The insightful animated video series Kurzgesagt explains how trees are in a constant state of being both dead and alive at the same time. Only the outermost ring of a tree has cells that are alive, while the very inner rings are considered “undead” wood. The rings outside the center plus the tree’s bark are dead, despite the ability to grow so very deep into the ground and so very tall into the air.
Every tree you have ever seen is dead. It turns out the alive part of a tree is just a tiny, paper thin strip of cells, trapped between a dead skeleton and dead outsides.
