arboriculture

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American Heritage Dictionary:

ar·bo·ri·cul·ture

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(är'bər-ĭ-kŭl'chər, är-bôr'ĭ-, -bōr'-) pronunciation
n.
The planting and care of woody plants, especially trees.

arboricultural ar'bo·ri·cul'tur·al adj.


Cultivation of trees, shrubs, and woody plants for shading and decorating. Arboriculture includes all aspects of growing, maintaining, and identifying plants, arranging plantings for their ornamental values, and removing trees. The well-being of individual plants is the major concern of arboriculture, in contrast to such related fields as forestry and agriculture, in which the major concern is the welfare of a large group of plants as a whole.

For more information on arboriculture, visit Britannica.com.

A branch of horticulture concerned with the selection, planting, and care of woody perennial plants. Knowing the potential form and size of plants is essential to effective landscape planning as well as to the care needed for plants. Arborists are concerned primarily with trees since they become large, are long-lived, and dominate landscapes both visually and functionally.

Plants can provide privacy, define space, and progressively reveal vistas; they can be used to reduce glare, direct traffic, reduce soil erosion, filter air, and attenuate noise; and they can be positioned so as to modify the intensity and direction of wind. They also influence the microclimate by evaporative cooling and interception of the Sun's rays, as well as by reflection and reradiation. Certain plants, however, can cause human irritations with their pollen, leaf pubescence, toxic sap, and strong fragrances from flowers and fruit. Additionally, trees can be dangerous and costly: branches can fall, and roots can clog sewers and break paving. See also Landscape architecture.



The art of growing and cultivating ornamental trees.

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categories related to 'arboriculture'

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Random House Word Menu by Stephen Glazier
For a list of words related to arboriculture, see:

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An arborist practicing arboriculture: examining a Japanese Hemlock at Hoyt Arboretum in Portland, Oregon.

Arboriculture (play /ˈɑrbərɨkʌlər/) is the cultivation, management, and study of individual trees, shrubs, vines, and other perennial woody plants. It is both a practice and a science.

The science of arboriculture studies how these plants grow and respond to cultural practices and to their environment. The practice of arboriculture includes cultural techniques such as selection, planting, training, fertilization, pest and pathogen control, pruning, shaping, and removal.

A person who practises or studies arboriculture can be termed an 'arborist', an 'arboriculturist' or a 'tree surgeon'.

Risk management, legal issues, and aesthetic considerations have come to play prominent roles in the practice of arboriculture.

Arboriculture is primarily focused on individual woody plants and trees maintained for permanent landscape and amenity purposes, usually in gardens, parks or other populated settings, by arborists, for the enjoyment, protection, and benefit of human beings. It is therefore related to, but distinct from agriculture, horticulture, urban forestry, forestry, dendrology, and silviculture.

See also

An arborist practicing arboriculture: using a chainsaw to fell a eucalyptus tree in a park at Kallista, Victoria.


References

  • Harris, Richard W. (1983). Arboriculture: Care of Trees, Shrubs, and Vines in the Landscape. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey 07632: Prentice-Hall, Inc.. pp. 2–3. ISBN 0-13-043935-5. 
  • "arboriculture". Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, Eleventh Edition. Merriam-Webster. 
  • "arboriculture". Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 2007. 
  • "arboriculture". The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Online. Houghton Mifflin Company. 2000. 

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