When the subject of trees arises, there are details such as height, leaf shape, hardness of wood, type of bark, trunk diameter. This gives us what we need to identify tree species.

What I've been thinking about of late are other amazing facets of trees. What else lives in this tree? What kind of lichens, mushrooms, and curious growths? Do insects - ants, beetles, fireflies - reside beneath the bark? Do wasps create galls that house their young? What kinds of birds like to nest here? Do they make nests from leaves or needles or bark of this tree? Are there dead or dying limbs on this tree? Has a raccoon or woodpecker carved a home in the dying wood? Is there a bee hive dripping with honey filling such a hollow? Is there a swing hanging from a branch? Is there a tree house resting on the lower limbs with children holding their secret meetings? Are there vines clutching the trunk and limbs of this tree, that kids can swing on and that squirrels scurry upon? How far deep and how far around do the roots stretch? Do they go as deep in the ground as the height of the tree? Do field mice have little burrows near the roots? What lives and grows beneath the leaves that fall off the tree? What happens as the leaves moulder and crumble into the earth? What a community thrives around and within an old tree!

What happens to the tree community when a dying tree remains in place for many years? How does this compare to when trees or dying limbs are promptly taken away? Does a young new tree provide the same environment as an ancient crumbling tree?

And is there such a thing as tree spirits, like those that appear in many ancient stories? Do trees commune in some way with the life around them?