Tree

===Art===

Besides inspiring artists down the centuries, trees have been used to create art. Living trees have been used in [[bonsai]] and in [[tree shaping]], and both living and dead specimens have been sculpted into sometimes fantastic shapes.<ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://mentalfloss.com/article/30098/10-artists-who-work-trees |title=10 Artists Who Work in Trees |author=Cellania, Miss<!--NOT LAST, FIRST--> |date=28 February 2012 |magazine=Mental Floss |access-date=20 September 2014 |archive-date=3 August 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140803191336/http://mentalfloss.com/article/30098/10-artists-who-work-trees |url-status=live }}</ref>

====Bonsai====
[[File:Dwarf Japanese Juniper, 1975-2007.jpg|thumb|upright|Informal upright style of [[bonsai]] on a [[juniper]] tree]]
{{main|Bonsai}}

{{Nihongo |Bonsai | 盆栽 | | lit. "Tray planting"}}<ref>{{cite book | last=Gustafson |first=Herbert L. | title=Miniature Bonsai | publisher=Sterling Publishing Company, Inc. | year=1995 | isbn=0-8069-0982-X | page=[https://archive.org/details/miniaturebonsai00gust/page/9 9] | url-access=registration | url=https://archive.org/details/miniaturebonsai00gust/page/9 }}</ref> is the practice of [[Hòn Non Bộ|''hòn non bộ'']] originated in China and spread to Japan more than a thousand years ago, there are similar practices in other cultures like the living miniature landscapes of Vietnam ''hòn non bộ''. The word ''bonsai'' is often used in English as an [[umbrella term]] for all miniature trees in containers or pots.<ref>{{cite book |first=David |last=Squire |title=The Bonsai Specialist |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7IrFEu13suIC&pg=PA3 |year=2004 |publisher=New Holland Publishers |isbn=978-1-84330-543-9 |page=3 |access-date=28 February 2016 |archive-date=4 March 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170304193243/https://books.google.com/books?id=7IrFEu13suIC&pg=PA3 |url-status=live }}</ref>

The purposes of bonsai are primarily contemplation (for the viewer) and the pleasant exercise of effort and ingenuity (for the grower).<ref name="bonsai_masterclass_peter_chan">{{cite book |last=Chan |first=Peter |title=Bonsai Masterclass |publisher=Sterling Publishing Co., Inc. |year=1987 |isbn=978-0-8069-6763-9 |ref=bonsai_masterclass_peter_chan}}</ref> Bonsai practice focuses on long-term cultivation and shaping of one or more small trees growing in a container, beginning with a cutting, seedling, or small tree of a species suitable for bonsai development. Bonsai can be created from nearly any [[perennial]] woody-stemmed tree or shrub species<ref name="the_bonsai_identifier">{{cite book |last=Owen |first=Gordon |title=The Bonsai Identifier |publisher=Quintet Publishing Ltd. |year=1990 |isbn=978-0-88665-833-5 |page=[https://archive.org/details/bonsaiidentifier0000owen/page/11 11] |url=https://archive.org/details/bonsaiidentifier0000owen/page/11 }}</ref> that produces true branches and can be cultivated to remain small through pot confinement with crown and root pruning. Some [[List of species used in bonsai|species]] are popular as bonsai material because they have characteristics, such as small leaves or needles, that make them appropriate for the compact visual scope of bonsai and a miniature deciduous forest can even be created using such species as [[Japanese maple]], [[Zelkova serrata|Japanese zelkova]] or [[hornbeam]].<ref>{{cite book |first=David |last=Squire |title=The Bonsai Specialist |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7IrFEu13suIC&pg=PA66 |year=2004 |publisher=New Holland Publishers |isbn=978-1-84330-543-9 |page=66 |access-date=28 February 2016 |archive-date=4 March 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170304135627/https://books.google.com/books?id=7IrFEu13suIC&pg=PA66 |url-status=live }}</ref>

====Tree shaping====
{{main|Tree shaping}}
[[File:Person-tree.jpg|thumb|left|''People trees'', by Pooktre]]

Tree shaping is the practice of changing living trees and other woody plants into man made shapes for art and useful structures. There are a few different methods<ref name="CottageGarden">{{Cite journal |first=Mörður |last=Gunnarsson |title=Living Furniture |journal=Cottage and Garden |pages=28–29 |year=2012 }}</ref> of shaping a tree. There is a gradual method and there is an instant method. The gradual method slowly guides the growing tip along predetermined pathways over time whereas the instant method bends and weaves saplings {{convert|2|to|3|m|ft|abbr=on}} long into a shape that becomes more rigid as they thicken up.<ref name="LLC2007">{{cite book |author=Dwell, LLC |title=Dwell |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=f8YDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA96 |date=February 2007 |publisher=Dwell, LLC |page=96 |issn=1530-5309 |access-date=28 February 2016 |archive-date=4 March 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170304135950/https://books.google.com/books?id=f8YDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA96 |url-status=live }}</ref> Most artists use grafting of living trunks, branches, and roots, for art or functional structures and there are plans to grow "living houses" with the branches of trees knitting together to give a solid, weatherproof exterior combined with an interior application of straw and clay to provide a [[stucco]]-like inner surface.<ref name="LLC2007"/>

Tree shaping has been practised for at least several hundred years, the oldest known examples being the [[living root bridges]] built and maintained by the [[Khasi people|Khasi]] people of [[Meghalaya]], India using the roots of the [[Ficus elastica|rubber tree]] (''Ficus elastica'').<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.picturesw.com/2012/08/the-natural-root-bridges-of-cherrapunji.html |title=The natural root bridges of Cherrapunji, India |date=7 August 2012 |publisher=Pictures World |access-date=17 September 2014 |archive-date=24 September 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140924180958/http://www.picturesw.com/2012/08/the-natural-root-bridges-of-cherrapunji.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.treehugger.com/sustainable-product-design/living-bridges-in-india-have-grown-for-500-years-pics.html |title=Living Bridges in India Have Grown for 500 Years |last=Merchant |first=Brian |date=28 September 2010 |work=Treehugger |access-date=17 September 2014 |archive-date=23 October 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141023050359/http://www.treehugger.com/sustainable-product-design/living-bridges-in-india-have-grown-for-500-years-pics.html |url-status=live }}</ref>