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[Loud Whispers]

It's all about the banyan trees. Best tree IMO hands down.

Bitch I will fight you AND your banyan trees!

...Though I share great love for the Willow, I must concede that bridge trees are just pure splendour.


Some clever Indians had a problem. India being India, kept flooding. Areas easily fordable would become hellish torrents of mudwater in the rainy season, and with the banks moving around when they feel like it and the highwater point changing season to season physical bridges had a tendency to be swept away. So there were two solutions; rope bridges, and tree bridges. Rope bridges could be put up relatively quickly and cheaply. Tree bridges took generations of maintenance and growing. They also lasted generations, and held up to the rivers with the ease of a living titan.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

BECAUSE THEY ARE BRIDGE TREES! (They're rubber trees whose roots have been guided and woven through frames. Ingenious stuff).

[WealthyRadish]

My mind immediately went to BSTs when I saw the title. I guess a red-black tree can kind of look like a deciduous tree in autumn, with impeccable pruning.

[Orange Wizard]

* Orange Wizard gets in touch with his inner elf.

Spoiler: Obligatory (click to show/hide)

LW posted a bunch of British trees, so I'll post a bunch of Kiwi ones.

Spoiler: Kauri (click to show/hide)

These things are really big.

It's hard to give an accurate impression of just how big. They grow really slowly, too.

This one is hundreds of years old, at least.

Spoiler: Pohutukawa (click to show/hide)

Sometimes also called a "rata" (Maori for "red") or Christmas tree, because it flowers around Christmastime.

Spoiler: Totara (click to show/hide)

Another really big tree. Not as big as Kauri AFAIK, though.

Spoiler: Manuka (click to show/hide)

It's hard to find a picture that does these justice.

Manuka honey is very common in NZ, and is commonly thought of as a panacea. Less so now, mostly because studies have said it's bunk. But the honey does have a very pleasant taste, and can cost upwards of $10 for a few hundred grammes.
Also, the flowers are gorgeous.

Spoiler: Beech (click to show/hide)

Contrary to their name, these don't grow on beaches. They do, however, cover mountainsides in a pleasant green. The bark is kinda powdery and gets all over your hands if you touch it, but the forests are fantastic to walk through grow pretty much everywhere.

There's a whole heap of other trees that I can't be bothered posting about or I've forgotten about, too. Most of them are pretty darn fantastic.

[Graknorke]

Ah, someone got to Elms before me. They can grow in all kinds of ways and when you cut them down you can make pretty good bows out of them. All around a pretty good tree.

[sneakey pete]

Jacaranda's are probably my favorite around here in Brisbane

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

[SquatchHammer]

Always liked cherry trees...

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Too bad I cant find the one tree from my trip in Outdoor lab in Mt. Evans that was a mammoth of a pine.

But my favorite tree(s) is me...

[nenjin]

I'm all a bough this thread.

I think Weeping Willows are my favorite. Growing up in the South they were kind of an iconic part of the cultural imagery, and when I moved up North I'd be shocked and delighted to find one randomly planted somewhere, like the down the street from my parent's house.

[NAV]

Y'all are forgetting about the evergreens.
Pine, spruce, fir, cedar, whatever.
All lovely. Especially in the winter when everything else is dead and they're still green.

[Loud Whispers]

I'm all a bough this thread.

I think Weeping Willows are my favorite. Growing up in the South they were kind of an iconic part of the cultural imagery, and when I moved up North I'd be shocked and delighted to find one randomly planted somewhere, like the down the street from my parent's house.

YEEUUGH WILLOW BRO

PRAISE THE DREADS

Jacaranda's are probably my favorite around here in Brisbane

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

They're like giant lavender trees! How?

* Orange Wizard gets in touch with his inner elf.

Spoiler: Obligatory (click to show/hide)

LW posted a bunch of British trees, so I'll post a bunch of Kiwi ones.

Spoiler: Kauri (click to show/hide)

These things are really big.

It's hard to give an accurate impression of just how big. They grow really slowly, too.

This one is hundreds of years old, at least.

Spoiler: Pohutukawa (click to show/hide)

Sometimes also called a "rata" (Maori for "red") or Christmas tree, because it flowers around Christmastime.

Spoiler: Totara (click to show/hide)

Another really big tree. Not as big as Kauri AFAIK, though.

Spoiler: Manuka (click to show/hide)

It's hard to find a picture that does these justice.

Manuka honey is very common in NZ, and is commonly thought of as a panacea. Less so now, mostly because studies have said it's bunk. But the honey does have a very pleasant taste, and can cost upwards of $10 for a few hundred grammes.
Also, the flowers are gorgeous.

Spoiler: Beech (click to show/hide)

Contrary to their name, these don't grow on beaches. They do, however, cover mountainsides in a pleasant green. The bark is kinda powdery and gets all over your hands if you touch it, but the forests are fantastic to walk through grow pretty much everywhere.

There's a whole heap of other trees that I can't be bothered posting about or I've forgotten about, too. Most of them are pretty darn fantastic.

Jack tree's a Malaysian tree not British, and god damn am I jealous of Kiwi trees. Metaphorical ones.

...Do Kiwis grow on trees?

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Also holly trees exist. They're usually only grown as hedges or bushes, but there are actual holly trees. I've seen fuckhueg massive holly trees before. I had to see one as a tree before I believed holly trees were real.

[Blargityblarg]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eucalyptus_camaldulensis

aww yiss, river redgum.

London Plane Trees are also pretty cool.

[scrdest]

Jacaranda's are probably my favorite around here in Brisbane

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

BRISBANE, Y U STEAL TREE FROM FANTASY NOVEL?

[Avis-Mergulus]

Pallas pine! Grows in Crimea and the Caucasus on mountainsides. Much adored by me for its ability to grow horizontally and in freaking bizarre shapes. As in, first two meters horizontally, the next two straight up, then sideways some more.

[Bumblebee]

Pine battle time! Northern are best!

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

First thing to mention about them is the light. They form probably the brightest forests in the world. The second thing is the smell; it's geosmine ALL the time, not only after the rain. Then, these pines won't let anything but moss, bilberry, cowberry and, sometimes, mushrooms grow under them, which fondles my feet and turns on my collecting instinct. The only trifling imperfection in them is the absolute unclimbliness, but it doesn't matter.

It's hard to live in a northern country- you don't have a big assortment when the time to choose a favourite tree comes. I have never ever seen, like, 90% of those you are talking about 

[nenjin]

You're either deciduous, or against us.

[Bumblebee]

Join the coniferous side! We'll get them in winter...