Naming trees individually makes them family rather than timber

Evidence

One word appears on the map more than any other: Cedar Springs, Cedar Rest, Sacred Cedar, Cedar Family. … Cedar Family is especially evocative of how cedar often lives in familylike groves. Perhaps in compensation for its difficulty in sprouting from seed, cedar is a champion at vegetative reproduction. Almost any part of the tree that rests on wet ground can take root, in a process known as layering. The low swooping foliage may send roots into moist beds of moss. The flexible branches themselves can initiate new trees—even after they’re cut from the tree. Native peoples probably tended the cedar groves by propagating them in this way. — Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass, 1067

Categorization

• XREF: The habit of naming individual trees as persons extends Kimmerer’s earlier point that naming beings by name is how humans forge relationship (ch50). — connects to: Naming a plant falls far short of knowing the plant itself — Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom,…, 155; Naming species is a first step toward kinship, not a distancing taxonomy — Jenny Odell, How to Do Nothing: Resisting the…, 492; Naming beings by name is how humans forge relationship and forestall species loneliness — Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom,…, 753 (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• Naming species is a first step toward kinship, not a distancing taxonomy #corroborates (0.90) — Jenny Odell, How to Do Nothing, 492
• Naming beings by name is how humans forge relationship and forestall species loneliness #corroborates (0.85) — Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass, 753
• A tree survived logging by appearing useless to timber interests #exemplifies (0.70) — Jenny Odell, How to Do Nothing, 22