Cute Young Curly Brunette Girl Posing On Tree Roots On The Beach In The Evening

Tree roots normally grow outward to about three times the branch spread. Only half of a tree's root system occurs between the trunk and the circumference of its canopy. Roots on one side of a tree normally supply the foliage on that same side of the tree. Thus when roots on one side of a tree are injured, the branches and leaves on that same side of the tree may die or wilt. For some trees however, such as the maple family, the effect of a root injury may show itself anywhere in the tree canopy.
Evolutionary history
The fossil record of roots – or rather, infilled voids where roots rotted after death – spans back to the late Silurian, but their identification is difficult, because casts and molds of roots are so similar in appearance to animal burrows – although they can be discriminated on the basis of a range of features.