When most of us think of trees at this time of year, we focus on leaves. The same leaves that delighted us when they appeared in the spring, shaded us through the torrid summer days and enchanted us as they turned shades of red, yellow and orange, are now tormenting us by dropping from the trees. The sugar maple in front of my house transforms itself into a glowing scarlet beacon that takes your breath away. Some years there is hardly time to get your breath back before it begins the process of dumping about ten tons of leaves on the front lawn and sidewalk. This phenomenon tends to reinforce the idea that almost anything is more desirable when it is out of reach.
To restore my spirits after a bout of raking—and the bouts seem never ending—I turned to Fred Hageneder’s wonderful book, The Meaning of Trees. Published in 2005, The Meaning of Trees features essays on over 50 tree species, from the small-leafed wattle—Acacia–to the great elm—Ulmus. The essays are arranged alphabetically by Latin name, but the index also lists common names, for those who are Latin-challenged. Because of its format, it is a perfect book to dip in and out of.
Subtitled “Botany, History, Healing, Lore,” The Meaning of Trees is more than simply a guide to the world’s most celebrated arboreal species. The introduction sets the tone, placing trees in cultural context and pointing to their age-old symbiotic relationship with humans. Many cultures’ foundation mythologies feature a “tree of life” that links all living things. Trees have fed, clothed, sheltered, healed and inspired us throughout history. Now, as the world’s collective discussion has turned to sustainability, trees have become fashionable once again. Fortunately they haven’t taken offence during those times when we have ignored them, over-harvested some species or created pollution that diminished their numbers.
Each section details the individual species’ practical and medicinal uses, as well as its cultural, mythological and symbolic associations. The parade of civilizations is impressive, from the Egyptians, who held wattle—Acacia—sacred to the god Osiris, to the ancient Chinese, who prescribed walnuts to help balance the body’s yin and yang. As with all good non-fiction books, it is the well-told stories that make the subject come alive.
Since my back was aching from moving maple leaves, I started with the Aceraceae or maple section. I found references to the sugar maple, like the one in my front yard, which Native North Americans tapped for its sap centuries before colonists appeared. Its kin, the Norway maple, is described as “a handsome, fast-growing tree of great size.” In my part of the world, there are thousands of them with a seed germination rate so impressive that Norway maples are like weeds. But even that weedy status does not keep them from being valuable as habitats for insects and wildlife. Supposedly the Trojan horse was created from a locally available maple species, making it a symbol of bad luck to some. On the positive side of the ledger, maple has long been used to make superior musical instruments.
The author covers most of the world’s important food trees, from olives and date palms to oranges, apples and chestnuts. We chomp on our delicious fall apples now without even knowing that the Romans enjoyed thirty different varieties. We have mostly forgotten that they have long been symbols of fertility, sacred to the goddesses Hera and Demeter in ancient Greece. In fact, throughout history, apples have been assigned so many virtues, that historians of various eras have confounded botanists by referring to a host of different round, reddish fruits as “apples”.
Part of what makes the book so special is the illustrations, including photos of some of the oldest and/or most impressive examples of the various tree types. The section on olives, for example, features a photo of two ancient trunks, so pitted and gnarled over the trees’ long life spans that they now appear as living sculptures.
My only quibble with The Meaning of Trees is that it could have been longer. Some impressive trees, including the ancient Magnolia and the tulip poplar—Liriodendron tulipifera—are left out. Perhaps the author is saving them for a subsequent volume.
Though the book came out ten years ago, both hardcover and paperback copies are still available from major online vendors. Copies might also be ordered from local booksellers.
As you rake or blow your leaves away, remember that you and they are part of the continuum described in The Meaning of Trees. From ancient times, humans have worked to find sustainable methods of using trees, including coppicing and harvesting leaves from pruned branches to feed livestock. If you mulch even some of your leaves, you will be following in that tradition. It is worth preserving.