Tree

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v50.14 · v0.47.05 This article is about the current version of DF. Note that some content may still need to be updated. More Info · V

Trees are a multi-tile feature that can be found aboveground on all but the most arid or most mountainous of maps, and below ground in the caverns. What kind of trees grow in a given location depends on biome, as different species prefer different conditions. For example, tropical areas often have palm trees, while colder areas feature pines. An exception are underground trees, such as nether-caps, that will grown anywhere underground. The species of a tree in turn determines its properties, including its structure, the color and density of its wood and what kind of growths it produces. Note also that "trees" in DF covers also things that are not literally trees, such as large cacti (e.g. saguaros) and mushrooms (e.g. all underground trees).

Trees are used as a source of wood, an essential resource in the game, irreplaceable (or hard to replace) for some applications. Thus the amount of local trees greatly affects fortress development, as without a ready source of wood the player will be forced to rely on trade to get it. Tree growth density on the embark site is determined by its biome, so it's displayed with the rest of the biome properties (temperature, etc.) on the "Choose Fortress Location" screen at embark.

Structure

Trees consist of several types of tiles - roots, trunk sections, thick branches, leafy branches, and twigs, as well as a number of "growths" (leaves, needles, flowers, fruit, cones, etc., depending on species). A single tree is a structure that can span multiple tiles of each type in both horizontal and vertical directions. For example, a typical deciduous tree will have a single tile-wide trunk at ground level supporting a multiple-level crown of intertwined trunk sections, branches and twigs covered with leaves. Not all species follow the same scheme, though - palms have a high, naked trunk that doesn't branch and just a tuft of leaves on top of it, and some species can have trunks that are thicker than a single tile at ground level. Underground, things are simpler, as there is only one kind of root tiles and the extent of the root system doesn't seem to vary with species.

Graphically, vertical 1x1 trunk sections resemble wooden columns (). The thicker trunks (2x2 and 3x3) are represented by rounded double-line structures. Above ground, the trunk may branch out, producing horizontal trunk sections that resemble wooden walls. These can peter out into thick branches (single lines) or end directly with leafy branches. A vertical trunk end, if not covered with a leafy branch, is represented by a cap character ().

Trees can be climbed in both fortress and adventure mode, and most types of tiles in the crown provide support for walking. In a densely wooded areas, the overlapping tree crowns can form a continuous canopy that can be traversed.

Roots can be designated for digging, but because they usually use the same brown color as the mining designation rectangle that may be not evident (the only exception are trees with white roots). Some trees can have multiple tiles of roots, others just the one;^[Verify] in either case, when a single tile of roots is dug out, the entire tree vanishes without a trace.

Tree trunks on ground level form a solid barrier to movement, preventing channeling or the creation of walls and other constructions on their tiles. This is problematic for caravan wagons, which require a path at least three tiles wide in order to access your fortress; on heavily forested maps it may be necessary to check depot access (D) every once in a while as trees continue to grow to make sure wagons can get through, and chop down (d-t) the impeding forest if they can't. Later on this can actually become a blessing, as if there is only one or a few pathways to the fortress it makes it easier to route incoming caravans down certain well-defended pathways, instead of allowing them to choose their own way across the map, where they may fall foul of ambushers or worse. It also makes building above-ground constructions more challenging, as any trees in the way must be chopped down first.

Viewed on their same z-level, many different sub-types of trees have their own symbol, such as ♣, ♠, ¶, ╞ or ⌠. Some share the same symbol, but since the differences are only in preferences, this is not a significant problem (see table below for symbol pairings). For most purposes, a tree is a tree. Trees viewed from one z-level higher look like coloured rectangles ( ■ ), appearing identical to coloured blocks floating in the air. Deciduous trees will change colour to red or yellow in autumn ( ♣, ♠ ), and lose their leaves in winter ( ╞ ).

Growths

Growths are the things that grow on a tree, i.e. they are not an essential part of the tree's structure and can be shed or picked without destroying the tree. This includes leaves, needles, flowers, fruit, seed pods, catkins, cones, etc. Each tree species has at least one type of growth, the most common one unsurprisingly being leaves.

The leaves of deciduous trees change color in the autumn, fall before the winter and grow back in the spring. Fallen leaves will color the tiles beneath their trees, turning the forest floor into colorful patchwork.

Trees of fruit-producing species usually grow flowers in spring and fruit later in the year. Flowers will fall in a cloud during the transition from flowers to fruit; the cloud is shown falling, and loo[k]ing at the ground after that will show "<tree> flowers" in addition to other tile contents. Both flowers and fruit appear and fall at set times through the year, so it's possible that a young tree that has never flowered to give fruit.

Fruit can be picked from trees in Adventure mode, but Fort mode harvesting is not yet in the game. Nevertheless, you can embark with fruit or acquire it from trade and brew it at a still. Fruit do fall on the ground in fortress mode, but they cannot be collected or brewed. Cutting a tree with fruit causes the fruits to vanish.

Chopping down trees

Trees can be cut down by dwarves to produce wood. It is enough to designate only one trunk tile for cutting to chop down the whole tree it belongs to. Any trunk tile will do, even those that are above ground, or even a single tile of a multi-tile trunk. As a result, it's impossible to "prune" trees by chopping down only parts of them.

Once a woodcutter is done with the first tile, the tree instantly converts to a number of free-floating logs that fall to the ground in a direction away from the cutter. Cutting a tree from a trunk section above ground level may result in the woodcutter losing their footing and crashing to the ground (similar to having a tile deconstructed under their feet).

Products

Wood

One of the variation between the different tree species is in the weight and color of their wood. Weight is often a minor concern but when using wood to create objects that will be moved, such as bins or buckets, choosing lighter wood is an advantage as it will be hauled faster. Heavier wood will make wooden weapons and siege engine projectiles more effective, while lighter wooden shields reduce penalties to speed while blocking just as well as heavier shields.

Nonetheless, all trees have the same intrinsic value^[Verify] (beyond the preferences of individual dwarves), although the color of the wood may matter for aesthetic purposes.

Growing trees

Trees grow from saplings, which start growing randomly on non-occupied tiles of a suitable biome; thus chopping down a forest may create a clearing, but within a couple of years a new forest will have grown. Saplings can be killed by heavy foot traffic, but not by flooding — they can survive submergence for extended periods of time and will still grow to maturity once the water level drops to 4/7^[Verify] or lower. Dead saplings will remain for some seasons, and then disappear, more quickly if heavy traffic tramples them away. Growth from a sapling to a tree takes exactly 3 years. Many underground trees are called "young <tree>" instead of sapling, but the concept is the same. Saplings will not grow to maturity if their tile contains an item or building (including stockpile designations), though removing the item may cause the tree to spontaneously grow up. Paved roads and farm plots periodically purge all terrain features below them, preventing trees (or shrubs) from growing in unwanted areas. Trees cannot grow on stairs or ramps, making it possible to keep trees out of your plumbing by using up stairs instead of digging (this does not reveal the tile above). Above-ground trees will only grow in areas where there is sufficient soil 1 Z-level beneath them (currently observed to be at least one unmined tile within a two-tile radius); underground trees not only ignore this restriction for dry subterranean soil but will also grow on muddy subterranean stone. Additionally, saplings on soil cavern floors will block the construction of farm plots unless there is also a dusting or pile of mud beneath them.

Trees cannot be specifically "planted"; even if a map is stripped of all trees, new saplings will regrow, randomly and in their own time. Sadly, the elves do not seem to comprehend this. It is possible to farm trees by walling off or engineering a patch of soil and locking it away so your dwarves don't trample all over it, but it will take a long time for the farm to yield results. After you expose the caverns subterranean flora (including trees) will begin to grow on any exposed and previously bare soil within your fortress; this can be annoying when a copse of blood thorns suddenly appears in your sand collection area, but allows you to easily mine out large subterranean tree farms full of colorful subterranean trees.

List of tree species

Map Tile	Graphic (Trunk)	Name	Deciduous	Biome	Align	Tiles	Wood Density (g/cm³)	Drink	Drink Value1	Eat	Cook2	Growths
?	None	[[Acacia|Acacia]]	No	None Wet Dry	All (Dry)	O═⌂ trunk ─ thick branches ¼ branches ; twigs ¼ roots	—	None	—	No	No	None

