Trees are represented by ±, or by #, depending on your operating system and options. They are primarily found in the Ranger Quest and in Minetown.
Applying an axe in the direction of a tree will destroy it and generate a random fruit. Doing so in the line of sight of a watchman will anger him ("Halt, vandal! You're under arrest!"). Oddly enough, wands of fire will bounce off of trees. Note that the trees in the Ranger quest are petrified, and unable to be chopped down.
Kicking a tree yields [1]
- A 2/3 chance of being painful (abused strength and dexterity, possibly wounded legs)
- Else, a one-time 1/15 chance to generate a quantity of a random fruit (quantity dependent on your luck) ("Some fruits fall from the tree!")
- Else, a one-time summoning of killer bees (quantity dependent on your luck) ("You've attracted the tree's former occupants!")
Once you've gotten the fruit and the bees, kicking a tree will not do anything besides abuse your stats and injure you.
Encyclopedia entry[]
I think that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree.
A tree whose hungry mouth is prest
Against the earth's sweet flowing breast;
A tree that looks at God all day,
And lifts her leafy arms to pray;
A tree that may in Summer wear
A nest of robins in her hair;
Upon whose bosom snow has lain;
Who intimately lives with rain.
Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree.