Home > Plants and Animals > Agriculture and Horticulture > Horticulture

Topic:dwarf tree

dwarf tree. (Image by ShutterStock)

Visit our new topic page about dwarf tree

dwarf tree

The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition | Date: 2008

dwarf tree in horticultural practice, a tree artificially kept to a smaller size than is normal for average members of the species. This is usually accomplished either by limiting its root space and food and by careful pruning or by grafting it on the rootstock of a smaller species. Dwarf trees (their culture is an ancient Japanese art called bonsai ) utilize limited space and are grown for ornamental purposes. Dwarf fruit trees are valued for both decoration and fruit production in small gardens. Natural dwarfing occurs among plants growing in areas where only low-growing varieties can survive (see alpine plants ).

Bibliography: See G. E. Severn, Miniature Trees in the Japanese Style (1967), M. Kawasumi, Introductory Bonsai (1972).

Author not available, DWARF TREE., The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition 2008

Related newspaper, magazine, and journal articles from HighBeam Research

	LEAFY HAVEN FOR THE CHOP; Residents are sick of trees, survey reveals. Birmingham Evening Mail (England); 7/13/1999; Swingler, Steve; 279 words ; FAMILIES in an attractive Solihull street are fed up with their suburban haven - because it's too leafy. Residents have called on the council to chop down nearly two dozen London Plane trees in Willow Road claiming they are nothing but a nuisance. Families said the huge trees dominate their homes, Read more
	Pond life worth preserving: Wendy Pyper seeks small signs of life amid the fickle floodplains of the Murray-Darling Basin. Ecos; 10/1/2000; Pyper, Wendy; 1564 words ; For nine months of the year, the floodplains of the River Murray are pocked with shallow pools that teem with a biological diversity rivalling that of the Amazon Basin. But much of the life in these ephemeral waters is invisible to the naked eye, so its importance has been overshadowed by more Read more
	Cross wire.(Gazette Letters) Evening Gazette (Middlesbrough, England); 10/20/2006; 79 words ; There must be countless women with a cross on their neck solely for ornamental purposes rather than a symbolism of their Christian belief. Meanwhile folk who see Christians as a group of do-gooders surely would think more of them if they kept this to themselves rather than symbolise it via a cross Read more
	State shouldn't pay for 'ornamental' degrees The Scotsman; 5/9/2003; Seonag MacKinnon; 154 words ; CHARLES Clarke, the Education Secretary, has attacked learning for learning's sake by saying that the public purse should not fund "ornamental" university courses. Mr Clarke told the Times Higher Education Supplement (THES): "I don't mind there being some medievalists around for ornamental Read more
	Even small animal H.A.B.I.T.s now can be tracked.(H.A.B.I.T. Research Ltd., U-blox Ltd.)(Brief article) GPS World; 8/1/2006; 232 words ; A technology partnership between H.A.B.I.T. Research Ltd. and u-blox will soon make it possible for scientists to study the behavior of endangered species once thought too tiny to be tracked by GPS, raising the hope that many smaller species may be saved from extinction, according to H.A.B.I.T. Read more
	Hassle-free heliconias New Straits Times; 2/17/2001; Lam Peng Sam; 735 words ; Lam Peng Sam New Straits Times 02-17-2001 Hassle-free heliconias Byline: Lam Peng Sam Edition: The City Advertiser; 2* Section: Gardening THE Heliconia psittacorum is the smaller species of the heliconias that does not normally grow any taller than 30 or 40 cm, depending on the species and Read more
	Morlocks in Crystal City The Washington Post; 6/26/1997; 130 words ; The Post's June 1 article {"Habitrail for Humanity," Style} about the indoor and underground way of life of those who live and work in Crystal City put me in mind of H. G. Wells's "The Time Machine." The time traveler theorized that the beautiful surface dwellers, the Eloi, and the nocturnal tunnel Read more
	Giant penguins on the march; ENVIRONMENT.(News) The Birmingham Post (England); 6/26/2007; 150 words ; A race of giant penguins marched to equatorial South America during a time when the world was much warmer than it is now, scientists have discovered. Researchers were surprised to find fossil remains of the 36 million-year-old extinct penguin, which stood over five feet tall, so far south. Read more
	BIRDING; THE FEEDER; BIRD WORD.(HOME & GARDEN) Star Tribune (Minneapolis, MN); 8/4/2004; Williams, Jim; 216 words ; Byline: Jim Williams Peep: The word birders use to describe a number of the smaller species of sandpiper. In Minnesota, peeps include semipalmated, Western, least, Bairds and white-rumped sandpipers. QUICK TIP Providing water is an excellent way to attract birds to your yard. A birdbath works well Read more
	Giant American bullfrogs are culled to stop ponds takeover Cull ordered to stop march of America's amphibious bullies The Independent - London; 8/3/2000; John Vincent; 198 words ; A CULL of giant American bullfrogs in Sussex is stopping them from destroying Britain's own smaller species. The bullies of the frog world, up to 8in long, crossed the Atlantic either as exotic pets or as chance tadpole or egg arrivals with aquarium fish. In the past year, more than 7,000 froglets Read more

See all related premium articles

Related entries from encyclopedias, dictionaries, and thesauruses

	dwarf The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English dwarf / dwôrf / • n. ( pl. dwarfs or dwarves / dwôrvz / ) 1. (in folklore or fantasy literature) a member ... denoting something, esp. an animal or plant, that is much smaller than the usual size for its type or species: a dwarf conifer. 2. (also dwarf star ) Astron. a star of relatively ... Read more
	bonsai Britannica Concise Encyclopedia (Japanese: 'tray planting') Living dwarf tree or trees; also, the art of training and growing them in containers ... carefully chosen to harmonize in colour and proportion with the tree. A sizable bonsai industry exists as part of the nursery industry ... Read more
	Tundra Plant Sciences ... Arctic tundra, which exists beyond the northern limit of tree growth, and alpine tundra, which exists above the elevational limit of tree growth in mountains. In mountains of the far north this distinction becomes blurred as tree lines descend to meet the northern limits of trees. Tundra ... lichens ... . Read more
	scrub The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology scrub2 low stunted tree XVI (doubtfully XIV); dwarf cattle; mean little fellow XVI. var. of SHRUB . Read more
	espalier Britannica Concise Encyclopedia Tree or other plant trained to grow flat against a support (such as a trellis or wall). The term is also used for the support itself, as well as for the method or technique. The technique was developed in Europe to encourage fruit-tree production in an incompatible climate; it originally used a wall to provide ... Read more