From my scrapbook :: 10 :: What makes a tree

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Almost every day we see trees all around us. We admire them and like their blooms and their fragrance. We are generally awed by the changes that occur to them with changing seasons. We are also fond of the benefits that they offer to all of us. We, however, mercilessly cut them down when they come in the way of our progress or prosperity. Nonetheless, trees are integral to our lives and yet we seldom pause to think what exactly a tree is. Not many would be able to provide an answer.

This was exactly the situation that was faced by several Australian councils while working together on several road building projects. Road building generally involves in cutting down the trees that interfere with the proposed alignment and come in the way. But when the councillors came up against the nitty-gritty of the project they came upon the difficult question of what a tree, in fact, was, that is to say what would be called a tree and not a shrub or a bush. None could provide a satisfactory answer.

One city council thought it was “a self-supporting plant with a woody or fibrous stem”, another thought it had a “height equal to or exceeding 4 metres”. Another council believed more in form rather than a tree’s size and thought a tree had to have a “distinctly elevated crown”. Yet another council went into specifics and believed a tree had to be a “woody perennial plant equal to or more than 4 metres in height, with a trunk diameter equal to or exceeding 150 mm measured at 1.4 metres above the ground”.

Eventually the government of New South Wales, finding the councils of the local governments bumbling around, decided to intervene and resolve the issue once for all. It gave its own definition of a tree which was “a long-lived perennial plant greater than, or usually greater than, three metres in height with only one or relatively few main stems or trunks”.

Everybody was happy with the government’s definition and that seems like settled the matter and the process of road building could continue. Clearly, trees marginally satisfying the criteria could escape the axe.

Perhaps we in India need to be more discrete with eliminating trees. Here as soon a project is sanctioned the first things that get the axe are trees regardless of their age, size, usefulness or other positive attributes. Thousands of trees and shrubs are mercilessly clear-felled in urban India in the name of development. One does not know when awareness about the environment will dawn on the authorities.

*Photo from internet