query: What does it mean to be an evergreen tree?
passage: Evergreen
In botany, an evergreen is a plant that has leaves throughout the year, always green. This is true even if the plant retains its foliage only in warm climates, and contrasts with deciduous plants, which completely lose their foliage during the winter or dry season. There are many different kinds of evergreen plants, both trees and shrubs. Evergreens include:
passage: Arbutus menziesii
"Arbutus menziesii" is an evergreen tree with rich orange-red bark that when mature naturally peels away in thin sheets, leaving a greenish, silvery appearance that has a satin sheen and smoothness. In spring, it bears sprays of small bell-like flowers, and in autumn, red berries. The berries dry up and have hooked barbs that latch onto larger animals for migration. It is common to see madronas of about in height, but with the right conditions trees may reach up to . In ideal conditions madronas can also reach a thickness of at the trunk, much like an oak tree. Leaves are thick with a waxy texture, oval, long and broad, arranged spirally; they are glossy dark green above and a lighter, more grayish green beneath, with an entire margin. The leaves are evergreen, lasting a few years before detaching, but in the north of its range, wet winters often promote a brown to black leaf discoloration due to fungal infections. The stain lasts until the leaves naturally detach at the end of their lifespan.