podocarpus).

A popular and convenient grouping of trees is evergreen and deciduous. This is most useful at the local rather than the worldwide level; whether a particular species retains its foliage throughout the year and thus qualifies as evergreen may depend on climate. At the limits of their occurrence in the Northern or Southern Hemisphere, and at high elevations, species that under more-favourable circumstances retain their foliage may become leafless for a period. Many tropical and subtropical species that in uniformly humid climates are never without foliage are deciduous in regions in which dry and wet seasons alternate. In northern North America, the term evergreen is often used as a synonym for conifer and thus excludes foliage-retaining angiosperms. But five coniferous genera—Larix (larch), Metasequoia (dawn redwood), Pseudolarix (golden larch), Taxodium (swamp cypress), and Glyptostrobus—are composed of or include deciduous species.

Other tree groups are popularly recognized: tree ferns, palms, and, among desert plants, the tree forms of agaves, aloes, cactuses, euphorbias, and yuccas. Sometimes the layperson includes as trees plants that botanists cannot accept as such—e.g., the banana. Such confusion arises from the fact that what appears to be the trunk of the “banana tree” is actually leafstalks rolled tightly around each other. The banana plant is entirely herbaceous, has no true trunk, and thus is not considered a tree by botanists.

Economic importance

Of all the products that come from trees, those that are wood-based are by far of the greatest importance (see wood). Carbonized and fossilized wood (coal) supplies fuel for energy needs; other fossilized products of trees include amber, which is formed from the gum of pines, and kauri gum. From earliest times wood has been employed for such items as homes, rafts, canoes, fuel, and weapons.

Primitive peoples were dependent on trees for many materials in addition to wood. Fruits and nuts of many kinds were important foods for both humans and animals. Leaves of palms and other trees were used for thatching roofs. Cloth and woven fabrics made from bark, leaves, and other tree parts were used for clothing. Utensils were fashioned from calabashes, coconuts, and other fruits. Medicines, including quinine, were obtained from trees, as were dyes, tanning materials, and spices.

Modern civilizations are no less dependent on trees. Although substitutes now are commonly used for some tree products, the demand for trees remains strong, as in the manufacture of newsprint and other papers, as well as cardboard and similar packagings. The plywood industry converts immense numbers of trees into building materials.

Many tree products other than wood and its derivatives are important. Edible fruits produced by trees include apples, cherries, peaches, pears, walnuts, chestnuts, pecans, and others in temperate climates; avocados, figs, persimmons, and citrus fruits in warm-temperate and subtropical regions; breadfruit, jackfruit, mangoes, and mangosteens in tropical regions; and the important fruit of desert regions—the date. The coconut (Cocos nucifera), the oil palm (Elaeis guineensis), and the olive (Olea europaea) are important sources of oils and fats used as food and for other purposes. From trees come such spices as cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg; substances used in beverages, such as cocoa, coffee, and kola nuts; and chicle, the basis of chewing gum. Nonedible tree products exploited commercially include rosin, turpentine, tanbark, creosote, cork, and kapok fibre.

The history of wood use includes incidences of waste, sometimes bordering on elimination of a species from a particular region. Great forests of cedars of Lebanon (Cedrus libani), for example, were virtually eliminated during early historic times in lumbering operations for such purposes as the construction of King Solomon’s great temple and palace. Forests that covered much of the Mediterranean region and the Middle East were extravagantly exploited by the Assyrians, Babylonians, Greeks, and Romans. Today the once vast tropical forests of the Amazon basin and parts of South Asia are in imminent danger of being deforested primarily for farmland.