A grove is a small group of

tree In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, including only woody plants with secondary growth, plants that are ...

s with minimal or no undergrowth, such as a sequoia grove, or a small

orchard An orchard is an intentional plantation of trees or shrubs that is maintained for food production. Orchards comprise fruit- or nut-producing trees which are generally grown for commercial production. Orchards are also sometimes a feature of ...

planted for the cultivation of

fruit In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants that is formed from the ovary after flowering. Fruits are the means by which flowering plants (also known as angiosperms) disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in partic ...

s or nuts. Other words for groups of trees include ''

woodland A woodland () is, in the broad sense, land covered with trees, or in a narrow sense, synonymous with wood (or in the U.S., the '' plurale tantum'' woods), a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunlight and limited shade (see ...

'', '' woodlot'', '' thicket'', and '' stand''. The main meaning of " grove" is a group of trees that grow close together, generally without many bushes or other plants underneath. It is an old word in the English language, with records of its use dating as far back as the late 9th century. The word's true origins are unknown; the word, or a related root, cannot be found in any other Germanic language. Naturally-occurring groves are typically small, perhaps a few acres at most.In contrast,

s, which are normally intentional planting of trees, may be small or very large, like the apple orchards in

Washington state Washington (), officially the State of Washington, is a U.S. state, state in the Northwestern United States, Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. Named for George Washington—the first President of the United States, U.S. p ...

, and orange groves in

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and ...

. Historically, groves were considered sacred in pagan, pre-Christian Germanic and Celtic cultures. Helen F. Leslie-Jacobsen argues that "we can assume that sacred groves actually existed due to repeated mentions in historiographical and ethnographical accounts. e.g.

Tacitus Publius Cornelius Tacitus, known simply as Tacitus ( , ; – ), was a Roman historian and politician. Tacitus is widely regarded as one of the greatest Roman historians by modern scholars. The surviving portions of his two major works—the ...

, '' Germania''." Helen F. Leslie Jacobsen, "The Sacred Grove in Scandinavian/Germanic Pre-Christian Religion", University of Bergen
Retrieved 29 June 2015

See also

References

Further reading