According to my research, and globaltrees.org, there are 60,065 species of trees in the world. Brazil has the most, at 8,715 species. Would anyone care to guess how many actual trees there are in the world? Of course, there’s no way to know exactly, but I suspect there are trillions. According to the Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation & Forestry (maine.gov/dacf), there are 76 species of trees in the state of Maine, although I noticed a few on the list that are not native to Maine. I once counted 17 native tree species on a small house lot that I owned. Tree identification is a skill that took me years to learn, and I’m still stumped (pun intended) occasionally, but that’s usually with non-native trees.
Diversity of tree species is especially important when a pest or disease comes along, such as the Dutch Elm Disease or Emerald Ash Borer. Remember when American Chestnuts dominated the landscape? Me neither. The vast majority of them disappeared in the early 1900s when they were wiped out by a blight. If you have a mature American Chestnut tree on your property, you are lucky, as they are few and far between nowadays.
Trees take all shapes and sizes, from the smallest Bonsai to the largest Sequoia, and everything in between. We are used to the leaves falling off our trees in the fall, but I was once told of a type of tree in a far-off land that sheds its bark every year, rather than its leaves, although I can’t seem to find proof of that now. If you want to see a strange and beautiful tree, look up Rainbow Eucalyptus trees.
I fell in love with trees at an early age. Working with trees and wood gets in your blood, and it’s hard to shake, not that you would want to, and I’ve managed to make a decent living at it. I highly recommend it to anyone, and there’s plenty of opportunity. Working outside in the fresh air, the smell of pine, the satisfaction of hard work, and a job well done. It doesn’t get any better than that.
Robert Fogg is a Licensed Arborist, and a Maine Pellet Fuels Association board member. He can be contacted at RobertFogg@Q-Team.com.
Comments are not available on this story.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