Tree Name	Tile	Biome / Habitat	Alignment	Deciduous	Density (g/cm3)	"Likes them for their..."
Acacia	¼	Tropical Dry Broadleaf Forest Tropical Grassland Tropical Savanna Tropical Shrubland	All (Dry)	No	0.600	thorns
Alder	¼	Any Temperate Broadleaf Forest	All (Dry)	Yes	0.410	catkins autumn coloration
Almond	♣	Any Temperate Broadleaf Forest	All (Dry)	Yes	0.410	catkins autumn coloration
Ash	¼	Any Temperate Broadleaf Forest	All (Dry)	Yes	0.600	flying keys autumn coloration
Birch	¼	Any Temperate Broadleaf Forest	All (Dry)	Yes	0.650	catkins silver bark autumn coloration
Black-cap	¼	Subterranean Cavern (layers 2-3)	All	No	0.650	gloomy appeal
Blood thorn	¼	Subterranean Cavern (layer 3) Subterranean Chasm	All	No	1.250	sickening appearance
Cacao tree	¼	Tropical Moist Broadleaf Forest	All (Dry)	No	0.430	flowers
Candlenut	¼	Any Tropical Forest	All (Dry)	No	0.140	nuts
Cedar	¼	Temperate Conifer Forest Tropical Conifer Forest	All (Dry)	No	0.570	majesty
Chestnut	¼	Any Temperate Broadleaf Forest	All (Dry)	Yes	0.430	smelly catkins spiny pods chestnuts autumn coloration
Feather tree	¼	Not Freezing	Good (Dry)	No	0.100	feathery leaves
Fungiwood	¼	Subterranean Cavern (layers 1-2)	All	No	0.600	fine grain
Glumprong	¼	Not Freezing	Evil (Dry)	No	1.200	living shadows
Goblin-cap	¼	Subterranean Cavern (layers 2-3)	All	No	0.600	stunning color
Highwood	¼	Not Freezing	Savage (Dry)	No	0.500	magnificence
Kapok	¼	Tropical Moist Broadleaf Forest	All (Dry)	No	0.260	buttresses
Larch	¼	Taiga Temperate Conifer Forest	All (Dry)	Yes	0.590	cones needles
Mango tree	¼	Any Tropical Forest	All (Dry)	No	0.520	sweet-smelling flowers
Mahogany	¼	Any Tropical Forest	All (Dry)	No	0.600	loose inflorescences
Maple	¼	Temperate Broadleaf Forest Temperate Grassland Temperate Savanna Temperate Shrubland	All (Dry)	Yes	0.540	autumn coloration
Mangrove	¼	Mangrove Swamp	All (Wet)	No	0.830	roots
Nether-cap	¼	Subterranean Cavern (layer 3)	All	No	0.550	coldness to the touch (wood has [MAT_FIXED_TEMP:10000])
Oak	¼	Any Temperate Broadleaf Forest	All (Dry)	Yes	0.700	acorns autumn coloration
Palm	¼	Any Tropical	All (Dry)	No	0.680	leaves
Pine	¼	Taiga Temperate Conifer Forest Tropical Conifer Forest	All (Dry)	No	0.510	cones needles
Rubber tree	¼	Tropical Moist Broadleaf Forest	All (Dry)	No	0.490	branch shedding
Saguaro	¼	Any Desert	All (Dry)	No	0.430	amazing arms
Spore tree	¼	Subterranean Cavern (layers 2-3)	All	No	0.600	raining spores
Tower-cap	¼	Subterranean Cavern (layers 1-2)	All	No	0.600	great size
Tunnel tube	¼	Subterranean Cavern (layers 2-3)	All	No	0.500	curving trunk
Willow	*	Any Temperate Any Tropical Forest Tropical Grassland Tropical Savanna Tropical Shrubland Tropical Freshwater Swamp Tropical Saltwater Swamp Tropical Freshwater Marsh Tropical Saltwater Marsh	All (Wet)	No	0.390	sad appearance fluffy catkins

Bugs

• In fortress mode, tree fruit (and presumably, other growths) can't be harvested yet, though it's possible to eat fruit in adventure mode. See DF2014:Release information.
• (0.40.2) Constructing on trees causes them to vanish. ^Bug:6551
• (0.40.2) When a root tile is mined, the entire tree ceases to exist. ^Bug:6749
• (0.40.2) Building something (e.g. a cage) in a tree and then chopping down the tree leaves the building floating in the air. ^Bug:6949

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Trees Surface Abaca • Acacia • Alder • Almond • Apple • Apricot • Ash • Avocado • Banana • Bayberry • Birch • Bitter orange • Cacao tree • Candlenut • Carambola • Cashew • Cedar • Cherry • Chestnut • Citron • Coconut palm • Coffee • Custard-apple • Date palm • Desert lime • Durian • Feather tree • Finger lime • Ginkgo • Glumprong • Guava • Hazel • Highwood • Kapok • Kumquat • Larch • Lime • Lychee • Macadamia • Mahogany • Mango tree • Mangrove • Maple • Oak • Olive • Orange • Papaya • Paradise nut • Peach • Pear • Pecan • Persimmon • Pine • Plum • Pomegranate • Pomelo • Rambutan • Round lime • Rubber tree • Saguaro • Sand pear • Tea • Walnut • Willow Subterranean Black-cap • Blood thorn • Fungiwood • Goblin-cap • Nether-cap • Spore tree • Tower-cap • Tunnel tube
Grasses Surface Arrow bamboo • Bentgrass • Baby toes succulent • Blue sedge • Bubble bulb • Carpetgrass • Cattail • Cloudberry • Common reed • Cottongrass • Dallisgrass • Dog's tooth grass • Downy grass • Dropseed grass • Fescue grass • Field sedge • Golden bamboo • Grama • Hair grass • Hedge bamboo • Knotgrass • Marsh thistle • Meadow-grass • Meadowsweet • Mountain avens • Needle grass • Pebble plant • Purple moor grass • Reedgrass • Rush • Ryegrass • Satintail • Sawgrass • Staring eyeball • Velvet grass • White mountain heather • Wormy tendril • Zoysia Subterranean Cave moss • Floor fungus • Underlichen