Mary Jo DiLonardo has worked in print, online, and broadcast journalism for 25 years and covers nature, health, science, and animals. Young trees sometimes have smooth bark that's unbroken by ridges.

The center of a tree or shrub stem (from roots to trunk, branches, and twigs) is woody, composed of xylem cells that conduct water from the roots to the upper parts of the tree. That woody section is ...

Nadkarni reveals how tiny “windows” in the bark of trees help them respire. What’s the first thing you do when you get into ...

Just before the first snow, I went for a walk in the woods near our house. It’s a damp and mossy mixed wood full of the usual suspects: cedar, white pine, balsam, birch, beech, the occasional maple ...