Trees form landscapes, mark crossroads, inspire architecture, have provided us and our ancestors with shelter, food and wood. They are witnesses and momentoes of events and centuries before our time. Special or sacred trees are common to all human societies, past or present. This book contains unusual images of trees - photographs, sculptures, engravings, paintings and drawings. It shows us monumental trees, nature's ancient sculptures; symbolic trees of mythology, such as the Tree of Knowledge; tree-shrines covered in votive offerings - a practice still carried on today in Europe, not far from cities such as Paris, Exeter and Brussels. There are trees distorted into extraordinary shapes by environment or human interference, and elaborate tree-houses, arbours and avenues.