Practical Usage of Trees

The bark of the Yanchama tree in the Amazon rainforest of Colombia is used by the Ticuna, the largest indigenous tribe, to make head dresses for their ritualistic dance ceremonies. It is a malleable material that could be virtually turned into cloth and shaped to the head like a mythical creature.

Mesolithic Hunter-Gatherers, in what is now North Yorkshire, used the waxy resins of their barks as a glue to attach their arrowheads to the shafts. Pieces of dry bark can burn very hot and are useful even today for firelighting when camping.

The very hard timber of the Common Laburnum was used in the past to make Crossbow Arrows.

Germanic tribes made lime-wood shields.

Freshly-sawn pieces of Red Cedar wood are used as a moth deterrent, as they avoid the scent.

Gum of the Wild Cherry, exuded from the trunk to seal any wounds, can be boiled with water to produce a mastic cherry gum for cough relief.

Many trees in the Dracaena genus are effective in cleansing the air of pollutants such as formaldehyde, and harmful smoke particles released by cigarettes. As such, they are a popular choice as indoor plants to keep the air clean.

Hawthorn trees are commonly used for boundaries around farmland in the UK and Ireland, since its dense, thorny, and fast-growing nature makes it an ideal "living fence" to secure livestock and mark property lines (a "stock-proof" barrier).

Hornbeam wood was used for wheels, screws, and butchers' chopping boards.

Some clothing in the Bronze Age was made with the fibres of lime (linden) trees, sourced from the inner bark of trees, processed into threads, and used for weaving and twining.