ok so im gonna preface this by saying that botanists debate who the real smolest tree boi is. like, to judge a smol tree boi u gotta first decide what a tree boi is, and we dont have an official definition??? the closest u can find is the idea that a tree is a plant that gets secondary growth each year so like. if it got rings when u cut it open, its a tree, and if it only has vegetative growth (think banana trees) its not technically a tree. but then like is a shrub a tree?? are all woody plants trees????? is a shrub different from a bush???? we just dont know man we literally dont. we havent decided yet its a mystery. things that real botanists have decided on:
but anyway yeah so just to clear things up we’re gonna use the definition outlined in the book “Elsevier’s dictionary of forestry” published in 2004, which defines that if a woody perennial that got leaf is 3 meters tall (9.84 feet), he a tree, and if its less its a shrub. so in that case, the smolest tree possible is a tree that is exactly 9.84 feet tall at maturity. which can be a lot of things.
now, if we’re talking about the smolest shrub, then the botany community has identified a theoretical smol bab that isnt officially a tree but might be depending on who you take the tree definition from?????
this is Salix herbacea (dwarf willow), a very, very smol willow species adapted to arctic environments. usually it only gets about 1-6 cm tall. they stretch out and sometimes form older trunks when they crawl that make them look a liiiittle bit more like a conventional tree that just oozed everywhere like (x) (x) (pic is public domain)
whoa careful dont get lost in the forest
he crawl but he also grow tol u feel
so there is the smolest tree boi depending on who u ask
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