If you purchased Lyons and Peres’ text, “Probability on Trees and Networks” with the expectations of expanding ones knowledge on forest ecosystems, then there’s a snowball’s chance in a polar vortex that you’ve been duped! 
The authors’ description of a tree’s branching system disregards fundamental plant anatomy with no mention of the apical, intercalary, or lateral meristematic tissue. Their trees’, bereft of leaves and meristems, simply grow upward from the root, branching towards the tree’s children. If the growth is upward or skyward, then their “children”, such as seedlings and saplings must be floating about in the lower atmosphere. These would be literal air plants with the ability to circumvent the Earth’s gravitational force. For all one knows these plants’ cellular composition could be akin to chiffon or some wispy fabric.
As of yet, there are no known dendrological species that hover within the vapors of the Earth’s atmosphere; therefore, I’m skeptical to whether these aerial trees exist. Presumably, these trees are inhabitants of another life supporting sphere, but conceivably are fantastical fabrications that dwell within the authors’ minds. Pulp fiction.
Cordially,
Lord Eggs Benedict, 8th Duke of Breakfast
Note:
nicolebearup 