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Trees

Smith spotted the elusive creature while searching for rare flowers in the Wondiwoi mountain range

Cool Finds

Elusive Tree Kangaroo Spotted for First Time in 90 Years

An amateur botanist spotted the Wondiwoi tree kangaroo in the remote mountains of West Papua, New Guinea

Why Texas Just May Be the Best State for Fall Foliage

With its rolling prairies and limestone cliffs, historic towns and oak-filled nature parks, Texas Hill Country is a land apart

New Research

Something Is Killing Off Africa’s Largest Baobab Trees

In the last dozen years, four of the 13 largest, and likely oldest, trees have died. Another five are ailing

Europe’s Oldest Known Tree Discovered in Italy

The Heldreich’s pine is 1,230 years old

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Watch This Pine Tree Unleash a Huge, Fluffy Pollen Cloud

A viral video of the pollen explosion has touched a nerve among sufferers of seasonal allergies

Each caterpillar of the oak processionary moth have about 62,000 hairs that contain a protein called thaumetopoein, which causes rashes, asthma attacks and vomiting.

Londoners Beware: These Toxic Caterpillars Cause Rashes and Asthma

The caterpillars were accidentally introduced to Britain in 2005

The Nazis regularly used chemical fog to hide its Tirpitz battleship in the Norwegian fjords during World War II.

Norwegian Trees Still Bear Evidence of a World War II German Battleship

A chemical fog used to camouflage the ship impacted the trees, limiting ring development

The towering, 2,500-year-old “Mother of the Forest” (second from left) died after its bark was stripped for display in New York in 1855.

How California’s Giant Sequoias Tell the Story of Americans’ Conflicted Relationship With Nature

In the mid-19th century, “Big Tree mania” spread across the country and our love for the trees has never abated

Male flowers of the striped maple tree.

The Mystery of the Sex-Changing Striped Maple Trees

Yes, trees can be male or female. And sometimes they switch it up

World’s Tallest Wooden Building to Be Built in Tokyo

Architects are increasingly touting wood as a cleaner alternative to steel, concrete and brick

A British Columbia rainforest, where Douglas firs soar more than 160 feet, supports 23 native tree species.

Ask Smithsonian

Do Trees Talk to Each Other?

A controversial German forester says yes, and his ideas are shaking up the scientific world

The author Brett McNish and Fred Hay perch in a live oak on Sapelo island.

A Smithsonian Horticulturist Goes on a Quest for an Historic Seedling

A live oak tree from a South Georgia island community will one day enhance the grounds of the African American History Museum

Driftwood is a valuable resource for humans and all kinds of ecosystems near and far.

How Driftwood Reshapes Ecosystems

In one of nature’s remarkable second acts, dead trees embark on transformative journeys

The Magnolia tree, left, was planted on the south grounds of the White House by President Andrew Jackson in 1835.

White House Magnolia Tree Planted by Andrew Jackson Will Be Cut Down

Despite multiple attempts to save it, the tree is in bad shape

Aerial view of the Amazon Rainforest near Manaus, the capital of the Brazilian state of Amazonas.

Cool Finds

Brazil Begins Effort to Plant 73 Million Trees in the Amazon

The experiment in reforestation involves spreading native seeds instead of planting saplings

A cross-section of the fossilised cladoxylopsid found in Xinjiang, China.

New Research

Ancient Trees “Ripped Their Skeletons Apart” To Grow

Cross-sections of 374-million-year-old tree trunks revealed a complex web of woody strands that split and repaired themselves

A southern New Hampshire pine forest was entirely blown down in the hurricane of 1938.

The 1938 Hurricane That Revived New England’s Fall Colors

An epic natural disaster restored the forest of an earlier America

Fall in Charlottesville.

Eight Places to See Amazing Fall Foliage Outside of New England

Autumn blazes in these off-the-beaten-path locations

In an era of rapid change, the managers of our nation's wild spaces are asking: What counts as natural anymore?

The National Parks Face a Looming Existential Crisis

Political uncertainty and a changing climate converge to forge the park system’s biggest challenge yet

For tree poachers, sometimes known as "midnight burlers," redwoods can present a lucrative opportunity for theft. New research recommends ways to deter this hard-to-trace wildlife crime.

New Research

How Forest Forensics Could Prevent the Theft of Ancient Trees

To track down timber thieves, researchers are turning to new tech and tried-and-true criminal justice techniques

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