A Druid's Handbook to the Spiritual Power of Plants: Spagyrics in Magical and Sexual Rituals - Jon G. Hughes 2014

Tree Structure
The Tree
Assessing the Natural Resources

Trees, usually the tallest of all plants, differ from shrubs in that they produce a single, upright woody stem commonly known as the trunk.

The tree develops and grows by adding successive layers of woody tissues to the stem of the young plant. The stem of the young tree is made up of three main layers. The outermost layer, or epidermis, protects the inner layers of the stem. The middle layer, or cortex, is the storehouse. The innermost layer, or stele, is more complex. It consists of a number of layers, the tough pericyclic layer, the phloem layer, the xylem layer, and the innermost core, called the pith.

As a young sapling, the tree develops a layer of cells between the phloem and xylem, called the cambium. It is the cambium cells that constantly produce the new phloem and xylem cells that make possible the tree’s growth.

As the tree matures and its circumference increases, the outer layer begins to crack and fall away. At this stage a new cork cambium, or phellogen, develops to protect the exposed phloem. As the tree continues to grow and its trunk expands and cracks, a new cork cambium develops to protect it. As the tree reaches maturity, the xylem layer makes up around 95 percent of its diameter. The xylem is commonly called the wood. The layers outside the cambium (growing) layer are collectively called the bark.

Because the xylem cells produced in the spring are larger than those produced in the fall, and because the tree halts its growth during the winter, the new wood develops in distinct concentric circles, called growth rings. The older growth rings are nonfunctional and usually dark in color. These are collectively called the heartwood. The younger growth rings, lighter in color, are used to transport the tree’s sap. They are, therefore, called the sapwood.

The tree’s bark forms a protective covering over its trunk, branches, and roots. It consists of an outer and inner layer and is used commercially in tanning, the manufacture of shoes and cork, and, most significantly for us, in medicines. The main European trees whose barks are used for medicines are the witch hazel and the yew.

Like the flowering plants we looked at earlier, trees have come to be known by many different names in different regions. Some are based on the appearance of the tree, for example, some on its common usage, some on its habitat. (The common names for native English trees have been standardized according to those published by the Botanical Society of the British Isles in English Names of Wild Flowers by Dony, Jury, and Perring. This is not a great deal of help to those people living outside the British Isles, of course.) The tree’s botanical, Latin name is made up of two components, the genus and the species, just as it is in the case of the flowering plant classifications we saw previously.

By referring to the botanical name of each tree in any reference book, you ensure that you are in fact identifying the very same tree as is mentioned in the text that follows. By considering its common or “folklore” name, you may gain some insight into its “signature” as explained previously. Again, it is important to stress the need for absolute certainty in correctly identifying the trees you intend to target as donors. A mistake in identification could have disastrous consequences.