The tree : a natural history of what trees are, how they live, and why they matter / Colin Tudge.

"Originally published, in slightly different form, in Great Britain by Allen Lane, an imprint of Penguin Books, in 2005"--T.p. verso.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 407-414) and index.

What is a tree? -- How trees became -- Wood -- All the trees in the world: Trees without flowers: the conifers -- Trees with flowers: magnolias and other primitives -- From palms and screw pines to yuccas and bamboos -- The monocot trees -- Thoroughly modern broadleaves -- From oaks to mangoes: the glorious invention of rose-like eudicots -- From handkerchief trees to teak: the daisy-like eudicots -- The life of trees: How trees live -- Which trees live where, and why -- The social life of trees: war or peace? -- Trees and us -- The future with trees --

Illustrations: The Buddha receiving enlightenment under a peepul tree -- Judas tree -- Jungle scene -- Dicksonia -- All land plants graph -- Cycad -- Ginko -- Young yew -- Bristlecone pine -- Juniper -- Magnolias and other primitives -- Tulip tree -- The flowering plant orders -- Dragon tree -- The monocots -- Young royal palm -- Double coconut palm -- Bamboos -- Traveler's palm -- Large cacti -- The eudicots -- Baobab -- The rosids -- Banyan -- Beech -- Birch -- Handkerchief tree -- The asterids -- Cannonball tree -- Teak -- Holly -- Mangroves -- Coastal redwoods rerooting themselves -- Continental drift -- Fig -- Bat pollination -- The syconium (fruit) of a fig -- Agroforestry.